Personalizing the Private Label Experience With Brian Fox, CEO of Richelieu Foods, Inc.

Brian Fox is the CEO of Richelieu Foods, Inc. He has been in the food business for over 30 years, with extensive commercial experience in retail, food service, contract sales, and significant knowledge of operations. Brian is passionate about creating a business culture and focusing on the people in his business. He has a proven track record of building successful business units and winning teams. What you’ll learn in this episode: How do you personalize the shopping experience for grocery store customers? Do grocery items belong in specific departments, or can they be placed in areas that make it easy for customers to get what they want to create their meal plans? Can items be cross-promoted by placing some ranch dressing in the produce section, for example? Or by having some additional pizza toppings available next to the pizzas sold at the deli? How do you make the grocery shopping experience more personal?  Having grocery items available at particular locations within a store can provide customers with convenience and the motivation to buy. According to Brian Fox, CEO of Richelieu Foods, Inc., many of these opportunities are regularly missed. Brian suggests, “You can take a bottle or a set of cases of ranch dressing and put them almost anywhere in the store. I mean, how much more effective would they be in front of the party section than they are sitting as a display on the aisle of dressing and sauces?” Grocery stores should be less concerned about placing items in specific departments and instead put them where they’re most likely to be purchased. In this episode of From Persona to Personal, Roger Hurni welcomes Brian Fox, CEO of Richelieu Foods, Inc., to discuss how grocery stores can personalize the customer shopping experience. He says grocery stores are too worried about having meat in the meat department and produce in the produce department. He says that when it’s pizza night or taco night, stores should take the opportunity to introduce new taco or pizza-related products exactly where the customer finds the taco meat or the pizza in the deli.