AWG show urges retailers to 'ride the wave' of trends

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - The Associated Wholesale Grocers Kansas City-area food show revolved around how retailers can cater to millennials.

Signs at the entrance of the Overland Park Convention Center and on the expo floor featured information about the shopping behavior of that age demographic, and banners encouraged retailers to "Ride the Wave" of the latest trends as Beach Boys music played in the background.

"The way mom cooked isn't the way that the daughter cooks. Mom knows how to cook things, daughter doesn't know how to cook things," produce sales manager Mike Toohey said. Millennials want information on what items taste like and how to cook them, he said.

While some millennials might not want to spend much time preparing meals, they do want to eat healthy, Toohey said.

"A lot more fresh fruits and vegetables ... and then also to prepare the cut-up fruits and vegetables where they can take it home," Toohey said. "They want it where it's been made in the store, and those sections in a lot of our retailers are growing leaps and bounds, where it's a convenience but it's also a healthy convenience."

Brian Kessler, perishables director, said the company expected about 750 people to attend the show. Toohey said the measure of success for the expo would be the feedback from the exhibitors and the buyers.

"We usually survey our vendors and ask them how they thought the show was, and if they're happy, we're happy," Toohey said. "And our retailers, too. 'Did you get the information that you expected out of the show?' And if they say yes, they did, then we're happy."

Among the exhibitors were several that had displayed their products the day before at The Packer's Midwest Produce Expo at the Sheraton in Kansas City, Mo. Louisburg Cider Mill, Louisburg, Kan.; The Wonderful Co., Los Angeles; World Variety Produce/Melissa's, Los Angeles; and Riveridge Produce Marketing, Sparta, Mich., were among those companies that appeared at both shows.

Kessler said AWG aimed to keep its customers in mind throughout the planning of the company's event.

"This show is for the retailer," Kessler said. "We want our vendor to get their bang for their buck or whatever, but our focus is on the retailer. They don't get face-to-face time with a lot of our shippers and stuff like that.

"This big display here, we kept it small enough where they can relate to building the display in the store," Kessler said. "They can look at that and go, 'We can do that. We might be able to downsize that just a little bit and do that in the store,' instead of making this big display you see at some of these big produce conferences that you can't really translate it. So we try to do that, be really retailer-focused."