Consumer and Food: Perceptions, Realities and Steps Towards Instilling Confidence - Mr. Tom Heinen, Heinen’s Fine Foods (17 stores throughout Ohio and Illinois), from the 2013 NIAA Symposium Bridging the Gap Between Animal Health and Human Health, November 12-14, 2013, Kansas City, MO, USA. More presentations at http://www.trufflemedia.com/agmedia/conference/2013-niaa-antibiotics-bridging-the-gap-animal-health-human-health

1. Consumers and Food:
Perceptions, Realities and Steps
Towards Instilling Confidence
Tom Heinen
Co-President
Heinen’s Fine Foods

3. Our History
♦ In 1929, our grandfather
Joe Heinen opened the
doors of a small butcher
shop on the east side of
Cleveland. His aim was
to establish himself as
the city’s purveyor of
high quality meat.
♦ His philosophy and ours
is to provide world-class
customer service while
offering the
freshest, highest quality

4. A Simple Strategy for
3 Generations
♦ Be the very best at:
– People
• Our most important asset to be leveraged and not an
expense to minimized
• Associates who love working for Heinen’s and come to
work every day wanting to make a difference
• Enabled and empowered associates who own their jobs
and are given the freedom to create highly satisfied
customers

5. A Simple Strategy for
3 Generations
♦ Be the very best at:
– Product
• Our grandfather believed that to sell the best, you have
to buy the best and we still believe that today
• We seek out the best from all over the world and “know
your sources”
• We continue to expand our private label offerings both
in packaged goods and perishable categories

6. Heinen’s Commitment to Fresh

7. What is Important to the Customer
that a Retailer Needs to Understand?
♦ Supermarkets desperately try to win produce and
meat
♦ Other departments such as Deli, Prepared
Foods, Seafood, Wine and Beer, Wellness have
become important over time
♦ A relevant and not necessarily the largest selection
of all food categories
♦ The “experience “ of shopping has never been
more important than it is today

8. What is Important to a Customer for a
Producer to Understand?
♦ Where does their food come from?
♦ How was the food raised?
– In fields?
– In pastures?
– In feedlots?
– In the oceans?
♦ How were the animals treated?
♦ What were animals fed?
♦ How were pesticides used in the raising of fruits and
vegetables?
♦ We want organic food

9. The Concerns Customers
Have Today
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
♦
Product of the USA
Hormones
Antibiotics
Pesticides
Humanely Raised and
Handled
Non-GMO feedstuffs
Wild Caught
Artificial ingredients
Sustainably raised

10. How does Heinen’s Work to Address
Customer Questions and Concerns?
♦ Sourcing of Products
♦ Detailed specifications
♦ Work hand in hand with our suppliers
♦ Honest and open communication with our
customers
♦ Offer choices and alternatives. Allow them to
choose.
♦ Enable and empower our associates to
communicate and share
♦ Third Party Verification

11. Heinen’s Commitment to Source
and Process Verification
♦ Allows us to speak with confidence about the
products we sell.
♦ Heinen’s requires that our fresh meat suppliers are
audited by an independent third party to verify and
ensure that all products meet and exceed our strict
production specifications.
♦ Our beef, pork, lamb and chicken now all meet the
Source Verification requirements of the USDA.

12. Current Heinen’s Meat Offerings
♦ Heinen’s Own Premium Beef
♦ Heinen’s Own Premium Pork
♦ Local Grass-Fed Beef
♦ Organic Grass-Fed Beef
♦ Niman’s Ranch ABF Pork
♦ Spanish Pork
♦ Shepherd’s Pride Lamb
♦ Gerber Chicken
♦ Attributes of the products

13. Where are the Gaps in the
Supply Side?
♦ Producers are very slow to respond to customers
needs and wants
♦ Often what is best for a producer is not what the
customer wants
♦ Retailers can be caught in the middle
– Producers refuse to add cost
– Customers are unhappy because they cannot get the
healthy and wholesome food they are looking for

14. How has the Role of the
Butcher Changed?
♦ Old Days
– Butchers were behind a one way glass rarely
interacting with customers
– Butchers had limited knowledge about cooking
♦ Today
– Butchers need to build relationships with
customers on the sales floor and over the
counter
– Butchers need to be culinary experts

15. Rock Star Butchers

16. Heinens Commitment to Open
and Honest Communication
♦ We are continually
seeking ways to help
our customers make
informed choices
about the foods they
purchase

17. Many Ways to
Communicate

18. ♦ Where Food Comes From® is a program that traces food back
to the American farms and ranches where it was raised. As
part of the Where Food Comes® From program, Heinens
requires that their suppliers are audited by an independent
third party to verify and ensure that all products meet and
exceed their strict production specification
– Heinen’s Own Beef and Pork
– Shepherds Pride Lamb
– Gerber Chicken

19. Honesty and Transparency

20. Honesty and Transparency