Rachel Krupa, founder of The Goods Mart, a socially conscious convenience store with a focus on clean food from emerging brands, spoke about steering consumers who come in expecting to find mainstream brands, to the specialty foods that it offers.
“We like to say ‘how are you feeling?’ Do you want sweet or savory today? You want a Snickers bar? Have you tried a Gigantic Bar or your want Fritos, have you tried Pipcorn or Good Crisp?’” she said during her How I Buy presentation, Monday, at the Sips Bay Pavilion Pop Up at the Summer Fancy Food Show. “You guide them and help them figure out what that taste is” that they’re craving.
She noted that sweet and savory products are on the rise along with candy.
“As crazy as it sounds, candy but with a little real sugar, and better-for-you products but with a bit of indulgence and consumers are looking to make sure that functional ingredients are actually functional,” she said. “There was a rise in snack bars but then COVID hit and now bars are back since people want on-the-go and there is a need for single-serve. Sparkling beverages also continue to rise but people want flat beverages as well.”
Krupa also shared creative ways that she promotes her three New York City locations and the brands merchandised inside. They are in Lower Manhattan in the SoHo neighborhood. In Midtown Manhattan in Rockefeller Center and its newest in the lobby of a prewar office tower on 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan.
As a tenant in buildings that house offices and their workers and in some cases New York University students, The Goods Mart sends out alerts to these neighbors to let them know about product sampling opportunities happening in its stores, Krupa said.
“We share 200 or 300 samples a day with fellow tenants so these are incredible sampling opportunities,” she said.
The Goods Mart will also soon host another of its Jamaican cookouts at its SoHo location. Krupa explained that the idea came during the pandemic, when Derron Williams, a UPS driver who makes deliveries to the store, mentioned that he makes the best jerk chicken. Krupa has hosted pop ups with Williams who used to operate a restaurant in his native Jamaica. The next will take place next month.
“You pay inside,” she explained. “There is music and we have organic slushies and people walk by and want to support it and the brands in the store. Food connects us all.”
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