Shelf Confidence

Meet Orontes Mediterranean Yogurt. Orontes Yogurt’s mission is to deliver healthy dairy products of the highest quality to everyone by offering various delicious options using locally sourced ingredients. Orontes products support local farmers and local businesses. 

Their motto: Better Milk, Better Yogurt, Better Health.

Murat Hokka, the owner of Orontes Yogurt, set his sights on changing the current unsatisfying yogurt in the market to a better one. First, he needed a better cow for better milk and yogurt. He went to cattle trading markets in his spare time. One day, he found the cow, a Jersey cow. The taste of the yogurt, with his special recipe, instantly gave him déjà vu. It was delicious with great consistency, no odor, no artificial ingredients, no additives, similar to what the little village boy in him once drank.

He founded his first yogurt company in May 2016 using Jersey cow milk with his special recipe. Soon, his yogurt was on the shelves of many grocery stores. As the demands surpassed his supply, he acquired a large production facility in Winfield, PA, to develop and distribute the new Orontes Mediterranean A2A2 Brand Yogurt and drinkable yogurt items.

We had the pleasure of speaking with Shayne Reed, the Brand Manager of Orontes Mediterranean Yogurt, and founder Murat Hokka. 

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In this episode, we explore the concept of customer decision-making and store selection, with a specific focus on the factors that can cause friction. 

Customer friction refers to anything that hinders a customer from completing a transaction with a specific retailer. On the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association's Shelf Confidence podcast, Hayley Miller from Upside discusses effective strategies to overcome this issue. Specifically, we delve into the significant impact of personalization in creating memorable and tailored customer experiences.

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Do you have training and retention challenges?  Today on the podcast, we talked with Jeff Kahler, president and CEO at Ready Training Online. At Ready Training Online, their mission is to inspire and facilitate employee success by delivering engaging, customizable, and easy-to-manage online learning. They place a high value on integrity, teamwork, and excellence while remaining client-focused in all they do. At the end of the day, their goal is to make your training impactful and easy.

 In 2005, Jeff founded Ready Training Online out of a need to solve training and retention challenges in his own business. Today, Ready Training Online develops training using its in-house production team, MotionGlass Studios®, and delivers that training to employees through its learning management system, trainingGrid®.

Jeff hosts the Culture of Convenience podcast, a collaborative discussion between business leaders who share solutions to common business problems. And there are many free resources on his website for you to explore. Visit: https://readytrainingonline.com/online-learning/

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When food ends up in the landfill, It gets covered by other garbage and rots in an anaerobic state - meaning it doesn't get any oxygen while decomposing. This creates methane gas, a leading cause of greenhouse gases that make a noticeable gaping hole in the ozone layer and significantly contribute to climate change.

 Grocery stores are left with a surplus of food items reaching their best-before date daily. The timing of when food is deemed unsellable is based on store policy; it typically ranges from a few days to 1-2 weeks.

This is where PFMA member Flashfood comes in. Flashfood is a technology company with two products that help the grocer connect the consumer to these products. By selling this food at 50% off the retail price through Flashfood, grocers can recover costs (i.e., reduce shrink) and significantly reduce their carbon footprint.
 
 Consumers can take advantage of healthier food items like produce, meat, and prepared meals that they ordinarily deem too expensive. It's a #winwinwin for all!

Today's podcast, we talk to Nick Bertram, President and COO of Flashfood, to discuss food and, more importantly, food waste. 

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In 1991, Dri Mark Products became the original patent holder of the Counterfeit Detector Pen which rose to be the highest-selling, and most success­ful counterfeit detection product in the industry.Since then, Dri Mark has become a leader in the world of counterfeit detection, holding multiple patents for cutting edge detection technology. Dri Mark is also an American manufacturer, producing multiple products like their Detector Pen in their Long Island, NY facility. 

On the podcast is Dri Mark’s VP of Marketing and Sales, Mark Dobbs and Dri Mark’s Business Development Manager, Dan Owen as we discuss counterfeit detection …. Is it even necessary? And do consumers even use cash anymore?

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Mark Zimmerman, Founder of Revittle, spent a career in tech. After an exciting run with a Silicon Valley technology company and extensive time in Europe, Mark became enchanted with the foods in northern Italy, France, and Switzerland. During his travels, he realized the majority of Americans were settling for substandard cheese. While cheese was on every menu and in every grocery store, good cheese made the traditional European way was very hard to come by.

 Mark began a friendship with a local cheesemaker in rural Pennsylvania who convinced him that the cheese his heart yearned for could be created on u.s. soil. Revittle was born. Their mission is to reconnect all Americans with the taste, joy, and health benefits of all-natural cheese made the way it should be.

 On today's episode, Mark shares more about cheese from good for you convenience, why grass-fed, and how small suppliers approach the growing marketplace and compete. 

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Grocery stores are responsible for approximately 9% of the total energy consumed by commercial buildings in the U.S. Nicole Stika, head of the North American Sustainability Advisory team for World Kinect Energy, shares with PFMA insights on reducing carbon emissions and making sustainability a strategic priority. Learn how you might even aim to achieve net zero!

Learn more at https://www.world-kinect.com/ or email Nicole at [email protected].  

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From small, specialty runs to international jobs, from new challenges to creative solutions, it's important for retailers to have a strong flexible packaging partner. Becky Smith, director of sales at Poly Craft Industries, joins PFMA's Shelf Confidence podcast to talk about how Poly Craft differentiates itself in the flexible packaging industry.

Learn more at https://polycraftind.com/ or email Becky at [email protected].

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Staffing continues to be a concern for retailers. Kathy Houlihan, CEO and Founder of Dream2Career, joins Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association's Shelf Confidence podcast to share how employers and employees can discover and fill meaningful jobs that benefit both parties.

Learn more at https://dream2career.org/, or contact Kathy at [email protected].

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It started with some extra dining hall meals at Drexel University and grew into Philly's top food rescue. Evan Ehlers, founder of Sharing Excess, joins Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association Shelf Confidence podcast to discuss how he started this community resource and how food retailers can partner with Sharing Excess to rescue tons of wasted food.

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