Happy November! Wow, what a year – one part of my brain feels like it’s been the longest one ever and another part simply cannot accept the fact that there are only two more months left in 2025.
I hope you have read Alex Wissel’s article on page 4 this month. As regular readers know, our longtime owner/ publisher Jeff Metzger has sold the company and is transitioning into full retirement. But, not right away. This month, Alex has taken his first opportunity to let readers of Food World and Food Trade News know why he bought the company and what he’s looking to do in the future. Also, you may notice a familiar name when you read the byline on this month’s story about “polycrisis shoppers.”
So, Alex is making some changes, but here’s what else you will see this month, and next month, and next month – lots of important information from Legislative Line by Barry Scher, photos from around the trade, coverage of the main stories in the industry each month, our trade calendar, upcoming special sections, and more. Basically, the news and information you’ve gotten from Food World and Food Trade News for decades isn’t going away. We’re just adding some new “stuff” that we think you’ll find interesting and informative as we adapt to an ever-changing environment in the industry.
One thing about an ever-changing environment that we are all trying to adapt to – seemingly weekly – is AI. Ugh – maybe I should retire now….
Internally, we’ve had many discussions about what the future of AI will really look like, and how it will affect us in almost every facet of our daily lives. I don’t think we can ignore it, but I don’t know what it will really mean for life on a day-to-day basis in the near future and beyond.
I just read a thought-provoking article in a newsletter published by Editor & Publisher Magazine (the Food World/ Food Trade News of the newspaper biz, I guess you could say) titled “Are you driving a tractor or still riding a horse?” The premise is that “just as tractors reshaped farming, AI is revolutionizing newsrooms. Publishers who hesitate risk being left behind.”
This article is written by Guy Tasaka, a media professional who has covered the industry for more than 35 years. He writes about the growth of AI in newsrooms and how it is displacing jobs faster than anticipated. According to his research, 14 percent of all workers have already been displaced by AI, with entry level jobs especially at risk. Additionally, 49 percent of Gen Z job seekers believe AI has reduced the value of their college education. Not great news. Basically, if you want to succeed in the future, you need to embrace AI now and put your horses out to pasture.
I wondered how that might translate to our industry and did some digging of my own.
At the dawn of the supermarket age, self-service was the “gas-powered tractor” that transformed retail. Before it, clerks fetched every item behind a counter. Then one day, stores handed shoppers a basket and told them to pick their own goods. Some grocers thought it was madness – “People will steal!” they said. “They’ll hate doing the work themselves!” But those who embraced self-service became the Giants, the Weis Markets, the Safeways of the next century (as opposed to the A&Ps, Grand Unions, Food Fairs, and maybe before too long, the Shoppers Foods, to name a few).
Today, AI is that same revolution – not in how retailers sell groceries, but in how the grocery business is run. Some are already deploying smart pricing systems, AI-powered planograms, and predictive ordering that eliminates waste and stockouts. Others still rely on gut feeling and Excel. The difference between them is growing wider every day.
AI isn’t just another piece of software; it’s becoming the backbone of modern retail operations. Chain and independent grocers alike are learning that algorithms can forecast demand by neighborhood, optimize labor scheduling, and even predict when a refrigeration unit will fail – before it spoils thousands of dollars in inventory. I learned some of this back in February when interviewing the team at Allegiance Retail Services for a special section we published.
According to retail analysts, more than 70 percent of leading grocery companies are already testing or implementing AI in some part of their business – from pricing to supply chain to customer engagement. Those that aren’t risk watching their margins shrink as competitors operate faster, leaner and smarter.
The companies moving fastest are already “filling the food deserts” of retail efficiency – using automation to do more with fewer people and fewer resources. They’re the farmers who said, “If one tractor is good, let’s get three.”
In the same way early tractors turned backbreaking manual work into a mechanized science, AI turns store management from instinct into precision. No more overordering strawberries because last year’s promotion “felt busy.” Today’s AI engines scan weather data, holidays, social media chatter and local events to fine-tune orders in real time.
Some chains are using natural language platforms to build their own tools. Store owners can now create dashboards and sales-tracking apps using simple prompts – no IT department required. What once cost tens of thousands of dollars in development can now be built in a weekend, for less than a coffee subscription.
Every grocer’s operational challenge – from vendor management to digital coupon redemption – can now be solved faster and cheaper. The question is whether leaders will learn to use the tools before their competitors do.
AI-driven personalization is changing how shoppers interact with grocery stores. Loyalty programs now predict what customers want before they realize it, offering deals on the items they’re about to run out of. Chatbots are helping shoppers plan weekly meals and generate instant shopping lists. Self-checkout cameras are identifying produce automatically and reducing fraud.
Meanwhile, AI-generated voice and video ads let even small retailers produce omnichannel marketing that once required a full creative team. Grocers are learning what local media discovered years ago – that AI doesn’t replace creativity, it multiplies it (That’s what some people say, color me skeptical on this).
Just as automation transformed factory floors, AI is reshaping the supermarket workforce. Entry-level tasks – counting inventory, scanning prices, scheduling shifts – are being automated. That doesn’t mean people disappear; it means people shift. Smart grocers are retraining their teams to focus on customer engagement, fresh food handling, and data insight.
Every generation of grocers has faced a choice: adapt or fall behind. Those who resisted self-service, barcode scanning, or e-commerce didn’t last long. Now the next line in the sand has been drawn.
The technology is ready. The question is not whether AI will transform grocery retail – it’s who will be steering the smart cart and who will be left scanning the shelves by hand. Will you be the grocer driving the AI tractor, or the one still hitching up the horses?
I just don’t know – I wonder about the energy needed to keep AI running and the effect the technology will have on our climate. I wonder about the jobs that are going to be eliminated and how people will be able to earn a decent living. I wonder who is going to pay the taxes we need to support the infrastructure this country relies on. I wonder if AI will start to take over more than we really want. I just don’t know. One thing I do know – we’re going to find out sooner rather than later.
Okay, on to something more positive: As we go to press on the November issue of Food World, there’s just one more day until the Children’s Cancer Foundation’s 41st Annual Gala at Martin’s Crosswinds. I’ll have more to report next month, and we’ll have photos, too.
Wishing all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and be back with more in December.
