The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. -- B.B. King

For the next several weeks, readers will have the opportunity to suggest names for the Book of Weblogs that will ideally (hope is not a management tool) be published in the Spring. The top names will then be voted on and a title for the publication will be announced by the end of the year, if not sooner.

The person who submits the winning name will get all kinds of credit in this space, perhaps some free books and potentially have a bridge, or a star, named after them.

To suggest a name, just hit REPLY to this Weblog and send your idea along. Thanks in advance for your idea, and, as always, thanks for reading.

Last week I reshared the story of my first (and only) Marathon, the 2021 BAA Boston Marathon, Virtual Edition.

In three weeks, I will be running in my fifth 'Half' (as we runners call them), that some say is even harder than the Boston 'Full' marathon. It is the BAA Half Marathon, 13.1 miles in length. Naturally, I will have some type of Weblog about that. 

But prior to that, in the next several weeks I plan to share other stories about my half marathons, including the one where I quit during the race and then I didn't.

The Weblog has great readers, many of whom comment regularly on the information and/or misinformation in this space. Most responses are a sentence or two, pointing out a typo, or telling me the story was shared with a son or daughter, or complimenting me on my insight. 

Occasionally, a topic is so controversial or hits home so hard, that someone sits down and actually writes a detailed response, using their expertise and knowledge to correct the record or enlighten me.

Regular readers might remember that earlier this year, one reader, Nick Mirick, presented a very detailed enhancement to my story ‘Managers Get the Employees They Deserve.’ You can read the original here, and Nick’s ‘guest’ Weblog here. 

It might come as no surprise that the Wednesday Weblog titled ‘Clean Up on Aisle 12’ generated some commentary, including detailed explanations to eliminate my ignorance about supermarkets from an expert on the subject, Tim Forrest.

Tim is an international food consultant who knows a lot more than me about the subject, as you will see shortly. (He was also gracious enough to include me as a guest on his YouTube podcast last year available here). 

Clicking on the photo below will take you to Tim's website.  

I asked a couple of dozen questions in that Weblog about supermarket stuff I didn't understand, and Tim was gracious enough to provide some answers. So, if you're like me and confused by things you see when food shopping, sit back and relax and get prepared to be informed.

PRODUCE AREA: Why is the produce department the first zone you see when you enter most stores? 

TIM: Produce is the most profitable department in the store. Supermarkets want you to spend as much of your food budget in produce as possible. It also will set you up to enjoy and spend more in the rest of the store.

You did not ask about the sprinkler system in the produce section, or the amazing lighting and expensive displays compared to the rest of the store. Wet produce weighs more than dried out produce and thus increases profit at the register. We taste and shop with our eyes and when you realize how profitable this area is, and that the produce aisle will set the tone, mood and possible hunger level of the shopper - it makes business profit sense to invest in this area of the store with massive square footage, lighting and sprinklers. 

BANANAS: What is the difference between regular bananas and organic bananas?

TIM: It's difficult, to nearly impossible, to grow bananas without the use of chemicals. For that reason, you will see small farms that are willing to take the risk of filing fraudulent paperwork claiming organic status.

You need a paper trail to verify that a product is organic. The big brands don't play that game and delegate it to the small guys that will provide them written certification and provide plausible deniability with any legal issues. This also provides massive financial return on the best-selling item in the grocery store. Look at the nutrition facts panel and compare an organic item to a standard item - no difference. 

HUMMUS: Who is eating all that hummus? Is there a hummus plant or tree? 

TIM: Do you speak Arabic? You might be surprised that hummus is Arabic for 'chickpea.' Hummus is from the Middle East and includes olive oil. It is made with chickpeas simply ground into a mush. It's a great source of protein and tastes great as a snack with chips or crackers. It's Vegetarian. It's also wildly profitable. 

JUICE: When it comes to Orange Juice, I have always wondered if they take pulp out of the juice with pulp to make a pulp-free juice, or do they add pulp to the juice without it?

TIM: Yes, they add the pulp to the juice. Orange juice is manufactured and blended for most shoppers and manufacturers. If you were to "juice" a bunch of oranges and drink that product, it would have pulp in it and separate. For our discussion, orange juice is blended, and the desired amount of no-pulp or pulp is added to the OJ prior to bottling. 

CASHEWS: Why are cashews never on sale?

TIM: They are one of the most popular items for sale in the nut section or aisle. Unfortunately, this high demand item cannot grow in most areas of the world. In addition to the limited growing area, they grow on trees and most of the processing is by hand in order to reach stores for us to consume. They are not cheap to plant, grow or harvest. For example, peanuts can grow globally and most of the harvesting and packaging work is automated with machinery. 

COFFEE: Why is Dunkin Coffee never on sale? 

TIM:

It's on sale every day in a grocery store compared to what you pay in a Dunkin' coffee and doughnut shop location by the cup.

If you're in Boston, they don't need to go on sale for shoppers to purchase it. Bostonians and New Englanders "LOVE" Dunkin' coffee and think of it as their local coffee shop regardless of location or city.

The coffee brand is licensed to JM Smucker. Promotions are expensive and their license deal does not provide much room to pay for promotions. The promotion and marketing budget is being spent on the Dunkin' brand license fee along with the already established good will the brand generates.

In your area, Dunkin on sale would simply wipe out all available stock. Head out to California and I guarantee you will see sales on a regular basis.

FRENCH VANILLA And speaking of coffee flavors, what is the fascination with French Vanilla? Is there Spanish Vanilla and Canadian Vanilla?

TIM: Let's start with what makes French vanilla, French. It's the egg yolk. That creamy and yellowing color comes from eggs, and that is not present in regular standard vanilla which comes from the vanilla bean (if not artificial). In ice cream I do think its creamier. In ice cream, vanilla is the best seller and having another version of vanilla only helps the sales. It's everywhere due to the enhanced flavor. 

KEURIG PODS: Why are Keurig pods so expensive?

TIM: What's expensive? If you are talking about Dunkin Donuts coffee...

There may be fees going to Dunkin, Keurig, and JM Smucker before reaching the coffee and container portion of the cost of goods analysis. If I look for a no-name pod of coffee, it would it be much cheaper. I have not done the analysis but suspect you are talking about your Dunkin coffee, in your New England market and at your grocery store. It's not the pods, it's the demand. Are you buying it regardless of the "high retail price?" That's likely your answer. 

PRODUCE BAGS: I understand that bag thickness is measured in mils, whatever those are. But those long skinny produce bags on a roll have got to redefine 'flimsy' as the thinnest bags ever invented. 

TIM: A mil is a measurement used by the plastics industry to write specifications and define the thickness of sheet plastic. A mil is 1/1000th of an inch and is written as .001. A bread bag is 1.5 mils or .0015 and the flimsy bags you mentioned are one third the thickness of a bread bag or .5 mils. 

YOGURT: Who is eating all that yogurt, and when did the Greeks get into the yogurt business? 

TIM: The unbelievable story of Greek yogurt in our stores is too incredible for me to share in a sentence or two. Hamdi Ulukaya changed the grocery industry with his passion and mission for community. I implore you to listen during your next run or workout. Chobani’s secret to scale: Tap into community

ICE CREAM: How much melting takes place with ice cream between the store and home?

TIM: Unlike water, ice cream melts at 31 F degrees. Ice cream is made wonderful by the special trick of suspending air in the sweet dairy mixture. It also requires a special method of cooling and keeping the air suspended in the cream. Part of the process includes keeping the ice cream super-cold at less than 0 F degrees. For storage, I prefer -10 to -20 with ice cream freezers. A standard frozen case does not hold ice cream at the proper temperature for shelf-life.

Examine the ice cream before purchase. Don't buy it soft out of a defective freezer or where the doors have been left opened or opening all day due to a big sale.

Always purchase your ice cream last, just before leaving the store. If it thaws, you will never get the air back into the cream to make that creamy fluffy frozen dessert.

Keep the lid on tight and store in the back or the far bottom of your freezer at home.

SUSTAINABILITY: I wonder how long it takes for a rotisserie chicken to dry out, and do they reuse them the next day? Is that the base for their chicken salad in deli?

TIM: Yes, quite often it is in the chicken salad. I worked on a project and we sold 50,000 pounds of chicken salad from a single store! LINK

TIM: The grocery industry is an amazing and incredible world. It is full of interesting stories, people and innovation. There are approximately 38,000 grocery stores and they carry 40,000 items and with each there is a story of creation, development and enterprise. It's a special, interesting and vast sector of our economy.