The Fresh Market Heats Up Private Label Coffee Mix
The team at The Fresh Market working on its private label coffee assortment is clearly passionate about their work. And they have to be. With a customer base that includes many coffee aficionados, having a run-of-the-mill selection won’t cut it with shoppers who expect more, especially from the grocer’s private label selection.
“Coffee has been near and dear to The Fresh Market and been one of our signature lines since I’ve been here, which is now going on 13 years,” said Michelle Beck, director of Own Brands and Local Merchandising for The Fresh Market.
Keeping the assortment fresh and giving shoppers something new is an ongoing goal of The Fresh Market team. More recently, the grocer has refreshed its private label coffee assortment with single-origin products sourced from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, and Sumatra in a variety of roasts and blends.
“We’re inspired to continue looking for ways to take things to the next level,” Beck said. “We are all coffee lovers and we know that coffee is one of our major lines and we want to give our guests an elevated experience.”
To offer more insight on the success of The Fresh Market’s private label coffee assortment and the ongoing challenge of looking for newness while continuing to raise the bar with its selection, Beck and her colleague, Gloria Reardon, director of Brand and Consumer with the grocer, spoke with Store Brands.
STORE BRANDS: What inspires The Fresh Market team to continue expanding its private label coffee assortment and bring shoppers something new?
MICHELLE BECK: Our coffee selection has evolved by having large barrels of freshly roasted coffee, which then became gravity bins and then evolved into package coffee. Seasonal flavors have also been part of the mix and they are a huge part of what our guests look for during the holidays. But our inspiration is our desire to always want to take it to the next level. We have great flavors that our guests love and have as part of their morning rituals. We also wanted to introduce some trend-forward flavors and then lean into unique single varieties as well.
GLORIA REARDON: When working to develop the new line, we were able to glean some insights about (drinking coffee) as a morning ritual. Having a really great cup of coffee in the morning is the way many people kick off their day. The category team kept that in mind when they were looking to elevate the experience and go after quality because quality is something we are known for. We also found that 50% of our consumers love flavored coffee and people like to use coffee to celebrate seasonal beginnings and transition. This gave us permission to go in certain directions with our new flavors.
STORE BRANDS: There is a lot of individuality among consumers regarding the flavor of coffee they choose to start their day. Is it challenging to have an assortment that is broad enough to meet the various needs of shoppers?
REARDON: Each household has different preferences, whether there are multiple people in the home or for someone living alone. For someone like me, I live alone but have flavored coffee and single-origin coffee. For me, it is always about what I’m in the mood for. As a result, I like to have a variety of coffee to meet the mood I’m in. More and more today, I think you’ll find different bags of coffee in the cabinet.
STORE BRANDS: Given the variety consumers want today, how does The Fresh Market make sure it finds the best quality products?
BECK: Our partners source from all regions and they have direct trade relationships that support the communities where they grow and harvest coffee. We also have quality specs in place with our partners that we use to source the coffee, which is also inspected upon arrival. The quality of the coffee is also checked during the roasting process to make sure we’re getting a consistent, beautiful roast every time. We’re also drinking our coffee in the office, and we’re checking quality all the time. Finally, our guests are not shy and if something is not right they’ll let us know.
STORE BRANDS: How important is it for The Fresh Market to offer a coffee assortment that consists of flavors that are unique and can’t be found elsewhere?
BECK: Absolutely. We have a huge selection of coffee and we’re a great place to go for anyone who loves all things coffee. There are top-of-the-line coffees for people seeking an elevated experience and we also have seasonal offerings where we dip into trend-forward flavors. There are also lots of fun, cool things that we can lean into and we’re starting to look at some of those to provide limited-time offers that our customers can’t get elsewhere. The great thing about coffee is that there is always something new and always some new technology to how coffee is roasted.
STORE BRANDS: With so much happening in coffee, is there a target consumer you have in mind when developing The Fresh Market’s assortment?
REARDON: We cater to the people who love The Fresh Market. We’re known for quality products and we put a lot of effort into curation and variety. We have a lot of customers that I would call adventurists who like to come and discover new things within the store. And we have so much faith in our coffee that we put our brand promise on it. People turn to us for quality and we have such a big presence within the store for our coffee that you almost can go by without seeing it.
BECK: I think coffee has no age and no demographic. It just appeals to everybody. Whether you’re old or young, most people have something they love about coffee whether it's leaning into a flavor, cold brew coffee or just having a good old black cup of coffee. I think that’s the beauty of coffee. It’s a good bridge between all.
STORE BRANDS: With The Fresh Market coffee shopper, is price the main purchase motivator or are there other factors?
BECK: For us, taste is number one and that is why we always go after quality products. That is the expectation from our guests. They don’t come to us to buy something they can get somewhere else. They come to us because it’s going to be unique and high quality. Price is always a part of it and our coffee is competitively priced across the market. But overall, our customers are coming to us for the experience.
STORE BRAND: What role does customer feedback play in the development of products within coffee?
BECK: We look at all of our guest loyalty feedback. If they have written in and sent a letter, I'm going to call that very passionate guest and help them find a new favorite and explain to them why a certain flavor is not there anymore. There are a lot of things that go into this, but at the same point, we take every bit of their feedback, we take their insight for flavors, and any suggestions they are making. We also look at sales and trends to try to find things that we think they're going to love because we love them when we try them. That’s how we continue to evolve and curate the assortment.
STORE BRANDS: As you move forward with coffee, is the product development process a constant wheel as you look for what’s new?
BECK: Any time we meet with our vendors we’re always talking about what’s new. It’s constant rotation. The problem is finding space for all the new things we want to add because the coffee program could just continue to grow and grow. There are things we don’t want to get rid of, but there are also things we want to add. The hard part is containing our enthusiasm within an assortment that is curated. We work to find a balance between keeping what people love while also trying new things.
