GLP-1s and SNAP Changes Are Rewriting Grocery Merchandising | Spotlight Series

If a retailer is not doing GLP1 friendly merchandising now, I don't know if they've been paying too much attention.

There are 22 states that have approved waivers.

There are 10 states who are activated currently, with two more coming up in July.

How cool would it be if you could create some pharmacy led programs around foods that align to folks that are picking up their prescriptions?

There are electronic shelf tags that light up for products that are a good fit for me.

And if the data indicates that there actually are some good health comes around limiting the unhealthy stuff, well, then that's only going to help it gain more momentum.

This Retail Technology Spotlight series podcast is brought to you by the Omnitalk Retail Podcast Network.

Hello everyone.

I am Chris Walton, your host for today's interview.

An interview in which we are going to try to make sense of of some of the key macroeconomic factors that are impacting our grocery aisles.

We've all heard the noise, We've all heard the noise about GLP1s.

But did you know that there are also significant regulatory changes coming down the pike that could exacerbate the impact of GLP1s even more drastically?

I sure as heck did not.

And I'm guessing many of you did not know that either.

But yes, it is true, and we're going to tell you what they are.

And my big takeaway from listening to this podcast when you walk away is that from the conversation you're about to hear, it's that there is a right and a wrong way to get out in front of all the changes that are coming the way of grocers and to build a foundation that enables your grocery operation to pivot in whatever direction is needed.

And so, to no surprise to my loyal listeners, it all starts with one thing that we talk about routinely on that on this show, and that is data.

The data to understand what is actually happening on our shelves to begin with.

And not just in an inventory sense, as we often talk about, but in the nutritional makeup of the items we sell as well.

So please join me in welcoming Kevin Billings, the Vice President of Business Development at Sifter, to today's show.

Kevin, how are you?

I'm doing great, Chris.

Thanks for having me.

I really appreciate it.

Yeah, yeah.

So I was joking with you beforehand.

I don't think I've ever done an interview with someone that has not one, but two cowboy hats in the background of the zoom.

So.

So I. I take it you hail from Texas, is that right, Kevin?

That is correct.

Born and raised my friend, West Texas, and then migrated to Dallas, Fort Worth.

I'm in Fort Worth now for sure.

Nice, Nice.

And you were telling.

You were.

I got to share this people with people, too, because I did not know this.

I guess there's a different type of cowboy hat that one wears for the different seasons.

Can you please enlighten our guests on that one, too, Kev, before we get started?

Well, sure.

So historically, you wear felt hats in the fall and winter and then straw hats in the spring and summer.

So, you know, interestingly enough, that rule has kind of, you know, probably diluted itself a little bit.

I don't think it's as much of a rule.

But back in the day, it's like, you know, after Easter, straw.

And then, you know, around October, it's felt.

Yeah, for sure.

Wow.

I had.

I had no idea.

I had no idea.

I thought.

I thought it was like a class thing.

Like, you wear straw maybe if you're of one class or another.

Felt if you're of a different class, but I guess not.

I guess it's a seasonal thing, Kevin.

Who knew?

Who knew?

Yeah, you know me well enough, Chris.

I don't have any class.

Come on now.

That's right.

Yeah, true, true.

I'll vouch for that.

I'll vouch for that, Kevin.

All right, well, we asked you onto today's podcast because, and I mean this in all sincerity, you are the living, breathing embodiment of.

Of wanting to help people eat better.

I know it's a passion of yours.

We've had drinks over the subject and talked extensively about it for hours on end.

So tell us, tell the audience, when and how did this passion for helping people eat better start for you?

Yeah, so it goes way back.

I mean, historically, like I mentioned, I grew up in West Texas.

So, you know, you play, you're born, you play football, you play most sports out there.

And so as a young man, I was very, very active.

And, you know, at that point in your life, you eat anything you want.

Right.

And, of course, my parents were the generation of fast food and ultra processed food.

And so I'll go on record and say that I've eaten my weight and Captain Crunch and Froot Loops and all the things.

But, you know, after I got to college, I was still pretty active.

I still worked in the oil field in college, so I was still doing things, you know, and really burning a lot of calories.

But after graduation and I started more of an office job, then I started to realize, hey, I really can't eat this way because it's not helping my health at all.

And so after about a 25 pound uptick, I decided I need to learn a little bit more about nutrition and start eating a little bit better.

So it was probably in my late 20s, I guess, when I started to get a little more serious about it.

And.

And then shortly thereafter, I went to work for the American Heart association, and that's really what triggered my interest in healthy eating.

And I was so fortunate.

I was surrounded with dietitians and folks that really knew about nutrition.

And I ultimately ended up leading the heart check certification program.

So really, all things heart health now, aha.

Is committed to your whole body health, obviously, but they're focused on heart health.

But at that point in my life, I even got more serious about it.

And since then, I've really just tried to adopt the.

And my doctor agrees with me on this, by the way.

It's the 8020 rule.

Like, I'm really good, 80% of the time, I'm bad, 20% of the time, and 10% of the 20%, I'm probably really bad.

But as long as I can follow that 8020 rule for the rest of my life and continue to exercise and stay active, I feel pretty good about my chances of living for a little bit longer.

That reminds me of the old anchorman line, Kevin, too.

You know, you got me thinking, like, you know, for me, it's probably, I eat.

I eat 60% of the time.

I eat bad all the time, you know, or whatever it is, whatever it is.

So, all kidding aside, though, Kevin, so what.

What led you to Sifter and talk about what Sifter does too, that extends kind of your passion for, you know, helping people eat healthy.

As I was exiting the American Heart association, we were starting to get into more food data and really a lot of data and algorithms around healthy eating.

And actually, at that moment in time, I got connected with a company called Label Insight, and they were all about food attribution, and I ultimately ended up going to work for them afterwards.

So that was really my foray into more food and nutrition technology.

And with.

With Label Inside, I guess I was there for three or four years, and then we ultimately got acquired by niq.

So I worked for NIQ for a few years, but really more on the nutrition side, but.

But really focused on grocery retail and really kind of helping them better understand their assortment so that they can, you know, merchandise accordingly around health.

And then as I was exiting niq, I got introduced to two of the greatest guys I've Ever met Andrew and Thomas Parkinson.

They are the founders of Sifter, along with Judy Sebold, who is legendary in the nutrition world and re in grocery retail and the food industry.

And for those that don't know the Parkinson brothers, they're the Peapod guys.

So they started legends.

Legendary.

Yeah, they started Peapod back in the late 80s, early 90s, really the first online grocery store.

And so even though we've been in market for four or five years, at this point, we've got a deep and rich grocery retail background.

And much like myself, Andrew and Thomas are very healthy.

They stay active.

And really, the passion for this company is to try to make healthy eating easier for everyone.

And Sifter is unique in a few ways.

We align foods at the product level to an individual's chronic disease that they're managing or their dietary requirements.

And so that's really our uniqueness, especially related to the health diet.

So diabetes, you know, all four stages of kidney disease, you know, the.

And with chronic disease on the rise and really the percentage of Americans that are affected by chronic disease, what we do is unique, but we feel it's really important to support grocery retail and their initiatives around healthy eating.

And so that's really the story of how I got to Sifter.

And I've been here for almost four years now, and we're busy as beavers because food is medicine, wellness is a hot topic.

And you know that train is going about 100 miles an hour right now.

Yeah, 100%.

I want to.

And I want to get to that, you know, here, very, very shortly, as quick, as quickly as possible.

But, but I do want.

I do want to highlight the Peapod origins here too, because I had a chance to sit down with both the Parkinson brothers, like six or seven months ago.

And what I was struck by, and I imagine this plays into what we're going to talk about too, Kevin, but I'd love for you to highlight it for the audience a little bit more too, is because they grew up in understanding the data aspect of E commerce and grocery merchandising.

That knowledge of data is permeated through everything Sifter does and tries to do for the grocery industry.

Is that not right?

That is correct.

Yeah.

And you know, it's important because when you start to serve up foods that are diabetic friendly, as an example, or, you know, the hottest recent topic is GLP1 friendly, you need to make sure that you're serving up the right products because.

And of course, needless to say, the allergen side of the business that's critical.

You never want to serve up a product with nuts in it or peanuts in it to an individual who happens to be allergic to peanuts.

So, you know, all of those things are critical.

But they, they understood that early on.

In fact, they created a company called Item Master along their Peapod route and ultimately Syndigo ended up buying that company.

But they, they were struggling because, and again, nothing against brands, but when you're dependent upon brands for data, it's, it's all different based on the way that they structure their data.

So as a grocery retailer is, you know, receiving data from multiple sources, it's very difficult to kind of sift that down to something that's functional, clean and ultimately accurate.

So we feel that we've figured that formula out just because of our capabilities and our subject matter expert.

We're fortunate that we brought the brain trust over from Peapod and Automaster.

So we are not only a food is medicine technology platform but, but we're really, really good at product data and that serves us well in today Food is Medicine.

But also what we're going to talk about, which is the, the challenges that retailers are having around SNAP waiver compliance as well.

Yeah, yeah.

And yeah, there's a premium on getting this information right, and hence the name.

Why you call it Sifter too?

Because you got to sift through a lot of information and you got to make sure it's correct.

And you know, and, and you mentioned JLP on.

So we'll get to that in a minute.

But I want to come back to what you just said there too because there's some big legislation that's already underway coming down from our government that is going to change the dynamics of what grocers put on their shelves.

And I'm talking about what you just mentioned, which is the move to restrict SNAP recipients from purchasing non nutritious food.

Can you give us the four one, one on everything my audience and I need to know about that?

Sure, yeah, I'll do my best.

It's, it's complicated for sure.

But you know, a year or so, probably a little bit before that, the, there were a few states that submitted waivers to USDA to do just what you mentioned.

They wanted to restrict SNAP expenditures on the bad stuff, more or less.

And over time, more states got behind that.

And at this point there are 22 states that have approved waivers.

There are 10 states who are activated currently and with two more coming up in July.

So by the end of July you'll have 12 states that have active waivers where in those states, based on the rules around restrictions, Snap shoppers can't buy certain things.

And so retailers, they're doing the best they can.

And the part of the challenge is that there's not a whole lot of standardization around it.

Every state is different, they all have different rules.

So if you're a one state retailer, maybe not as complex, but if you're a retailer that serves shoppers in multiple states, it could be really complicated because every state is different.

So, you know, that's, that's what's happened.

And we don't think it's going to slow down.

You know, the, I think the intent behind it is to at least activate something that might help reduce chronic disease.

Not in a certain population, but just associated with folks just buying things that we know contribute to chronic disease.

But the challenge too is that it's very difficult to build a strategy around category level assumptions.

A perfect example would be in most states, you can't buy soda anymore, you can't buy candy anymore.

So if you were simply to take out the soda category and every retailer categorizes differently, but that, I'm just trying to talk about it at a high level.

Right.

Well, you may be in theory eliminating some things in the soda category that actually do qualify for Snap purchase, as an example, maybe a carbonated flavored water of some sort.

So you don't want to take a category approach and eliminate everything.

The best way to manage this, in Sifter's opinion, is to take it to a product level approach where you've got the technology and you've got the data to make a decision per product or byproduct.

And that's really where we come into play because of our experience and our ability to do that based on our history as a food is medicine company.

So, you know, there's some real challenges, but we feel like retailers are trying to do the best they can.

The legislation is the legislation, once it's passed, it is law.

And there's some pretty severe compliance penalties if you don't get it right.

So they're all concerned about it.

And it's definitely been a disruptor in the industry.

So.

So Kevin, the key point that, that I want to make sure people heard, and I want to make sure I heard it right too, is you said this legislation is happening state by state, which means the item lists that are restricted can be different by state.

So if I'm a grocer operating in more than one state, I could be having to manage multiple lists Especially if I'm a national grocer.

And the timings are all rolling out differently as well, I would imagine, because no state, states generally work on their own.

They don't work in concert with each other necessarily.

That's correct.

Yeah.

And that's part of the driver behind the, the what's make, what makes it so complicated and so complex.

But you know, we, we as a company, we, when we decided to build a solution around this, we wanted to honor the complexity of it all.

And we also wanted to honor what we're hearing from retailers.

And it's not only especially for the larger ones, we need an accurate restricted product list for every state that we work in in order to be able to integrate into our POS so that we're in compliance and we' subject to these very severe penalties.

But the other thing that we heard is we really need something on the education side.

We need something to help educate Snap shoppers and make it a better experience for them.

So the, the solution from Sifter is really what I would say, very comprehensive kind of soup to nuts.

Not only are we delivering, in our opinion the most accurate restricted product list for them to integrate in positive, we're also standing up what we're calling Snap Companion, which is a shopper app that can be uploaded into the loyalty app of a retailer to be able to allow Snap shopper to scan a product as they're shopping the aisles.

And it's green check.

Yes, this qualifies for Snap red X.

It's restricted.

But we are also serving up recommended products or alternative products for them to consider X on a, on a bottle of soda.

But you know, why don't you try this poppy drink as an example or this flavored carbonated beverage.

And so retailers like that for two reasons.

One, it makes lowers the anxiety, I think for the Snap shopper who's maybe confused about it.

Well before they get to checkout because they can understand what's going to be paid for or not before they get to checkout.

But more importantly, or maybe as importantly, it gives them the opportunity to spend those SNAP dollars on other products in store because the one they tried to buy or historically bought is restricted now.

But because we're serving up alternatives, it gives them an opportunity to continue to spend those SNAP dollars.

Yeah, that makes sense as an approach.

Do you have any, do you have any real life examples in terms of where you're taking this approach?

Are you doing anything unique by state or anything in that realm?

Yeah, so we're happy to announce and this just happened late last week and we're super honored to be part of it.

But the state of Arkansas has stood up, the first state to do so.

The state sponsored Snap solution for the retailers of the state and the shoppers of the state.

So that contract is big for us and it's big for Arkansas.

They're such a great state to work with.

The Department of Human Services, that team is amazing and they're very, very committed to get this right.

So what we're delivering over the next few months because they become their activation date is July 1, so we have a very short window.

But we're delivering a data exchange portal for all retailers of Arkansas to submit their assortment.

That data exchange will also be used for them to pull down the restricted product list that they can integrate into pos.

But we're also creating an Arkansas Snap app that's available in the Android Store or Apple Store for any Snap shopper in the state where they can activate the functionality that we just talked about, being able to scan products in store and really kind of reduce anxiety around what qualifies or not.

And of course there'll be a lot of education, nutrition education pushed through the app by the state of Arkansas as well.

So super excited about that.

We, we've heard rumors that other states may ultimately wanted to do that.

If they do, we feel like we've got a great model with the state of Arkansas.

And I would say if there are any other states out there that are interested, give me a call.

We're happy to let you know how we did it.

But then, you know, from a retail perspective, a lot of retailers are activating their own RPLs.

We do have some clients.

We actually AWG Associated Wholesale Grocers is a big client of ours.

So we're delivering our Snap solution through AWG out to their member retailers.

So we've got a few of those that are on board, if not to be on board soon.

But I would say probably the best example of a full activation is Berkshire Brothers in Texas.

They actually serve Texas and Louisiana.

So they're a state where they've got multiple states, two different RPLs that we're delivering to them.

But when you go to their website or their loyalty app, you can select Snap products and then it takes them down a path of determining am I in Louisiana or am I Texas?

If they choose the Texas card, then it allows them to scan products in their store and determine what qualifies or not.

So they're really a great regional grocer that has been all in on the new SNAP compliance solution that we've created.

So if you're interested in taking a look at that, go check out Brookshire Brothers in Texas.

Yeah, I mean, that, that, that, it is pretty cool.

I checked it out yesterday and it's pretty slick.

I'm gonna put it out on social media too, because I think it's really cool for everyone to see exactly what you're talking about when you talk about how the scan, the scan app side of this works.

But I want to go back to the Arkansas thing, Kevin, so, you know, kudos to you guys because, you know, I mean, my listeners don't have to, I don't have to tell them which retailer operates out of Arkansas.

So that's a big coup when you think about how this could go nationally.

But Arkansas, is Arkansas the exception to the rule.

Do most are, do most states handle it like that, like from a state down perspective?

Or do most states handle it like you were describing, where, hey, it's just up to the retailers to try to go and figure this out.

Yeah, that's current status, Chris.

And you know, not to say that, I mean, states, in my opinion, are doing a good job of communicating the changes out to grocery retail and out to Snap shoppers.

But Arkansas is the first one to make a full commitment to allocate funds to pay for a solution to support the retailers of Arkansas and to support the Snap shoppers of Arkansas.

You know, the, the, the state had the funding through some nutrition education dollars that they wanted to use.

I think other states have access to similar funds if they're looking for ways to fund that.

But, you know, at the end of the day, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

A lot of times, you know, in any industry that we're in, when there's something innovative that happens and somebody does something first, there seems to be others that, that follow or want to follow.

So, you know, we'll see what happens.

But Arkansas is the only one and the first one at this point.

Yeah.

And I got to, I got to think, you know, at least I would, you know, hope or imagine that, you know, as this legislation starts to roll out nationally too, like, and Walmart has to think about, you know, where they're going with this as well across all those different states.

That's got to be, got to be something that will come into the equation at some point.

All right, so, Kevin, let's bring this conversation back to, you know, kind of how I tease it at the beginning in terms of GLP1s, because the merchant in me really wants to talk about that because you know, just from what we've already discussed, you know, we haven't even touched on this really.

But you know, my planograms are going to change because my sales velocity on all these items is going to change because less and less people are going to be given incentives to buy them relative to the incentives that they received before.

So, and many of those items too are also items that are declining in Usage because of GLP.

1, So my question then is, wouldn't I want to take this nutritional data approach now for so I can one, get in front of the further sales decline because that's going to happen even more precipitously now and then two, because I also want to know which products I should market and shift towards based on their nutritional panels.

What do you think of that?

I'd say the answer is yes, we should all start now.

I wish it was that simple, Chris.

You know, you're, you're, you're a retail guy, you understand it.

You know, there are always competing priorities, right?

And, but, but, but I, I will say that in my opinion it's, it's good to get ahead of this now.

And, and also I think we need to take into consideration consumer demand and shopper demand.

You know, this shoppers really do require not only personalization but hyper personalization now.

I mean they're, they want what they want, they want what they need and they want it now.

And if they don't get it from retailer A, there are other options that they're readily available and you know, those shoppers are bouncing around to go find what they want.

So I feel like, you know, the perfect model in my opinion would be take advantage of the, the opportunities that you have in your enterprise.

And I'll, I'll use a, you know, just kind of standard structure of a retailer.

Let's say you are a grocery retailer, but you also have a pharmacy.

How cool would it be if you could create some pharmacy led programs around, you know, foods that align to folks that are picking up their prescriptions, you know, and again, I understand the concern about confidentiality and data of individuals that are leveraging the pharmacy in that environment or in that situation.

But it would be in my opinion a great model to help a person picking up a diabetic medication to understand what is available for them to buy, even if they turn around and shop the store immediately.

Here are all the diabetic friendly products that are available in our store that you can buy now or if you prefer to go home and shop.

You can load them in your cart and we'll deliver them to you, whatever that looks like.

Same example with GLP1.

You know that those pharmacy LED models, to me, that's a great way to deliver that hyper personalization.

And you talk about excellent customer service.

I mean, you're taking a lot of the guesswork out for the shopper.

But to your point, you gotta have the right data to be able to make that happen.

And, you know, that's really where we feel sifter capabilities could enhance the ability of a retailer to deliver hyper personalization.

And we're confident that we can do that.

Again, the challenge is, I think, competing priorities and really just kind of getting your head around something that's innovative like that.

But if retailers did that, and there are a few that are considering it, I feel like they'll not only win in the long run, but they'll win up front.

And that might force the tide for other retailers to do it as well.

But that's just one example, you know, general merchandising.

You know, if a retailer is not doing GLP1 friendly merchandising now, I don't know if they've been paying too much attention because there are exponential growth in shoppers that are using GLP1s and it is not going to go away.

I mean, it's only those percentages are only getting higher.

So that's something that you don't really need a whole lot of data behind to make the decision.

It's like GLP1 shoppers are looking for GLP1 friendly foods.

We better have them, we better merchandise them well, because if we don't, they're going to go somewhere else to find that.

Yeah, I think they're doing it, like in mass, but not on the margins.

There's probably a lot of products that fall into the categories that are.

You're not quite sure if you want to advertise them or promote them too.

Because I actually think about my local grocery store.

I haven't seen the merchandise to it at all at this point.

And.

And it's kind of, yeah, like my brain just starts going, oh, my God, you're giving me an arsenal of new ways to talk to my consumer.

The pharmacy point's really interesting too, particularly when you think about it, the competitive dynamics of it.

I mean, Amazon just announced this week, you know, 30 minute or less delivery on GLP1 oral medications.

So, you know, they're going to be thinking about this to that degree.

But what the grocers have at their fingertips is they have a store full of products that they can offer as part of that loyalty package and that loyalty connection with their consumer.

And so, you know, Kevin, I go back to what we talked about in the beginning, too.

Like, the legislation rollout is one thing, but at the end of the day, like, you could, like, I could see groceries sitting back here and going, oh, you know, I'll just wait for my state to, you know, tell me what to do.

But at the end of the day, if you want to capitalize on this opportunity from a merchandising perspective, as well as keep in front of the legislation changes, you really have to take this approach to some degree.

I don't see how you get around it.

Am I right?

Yeah, I mean, I, I'm, I align with your thinking.

Yeah.

And, but, but, you know, I feel like the resistance is maybe just kind of falls into the category of old habits.

It's like, you know, we need, we need pilots and we need data to be able to make these decisions, which, you know, that's, that's fine.

And I totally understand that from a business perspective, but I think there are also opportunities in everybody's career or timeline where sometimes you do have to take a little bit of a risk.

And in my opinion, you know, legislation around healthy eating, legislation around food is medicine, legislation around anything tied to make America healthy again, it's more likely that that's going to happen now than it's not going to happen.

Even with a change in administration in two years, what we're hearing is that there's enough momentum behind this.

And I think over the next couple of years, what we'll probably start to see is hopefully some better health outcomes from.

Just look at SNAP as an example.

I know that that's what most states are wanting to hopefully get out of this.

SNAP state waiver initiative is okay, let's see if there's a way that we can move the needle on health by activating these state waivers within a few years.

We should be able to have some data behind that.

And if the data indicates that, hey, there actually are some good health comes around, limiting the unhealthy stuff, well, then that's only going to help it gain more momentum.

But if you're a retailer and you're kind of waiting for all that to happen, then I think you might find yourself way behind, because I think there are a lot of retailers that are on the cusp of really starting to integrate the mindset around this and buying the technology now, even though they might not use it fully today.

They certainly will use it fully down the road.

Yeah, and I worry if you're taking that, I mean, I candidly worry if you're taking that approach.

You're starting off with one foot in a hole too, because you're going to be competing against, you know, retailers on a national scale that have the technological advantages at their fingertips to go after this like we're describing it, and that's going to eat away at you over time.

All right, so Kevin, let me get you out of here on this then.

I'm curious, like, how do you think I was, like, I always love when I could have my guests put on the prediction hat.

I don't always do it, but sometimes, sometimes the conversation allows it.

If I was to ask you to put yours on, how do you think shopping for groceries is going to be different in say, five to 10 years?

Well, that's a great question.

I think if we continue to follow the trends, I think there'll be a lot more home delivery groceries where, you know, you're, you're, you're really doing all the work from home.

I mean, my gosh, you've got commitments from Amazon and Walmart and all the big guys to get you the food same day, if not within an hour.

I mean, that's just crazy to me.

Right, right.

It's amazing how they logistically figure all that out.

It was smart people that are doing that for sure.

But you know, the store of the future, if that's your question, I mean, I could see where if I'm a shopper and I'm going into my grocery store, or better stated, the grocery store that I would want to shop in would allow me to identify myself when I walk in the store where I've got my dietary profile in my loyalty app, it recognizes that when I walk in, they know exactly who I am as I'm walking down the aisle.

There are electronic shelf tags that light up for products that are a good fit for me.

There are solid promotions and incentives around those products that are good for me.

And it makes my shopping experience not only hyper personalized, personalized, but it makes it a lot easier where it's not like the old days where you had a list and you have to mark things off one at a time or one of them's out of stock.

So I feel like we're capable of doing that.

We could probably do that now in theory.

But you know, the again, competing priorities with retailers.

I know a lot of times they're just trying to survive on Thin margins.

But, but, but the technology is there to do really cool and interesting things like that.

And I would say if you're a retailer and you're thinking along the lines of hyper personalization and really just connecting and getting really sticky with your shoppers, you got to have the right data to power most all of those activations or the functionality behind that.

And we feel strongly that Sifter is unique in that part of the world.

And if you're doing anything around Food is Medicine, well, if you need help with SNAP compliance, for sure, give us a call.

But any Food is Medicine initiatives, please let us know, because we are.

We're really good at it, and we're confident that we can deliver a really great service that delivers value at a, at an equitable price.

And so that would be my request.

If you're thinking about it, let us know because we can help.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, it's funny, Kevin, you made me think about this, this experience I had.

Or I'll share an anecdote here to close the show.

I.

When I was in charge of frozen food at Target, I had the chance to walk some stores, you know, Target stores, as well as competitor stores, with the head of sales for Kraft Heinz at the time, I think it was just Heinz at the time, actually.

And I was walking with them and I said, like, what's the one question every merchant asks you whenever you do a walk like this?

And he said to me, Chris, they always want to ask me what's new.

Like, what, what, what, what do these guys have that I don't have in my assortment?

And what you just, what you just hit on from a merchandising standpoint, I think is what makes this conversation so important in context.

Where if I can get this data as a retailer, understand it, catalog it, you know, pivot it in whatever direction I want, it enables me to talk to my shopper in a new way, because then I can, especially in this digital age where everything is so personalized.

Like, I could see a world like you're describing, where not only am I showing you, like, what I have available now, but I'm showing you what you've never even seen seen before.

You know, one to one, like, hey, I know you've got this health condition, or I know these are the products you bought in the past.

Have you seen this new item that just came out from Name your CPG company or this new upstart CPG Company?

That's really cool, and that's what keeps you coming back.

And that's what keeps the experience of a grocer so special?

Because, you know, you can only get those products at that grocer the way you want them.

So I think it's really great you've inspired me to think differently, Kevin.

Um, yeah.

If people want to get in touch with you, what's the best way for them to do that?

Kevin, should they reach you on LinkedIn?

Should they go to your website?

What?

Yeah, LinkedIn's great.

But really, Kevin, billingsiftersolutions.com.

I mean, just ping me and I'll get back with you asap.

Probably shouldn't get my phone number out, but I think email is probably good.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We've had a few people do that in the.

Over the years, but, yeah, email is probably.

Probably good enough, Kevin.

Yeah.

All right, well.

Well, like I said, you.

You.

You live this, you breathe this.

I know it's really important to you personally, and so kudos to you for everything you've been trying to do, not only at Sifter, but throughout your entire career, to try to help people live a healthier life.

All right, well, that wraps this up.

Kevin, thank you for being with us.

Today's podcast was produced, of course, with the help of Ella Sirjord, and on behalf of Ella, Kevin, and myself, as always, on all of you out there, be careful out there.