“We own a majority of Fresh Thyme, but not 100 percent, which is why we call it an investment interest,” Guglielmi wrote in an email. As such, Zondag said he’s done considerable research on behalf of Meijer but doesn’t speak for the organization.įor its part, Meijer largely declined to discuss specifics regarding its relationship with the Fresh Thyme brand.įrank Guglielmi, Meijer’s senior director of communications, repeated the statement that Meijer maintains an undisclosed financial interest in the specialty brand, but later clarified the company’s ownership of Fresh Thyme. Zondag’s research focuses on consumer trends within the food industry. … There’s a reason Shock Top (beer) is called Shock Top and not Budweiser.” “At that point, you plaster a different name on it. Marcel Zondag, an assistant professor of marketing at Western Michigan University, said in an interview with MiBiz. “Perhaps the group of shoppers you’re trying to target with a company that is more focused on local and fresh food are people that inherently have a dislike or are not as hot at going to shop at a humongous box store because they feel that is not the type of shopping experience they want,” Dr. While grocery industry experts insist that Meijer’s name brand continues to grow and expand to new geographic markets like Wisconsin and Minnesota, there’s a certain segment of shoppers immediately turned off by aspects of the company’s business. estimated at more than $120 billion last year. specialty grocery market, which the Specialty Food Association Inc. Meijer, which Forbes reported generates more than $16 billion in annual revenues, has good reason to diversify its offerings into the lucrative U.S. The company’s stores are also a fraction of the size of a 200,000-square-foot Meijer superstore, with most clocking in around 30,000 square feet. SE in Grand Rapids, offers a range of fresh meats and seafood, bulk foods, and minerals and vitamins, as well as organic, gluten-free and dairy-free options. For one, Meijer has long been known for having a bureaucratic corporate culture that struggles to implement innovation, according to multiple executives who have consulted with Meijer in the past and who spoke on the condition of anonymity.įresh Thyme, which operates a store at 2470 Burton St. The reasons for creating the perception of a passive investor relationship are many, sources said. Local attorneys say Meijer could be capitalizing on some esoteric tax advantages with its relationship to Fresh Thyme, but the overarching reason for the business structure - and the Meijer-Fresh Thyme brand separation - was primarily as a marketing strategy. If they said ‘Fresh Thyme by Meijer,’ you’d get a different image, so it stands to reason that they’d want to separate those brands.” “But when you look at today’s trends, that image doesn’t fit with a certain niche. “When you say ‘Meijer,’ you get a certain image,” said Bonnie Knutson, interim director in the School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University. Moreover, the specialty chain appears to serve as a skunkworks division apart from the larger Meijer organization, according to multiple sources familiar with corporate law, liquor license regulations and Meijer’s own operations.īy giving autonomy to the well-capitalized Fresh Thyme brand, which plans to have 60 stores and employ 5,000 people by 2019, Meijer likely hopes to learn how to attract customers in the growing specialty segment without going through the struggle of implementing it within its own legacy retail operation, according to one local expert. However, the notoriously buttoned-up Meijer corporate office has long denied that the relationship was deeper than a financial investment.īut through a review of public documents from multiple states where Fresh Thyme operates stores, MiBiz has learned that Meijer - along with a veteran specialty grocery executive - created the 48-store chain, which it owns through a subsidiary. The West Michigan retailer speaks publicly about being a passive investor with a financial interest in Downers Grove, Ill.-based Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, a growing regional specialty grocery chain positioned to tap into the niche of consumers focused on healthy, fresh foods. has started to look outside the big box retail format it’s known for, even if the retailer doesn’t like to admit it. W ith increasing demand for fresh, specialty groceries, Walker-based Meijer Inc. Public filings show common ownership Experts say brand separation likely a marketing tactic
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