April 18th, Urban Tech SF

Forager

When a species forages, it's typically a given that their food comes from local sources. Until recently, people had been foraging for food for thousands of years.

How might we promote foraging in the city?

With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful of corporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buy local these days.

What is it like to forage in the local grocery story?

I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conicted with themselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollar they can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your health. Here are some examples of what I mean by conicting messages...

Farmers market faade

By placing produce outside of the main entrancein their "fresh-from-the-farm" cratesBerkeley Bowl tries to convey a farmer's market image just before people walk through the door. Once inside, it's just like any other grocery chain...

Freakishly huge carrots de Mxico

Berkeley Bowl's produce travels from far away places to end up on your table: Mexico, Peru, Chile, Oregon, Nevada. While some produceartichokescome from California, at least 70% of it comes from Mexico. While the variety and size of the produce section at Berkeley Bowl was impressive, I think it's time to explore one of the adjacent aisles...

Fatty dairy trap

Behind all thirteen of these freezer doors are hundreds of cartons of ice cream: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and milk fat. Let's go across town to another chain that fronts a down-to-earth image: Trader Joe's...

Convenience trap

These peeled and cut carrots succinctly illustrate Trader Joe's modus operandi: To encourage you to grab as many over-priced and over-packaged items as possible and get the hell out. Their stores are small in comparison to others, and in order to make up for this shortcoming they need a steady ow of customers through the checkout lines. Bagging-up and weighing your own produce will just disrupt their precious ow. By the way, the price for these carrots was $1.50 per package (15 ounces). The usual price for whole, unpeeled carrots is about $0.70 per pound (16 ounces). While at Trader Joe's, I ran into a friend. She told me about another Berkeley store that has a great reputation for selling locally grown foods, Monterey Market...

Fine-print trap

The sign outside says "Bay Area: Buy Fresh Buy Local" and inside the price tags say "California". The small sticker on the aloe vera leaf says "Produce of Mexico". Are they intentionally misleading customers? Does the big sign outside set an expectation that this store cannot feasibly deliver on?

Traditional grocery aisle: A morgue for dead food

Wandering up and down a seemingly endless number of tall and narrow aisles, customers are forced to make their choices in isolation from each other. At best, aisles mediate customers' rst impressions with thousands of commercial brands. Supermarket aisles are actually modeled after warehouses where the packaged and processed items await their invariably broad distribution. This model ensures an optimal number of products per square inch, yet it de-humanizes the customers' experience. How might we make shopping a more social activity?

Islands on the other hand, are about creating a natural, foraging-like ow through a market. Customers can easily observe each other's actions and food selections. Opportunities for behavior modeling as well as conversations about healthy choices are likely to emerge.

The hexagon optimizes a customer's ow through a market area, while also tting compactly next to each other for transport to an impromptu place, such as an outdoor farmer's market.

Each of the six sides of the islands can hold any type of washed produce. Round foods such as grapefruits and oranges can rest on the top. A gradual 28 slope covered in a non-toxic rubber texture prevents things from sliding onto the oor.

Pop-up one of these concept stores almost anywhere.

The pilot store could be located in a San Francisco neighborhood such as Noe Valley or SOMA. Take any corner grocery store with its long aisles, frozen food section, and soda/beer coolers and replace them with islands. If there's still enough room, build in an aquaponics area where the store can produce its own food to offset days when local growers may have slightly lower yields.

The produce on each island may be contextualized by particular food activities (cleansing, juicing, etc) and by the specic SF Bay Area farming community from where the produce originated.

How might we create loyal, lifelong customers?

With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful of corporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buy local these days. I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conicted with themselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollar they can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your health. Here are some examples of what I mean by conicting messages...

Josie is on her way home from work and walks into our store in Noe Valley located on 24th and Diamond. Upon entering, Josie's entire being resets as the smell of fresh produce lls her nose. She notices that she suddenly feels much happier and relaxed.

She continues to the juice island (A) to try a free sample that a Food Ambassador is giving out. The freshly pressed juice made from locally grown fruits and vegetables cools her mouth and throat as it ows down to her stomach. She instantly feels a rush of energy as her mouth tingles from the citrus and mango. She tells the Food Ambassador she wants one gallon of juice. The Ambassador begins making it for her.

Josie continues to the Berkeley island (B) because she knows that every Tuesday they will have her favorite Kale from an urban farm that grows a particularly avorful variety, which makes a far more satisfying salad. She also loves cilantro and parsley in her salad, but she doesn't see it at the Berkeley island.

Josie heads over to the cleansing island (C) where there seems to always be heaps of both cilantro and parsley. Now she feels like she got the things she needs for dinner tonight, but she always likes to explore.

Josie walks past the nearby San Francisco island (D) to see if there's anything new and interesting. As always, Josie discovers something on the San Francisco island she has never even heard of before. A Food Ambassador explains to Josie that a SF grower has been experimenting with varieties of dandelions and mint to create wild effects on the palate. She buys one small edible bouquet.

Josie walks past the Marin island (E). A Marin County winery has set aside a large quantity of their grapes just for our pilot store. Each bunch of grapes has a tag attached that reads: "Free wine tasting for two". Josie grabs one bunchmostly for the wine tasting at the vineyardand sneaks a bite of a grape before she motions to one of the Food Ambassadors that she is ready to pay with her Square account.

On her way out, she walks past the juice island (A) where a Food Ambassador hands her the small jug of freshly pressed juice, which is also charged to Josie through her Square account. Josie places the jug in her cloth shopping bag with her other purchases and heads home.

Food ambassador

This is a Food Ambassador. Food Ambassadors wear many hats. On any given day they could visit a local grower, tend to the in-store aquaponic system, or "work the oor" by teaching customers about the food they're eating (or about to eat). Food Ambassadors are a kind of forager in chief.

Aquaponic system

In-Store Aquaponic Systems. Aquaponic systems allow each store to have their own unique food offerings. We are also looking into the possibility of increasing the number of sh in the systems from 100 to 300 so we can begin offering fresh tilapia to our customers.

Urban farm

Urban Farms. Here's that urban farm in Berkeley that provides the kale Josie loves so much. The farm is actually located directly above some underground BART rails, as are several of the other farms in the East Bay with whom we work.

Fresh & Easy: FAIL

British grocer Tesco tried to reach into the US natural food market, competing with likes of Whole Foods and Trader Joes. Analysts attribute Fresh & Easys failure to their use of self-service check-out stands, which confused consumers used to heavy store helper presence. The chains lack of vouchers and coupons alienated pricesensitive shoppers. And the push toward ready-made meals werent compatible with local tastes.

Fishbowl discussion about the topic.