Healthy Living Issue

Healthy living. It's not simply a goal anymore that your customers want to achieve. It's a marketing message that settles down to the core of what your customers aspire to be.

Healthy living. It's not a diet. Or a pill. Or an exercise regime. It is a way of life. Although fresh, real and clean translates to healthfulness, research revealed in a report from The Hartman Group showcases the strength of the gourmet industry. It would appear that what was niche and fringe when the term “gourmet” began being bantered about 40 years ago is now a trendy, hip practice. Local foods, quality ingredients, an ingredient label you can understand ... all are in vogue these days, and consumers are eating it all up.

The Hartman Group also notes that consumers are balancing health concerns with pleasure, believing that deprivation is unnecessary and even silly, and that “cheating” on occasion is good for the soul. Well, it's about time.

You can read more about the trends in healthy living with the group's full report on page 11.

We've continued to wrap the healthy story up in a nice package for you throughout the issue. In this, our inaugural Healthy Living issue, we've trolled the waters for healthy snacks, cooking tools and more.

You can also discover more of these great products at the March Natural Products Expo West (preview page 4) in Anaheim, Calif. The show always has a great educational package for retailers just learning about natural and organic products, as well as informative sessions for the pros who have been out there walking the aisles for years.

The trade-only event will be held March 8-11, 2012, at the Anaheim Convention Center and will play host to over 3,000 exhibits showcasing new products. Natural Products Expo West brings together the latest and fastest-growing trends, unveiling of product launches, and the thought and entrepreneurial leaders across the categories of natural and specialty foods and beverages, organics, supplements, health and beauty, natural living, and pet products. This year's keynote speaker is Paul Greenberg, author of The New York Times best-seller “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food” and a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine. Ziggy Marley will be the entertainment at the show's live music party; he is also launching his own natural brands at the show, Coco'Mon and Hemp Rules.

In the meantime, you probably already have a wealth of merchandise in your current inventory to begin marketing a healthy lifestyle story. Equipment such as juicers, pressure cookers, electric kettles and sustainably crafted products fit the bill.

Our goal is to provide you with the marketing materials to create your own healthy story in your store. Your customers already aspire to a healthier lifestyle, it's up to you to lead them down the road of happy health and wholesome, gourmet living.