FMK

Thought I'd change it up and act like a real blogger, instead of just giving my weekly WRs (admittedly, they've been pretty weak recently. Oops.)

Looking at the title, I know what you're thinking. Nope, those three letters don't stand for "F*** My (hmmm... what could that K stand for?)"

Nope. Not it.

If you're part of a select group of people who spent 4 years jostling between the borders of Philadelphia and Montgomery County, a group forced to take 9 mandatory credits of Theology and Philosophy, and had these 3 letters represented on several lines of your college transcript, you know what it stands for.

Food Marketing (or FMK to those in the know) at St Joseph's University. A pricey degree that I really didn't enjoy earning, which still proudly sits behind the couch, in the envelope I received it in, the day of graduation a decade ago. That's a whole 'nother blog entry, the thoughts of a college do-over. I now work in an industry doing a job that's completely irrelevant to what I went to school for and it's going swell. No sarcasm there. I found myself a real sweet gig.

That's not to say I don't hold some kind of quasi-expertise in the almighty FMK subject matter. Allow me to share some wisdom. Subject matter: That behemoth of a grocery shopping experience also known as Wegman's, which opens near me in less than a month.

Can we say overwhelming? If you've never been to one, look at their website. YouTube some videos (I love turning nouns into verbs in this tech age). There are so many departments within departments, I couldn't find something as simple as a single chocolate chip cookie without viewing their 'by the pound' cookie bar selection this past weekend while visiting a Wegman's in Jersey.

While impressive and varied, magnificent and flawlessly maintained, I can't help to think the average family is not gonna be down with rollin up to the local madhouse Wegman's on a weekend to tackle the regular weekly shopping. It depends what demographic we're focusing on though; the 30-55yr old business man won't want to pull into the gourmet food circus on a Friday afternoon coming home from work to pick up hot dog buns and iced tea. The retired couple in their 70s will probably fall over looking at the prices in the prepared foods section, assuming they're on some sort of fixed income. The people most likely to really get on board are those like me- people in their 30s and anyone else with some disposable income to throw around and the word 'foodie' on their personal resume.

It has to cost some big bucks to keep the machine running. Food costs alone are insane, and that's coming from personal experience maintaining a weekly ledger when I worked in a bakery for several years. Unless your ordering and prediction of consumer purchases are spot on (and you're a part time psychic) you're writing off a chunk of that to the dreaded column known as 'shrink'. Loss. Waste. You not only waste ingredients, you waste the labor it costs to wash/chop/cook/bake/decorate/ship these products. I remember a boss of mine, a nice but completely scatterbrained woman, botching an order one Christmas and us throwing out about $700 worth of cakes. Not just $5 generic chainstore cakes, these were costly french pastry items that took time and money to create. It was a total mess, and a complete shame.

This isn't a prediction that Wegman's won't do well. Obviously they choose their locations carefully and keep expanding, so something is working for them. From a food marketing standpoint, and considering the economy is still limping from injuries sustained in 2008, what effect will farmer's markets, co-ops, and home gardens have on giants like Wegman's? Gas is nearing $4 a gallon. The middle class have become cost cutting connoisseurs the past few years. Is there some extra scratch in the bank to splurge on 8 varieties of hot wings, pre-cut veggies for grilling, and all the other extras which makes Wegman's stand out from the other not-so-fancy competitors?

Stay tuned... I'm not finished with this topic yet