In a presentation at the Food Marketing Institute Midwinter Executive Conference this year, FMI displayed a video highlighting some of the things that have changed — and some that haven’t changed — in the food-retailing landscape during the 35 years of the association’s existence. The National Association of Food Chains and the Supermarket Institute merged to form Food Marketing Institute in 1977. Robert O. Aders, a former Kroger Co. chairman, was named as the new association’s first president and chief executive officer. “Both organizations recognized that each had something the other didn’t,” Aders told SN in an interview last year. In its presentation at Midwinter, FMI highlighted how supermarkets have expanded their offerings even as consumer spending on food at retail has declined. Industry profitability, however, has remained flat for the 35 years since FMI was founded at about 1% of sales.
