Not Making the Grade: A Community Evaluation of Grocery Chains‘ Impact on Los Angeles Neighborhoods November 11, 2010 www.goodgrocerystores.org A Critical Industry chains abandoning these serving the needs of Los communities. Angeles residents. The neighborhood grocery store plays a critical role in Following the 1992 civil The right to adequate stores, maintaining healthy unrest, the industry made healthy foods and community communities. Stores are the promises to reinvest in the standards are the guiding primary source of food for community. However, a report principles behind this report residents and act as economic by Occidental College found a card. The Alliance set out anchors that have historically net gain of just two stores objective standards and 1 provided good jobs and fifteen years later. A Blue surveyed 11 chains that operate benefits. Ribbon Commission on L.A.’s in the city of Los Angeles in Grocery Industry and order to assess their However, there is a Community Health, convened performance in the areas of: widening grocery divide in Los in 2008 issued a series of Angeles between wealthy • Food Access – the recommendations designed to neighborhoods with an proximity of a chain’s stores improve the industry.2 abundance of stores offering to underserved areas of Los quality products and good jobs, Angeles; and low income communities Evaluating the Chains • Store Quality – the with inadequate grocery availability and variety of Earlier this year, the options, limited products and healthy foods, condition of Alliance for Healthy and lower-quality jobs. food, cleanliness of store, Responsible Grocery Stores and overall shopping Communities like South undertook a study to build on experience; and, L.A., East L.A. and the the Commission’s work by Northeast San Fernando Valley evaluating – from the • Job Quality – wages, face a rising health epidemic perspective of residents living benefits, and employee caused by inadequate access to in food deserts – each major relations of each chain. healthy food. This is directly grocery chain’s effectiveness in related to leading national Page 2 Making the Grade Findings Overall the Alliance found three categories was of great most in need of these kinds of that no one retailer performed concern to the Alliance. The jobs. exceptionally well. Some chains Alliance found that residents Food Access offer a superior shopping had to choose between shopping environment but did not have at lower-quality supermarkets The Alliance defined food stores in food deserts. Others are that offer a limited selection of deserts as zip codes with low represented in underserved areas foods or spend scarce time and grocery density and adjusted but provide limited healthy food money going to stores outside for diet-related illness to show options and lower-quality jobs. their neighborhood. Moreover, the areas most in need of access As a result, no chain received an food deserts are less likely to to healthy food. A-rating. Particularly in have markets that offer quality Some grocery chains underserved areas, the scarcity of jobs with health benefits, though demonstrate a stronger stores earning good scores for all these communities are often commitment to serving all Food Access Store Quality Job Quality FINAL GRADE Albertsons D- A B+ C+ Food 4 Less B+ B- B B- Fresh & Easy C C D D+ Ralphs C A- B+ B- Smart & Final D B- F D Super A B+ B- B+ B Superior A- B- D- C Trader Joe’s D- A- D- D+ Vallarta C- B- F D Vons D- A- B+ C+ Whole Foods F A D C- www.goodgrocerystores.org Page 3 communities than others. Food 4 from just nine communities in Job Quality Less, Superior, Vallarta, and South and East L.A.3 With over 800 stores and Smart & Final have a number of Store Quality 70,000 workers in LA County, stores in food deserts where the grocery industry has a these stores are often the only To meet basic human and significant impact on the local option for fresh foods. neighborhood needs, grocery stores need to offer healthy foods economy. As a traditionally Absent from food deserts are and clean unionized Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, facilities. industry, many despite residents’ interest in “Stores in food deserts have With medical workers are in the shopping at these stores. a smaller selection and the data showing middle class. least offerings in terms of Conventional retailers, once a that rates of However, the common sight all over the city, some diet- healthy food options.” growth of low- have also abandoned some related road retailers and neighborhoods. These chains still illnesses are higher in low- independent markets have operate in the San Fernando income communities, the created a growing gap in job Valley, but in 2009, Vons closed availability of healthy food quality, including wages and its last store in East L.A. Kroger options is critical. benefits. has closed Ralphs brand stores in However, most stores in food Payroll data from the South L.A., leaving mostly Food deserts have a smaller selection California Employment 4 Less stores. To Kroger’s credit, and the least offerings in terms Development Department found the chain recently began much of health food options. Superior, a wage gap based on the location needed upgrades to a number of Food 4 Less and Vallarta were of employment. On average Food 4 Less stores in the least likely to have healthy workers at stores in West LA underserved areas. egg options (Omega-3 and egg earned $7,000 more a year than Some chains are also better at substitute). Finding leaner grades grocery workers at stores in East ensuring access for residents of beef was also more difficult. L.A., South L.A. and the 4 with limited incomes by The shortage of healthier Northeast San Fernando Valley. accepting Food Stamps and alternatives reduces chances for Moreover, not all retailers WIC. residents to consume a healthy offer similar benefits. While Market analysis shows that diet and fight disease and union stores offer affordable residents without adequate obesity. health coverage for part-time and grocery retail options leave their Our survey also found that full-time employees, many other neighborhoods to shop. The Los cleanliness and maintenance retailers do not have affordable Angeles Drilldown report found varied across the 32 stores. family health coverage or offer $112 million in grocery leakage benefits to part-time employees. www.goodgrocerystores.org Recommendations We hope this report card will The Alliance calls on benefits that sustain motivate company executives, grocery retailers that have families. community leaders and elected avoided or abandoned • It is the city’s responsibility officials to take actions to underserved communities to to protect the health and ensure that this critical industry review their policies and take welfare of its residents. is held to the highest standards. immediate and deliberate Much like the city ensures We call on stakeholders to make actions to rectify this situation. that all residents have power food access, quality stores and • The Alliance calls on all and running water, food is high job standards a priority. grocery retailers to strive also a critical need. The city The Alliance will continue to for higher levels of service should establish standards work with all parties to ensure to communities, including to ensure all neighborhoods that our concerns are heard in healthy options. have access to quality grocery stores, executive grocery stores and high boardrooms and at City Hall. • We ask industry executives to provide quality jobs with quality jobs for workers. Alliance Members The Alliance is a coalition of community, faith and labor leaders working to ensure that all communities have access to responsible grocery stores, and the quality foods and good jobs they provide. • AGENDA/SCOPE Corporation • LA Voice/ PICO • Alliance of Californians for • First New Christian Missionary • LA Mission College AB-540 Community Empowerment— Baptist Church Student Committee Watts Chapter • Hunger Action LA • Mama Hill’s Help • APRI • IKAR • Mount Gilead Baptist Church • Avalon Carver Community • Inner City Struggle • Progressive Jewish Alliance Center • Jewish Labor Committee • Pueblo Y Salud • CLUE-LA • Koreatown Immigrant Worker • St. John’s Well Child & Family • Coalition LA Advocates Clinic • Community Call to Action & • LA African American Women • UFCW Local 770 Accountability Public Policy Institute • Urban & Environmental Policy • Community Services Unlimited • LAANE Institute, Occidental College • Congress of California Seniors— • LA Black Worker Center LA Chapter • LA County Federation of Labor • East Los Angeles Community Citations 1 Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College. (2002) Shaffer, Amanda. The Persistence of L.A.’s Grocery Gap: The Need for a New Food Policy and Approach to Market Development. Los Angeles, CA: p. 36. 2 Feeding Our Communities: A Call for Standards for Food Access and Job Quality in Los Angeles’s Grocery Industry. A Report of the Blue Ribbon Commission on L.A.’s Grocery Industry and Community Health. July 2008. 4 Social Compact, Inc. (2008). Los Angeles Neighborhood Market Drill Down: Catalyzing Business Investment in Inner-City Neighborhoods. p. 9 5 California Employment Development Department, Third Quarter 2006 ES Data, NAICS code 44511. Wage data is from 5 zip codes in each of the four areas of East L.A., South L.A., West L.A. and the Northeast San Fer- nando Valley. About this report The eleven grocery chains evaluated in this report were graded on three criteria: food access, store quality and job quality. Food access: Grocery stores were evaluated based on whether they had stores in food desert neighborhoods and accepting Food Stamps and WIC programs. We considered food desert zip codes as those with low grocery store density per population and adjusted according to health indicators in order to define the areas most in need of healthy food options.