Grocery Industry Report Card Rev

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

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