In a break with tradition, AFFI President Alison Boder and I agreed that an interview format might be a more interesting way to discuss the “State of Food Retail and What It Means for Frozen,” so she interviewed me on stage.

With 435 U.S. House seats up for re-election this November, Texas’ primary is just the beginning of the 2018 Midterms. According to election analyst Charlie Cook, only 72 of those 435 seats are “swing districts”- meaning electoral analysis shows they do not have strong potential to favor one political party.

The home-cooked meal has been the heart of food retail for generations. Yet for many busy families, such meals are not always realistic. A recent FMI study, Power of Foodservice at Retail, finds the average household foregoes a home-cooked dinner about two times a week. That means they either opt to go out to a restaurant, pick-up something to take home or have a meal delivered. Food retailers recognize this trend and responded to a 3.6 percent dollar growth in foodservice by allocating additional space and more staff resources.

For the past three days, we’ve been surrounded by meat at the annual Meat Conference hosted by FMI and North American Meat Institute in Nashville. As we talked to retail and supplier attendees, we heard a lot of discussion about the direction the meat/poultry industry is taking to match consumer needs. The culmination of the conference was the presentation of the annual Power of Meat 2018 survey, which shows that most U.S. shoppers lack knowledgeable about meat and poultry—including preparation, nutrition information quality standards, etc. But this lack of knowledge can be turned into opportunities for food retailers.