TRENTON – October 27, 2020 – The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) is taking the lead in ensuring that the state’s grocery and food retail stores remain a lifeline for shoppers during the holidays while COVID-19 continues to factor into our everyday lives.

To accomplish this goal, NJFC developed and distributed these Holiday Safe Shopping Tips which include government mandates as well as best practices. The State of New Jersey requires all shoppers and food workers to wear a facial covering. NJFC urges customers to shop alone to reduce crowds and to practice social distancing. Other key tips for shoppers: Use your eyes to inspect items, not your hands. Also, discard single-use gloves, wipes and masks in the trash and treat employees with respect and kindness. These food retail associates are working on the frontline to ensure everyone always has access to food and supplies to have a happy holiday celebration with your family and friends.

“NJFC previously distributed a Top Ten list of Safe Shopping tips at the beginning of this pandemic. Now with a timely update, these holiday tips remind shoppers how to best navigate food retail stores as they shop for their celebrations. Since the start of this crisis, we have worked closely with our government partners, rallied behind the challenges of the food industry, kept the public informed, and supported our workforce. NJFC continues this mission for the safety and wellbeing of the residents of the state of New Jersey,” said Linda Doherty, President & CEO, NJFC.

Every year InsiderNJ releases their “Insider 100: Millennials” publication which ranks some of the most influential leaders of the next generation in politics in New Jersey. Additionally, the list includes “Millennials to Watch” which lists up-and-coming political insiders in the State.

NJFC’s Associate Director of Public Affairs Connor Schmiegel made the list. Connor joined NJFC in December 2019 just after finishing a campaign on one of New Jersey’s 2019 legislative races. He considers it a great honor to represent the frontline food retail and distribution associates who work tirelessly to feed our families.

With the appropriate guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the New Jersey Department of Health, we can prioritize safety and public health while at the same time allowing New Jersey families to celebrate Halloween. The approach outlined in these guidelines provides practical steps and ideas to follow that allow Halloween to be celebrated safely while still having fun. The key is to start planning now.

COVID-19 has overwhelmed almost every aspect of our lives. As hard as it has been for adults, arguably it has been harder for our children, both mentally and physically. Halloween is one of the biggest events of the year for families. At a time when nothing seems to be normal because of COVID-19, parents desperately want something to be fun and relatively normal for their kids. The more appropriate question is not whether to celebrate Halloween, but how can we make it as safe as possible for everyone? These guidelines help make this possible.

Leaders from New Jersey’s food retail and distribution businesses gathered virtually to address lessons learned from COVID-19, tackling topics such as supply chain challenges, shopper trends, and private label opportunities.

“This forum is a unique opportunity for the state’s leaders in the food industry to discuss challenges, collaborations, and innovations in the food space,” said NJFC President and CEO Linda Doherty. “This panel really captured the minds of our member audience and provided a pathway for food industry members to evolve during this pivotal time in the way consumers shop for food and products.”

The Trade Relations Conference hosted by the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) featured a keynote address from Jim Perkins President of ACME Markets and an expert panel discussion moderated by Nick Brown of Kraft Heinz Company and consisted of Kathryn Fair of Unilever, Kimberly Senter of Advantage Solutions, and Chris Skyers of Wakefern Food Corp.

Additionally, Kevin Gallagher and Maria Maggio of Food Trade News were honored with the New Jersey Food Council’s Max Stone Trade Relations Awards. Doherty said, “Kevin Gallagher and Maria Maggio for their integrity and commitment to promoting trade relationships. This recognition represents our appreciation of their outstanding ability to foster trade partnerships and provide a spirit of camaraderie and friendship to our close knit trade community.”

The conference concluded with an industry-wide golf outing at Old York Country Club, Chesterfield, NJ.

The New Jersey Food Council is the Garden State’s preeminent trade association representing almost 400 companies including 1,200 retail food stores, wholesalers, manufacturing and service companies that collectively employ more than 200,000 associates in NJ. For more information, visit www.njfoodcouncil.com.

The event was featured by The Shelby Report.

by Mary Margaret Stewart, Shelby Report staff writer

For grocers in New Jersey, the early craze of COVID-19 has “settled down tremendously,” said Linda Doherty, president and CEO of the New Jersey Food Council.

“You no longer see people hoarding products or certain food items and toiletries, and so that makes a big difference as the supply chain catches up to itself.” 

Still, the food council has been working diligently to serve its members during the ongoing pandemic, especially as the holiday season approaches. Plus, colder weather equals less large, outdoor functions that are COVID-friendly.

“In New Jersey, we still only have a 25 percent indoor capacity for restaurants and a lot of limitations on public gatherings,” Doherty said. “As you look toward the fall holidays going into the winter holidays…that’s a busy time of year already in a supermarket…but because you’ll still have a lot of restrictions for indoor dining, you’ll see greater demand on the food retail industry again.

“Something I’m working on right now…we’ve put together some Halloween guidelines for the public. And now we’re also putting together some holiday shopping guidelines.”

Nonetheless, Doherty commends New Jersey’s retailers for the strong programs they already have in place for maintaining social distancing and keeping shoppers and employees alike safe.

“Our members have done just a tremendous job in such a short period of time that they’re prepared for the next wave of business,” she said. “They’re also appropriately ordering  products for the holidays…they’ll be ready for the customers who are coming to shop for their holiday goods and their family favorites.”

And while the grocers have been doing their part to keep local communities fed, the NJFC has been advocating for its members in this “COVID world,” Doherty said. A recent accomplishment for the association is a single-use bag ban bill, leaving Doherty “happily exhausted.”

“This bag bill – it’s not only monumental for New Jersey, but it’s the most progressive bag ban in the country,” she said. “We are the first state to ban single use plastic and paper bags. No other state has done this.

“One of the reasons why we pushed for this is because, right now in New Jersey, we have about 110 independent local ordinances that are all conflicting. It’s just such a patchwork of different bag ordinances that we needed one uniform standard for our members.

“And the cost of paper bags is going up, so this will be a significant savings in New Jersey for our members.”

To read about Pennington Quality Market, an independent grocery store and NJFC member in New Jersey, click here.

The original article can be found here.