Forager (April 18th, Urban Tech SF)

7/28/2019 Forager (April 18th, Urban Tech SF)

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ForagerApril 18th, Urban Tech SF

When a species forages, it's typically a given that their food comes from local sources. Until recently, people hadbeen foraging for food for thousands of years.
http://www.meetup.com/Urban-Tech-SF/events/112020032/http://www.meetup.com/Urban-Tech-SF/events/112020032/


2/28

How might we promote foraging in the city?

With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful ofcorporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buylocal these days.


3/28

What is it like to forage in the local grocery story?

I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conflicted withthemselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollarthey can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your health. Here are some examples of what I mean byconflicting messages...


4/28

Farmers market faade

By placing produce outside of the main entrancein their "fresh-from-the-farm" cratesBerkeley Bowl tries toconvey a farmer's market image just before people walk through the door. Once inside, it's just like any othergrocery chain...


5/28

Freakishly huge carrots de Mxico

Berkeley Bowl's produce travels from far away places to end up on your table: Mexico, Peru, Chile, Oregon, Nevada.While some produceartichokescome from California, at least 70% of it comes from Mexico. While the varietyand size of the produce section at Berkeley Bowl was impressive, I think it's time to explore one of the adjacentaisles...


6/28

Fatty dairy trap

Behind all thirteen of these freezer doors are hundreds of cartons of ice cream: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup,and milk fat. Let's go across town to another chain that fronts a down-to-earth image: Trader Joe's...


7/28

Convenience trap

These peeled and cut carrots succinctly illustrate Trader Joe's modus operandi: To encourage you to grab as manyover-priced and over-packaged items as possible and get the hell out. Their stores are small in comparison toothers, and in order to make up for this shortcoming they need a steady flow of customers through the checkoutlines. Bagging-up and weighing your own produce will just disrupt their precious flow. By the way, the price forthese carrots was $1.50 per package (15 ounces). The usual price for whole, unpeeled carrots is about $0.70 perpound (16 ounces).

While at Trader Joe's, I ran into a friend. She told me about another Berkeley store that has a great reputation forselling locally grown foods, Monterey Market...


8/28

Fine-print trap

The sign outside says "Bay Area: Buy Fresh Buy Local" and inside the price tags say "California". The small stickeron the aloe vera leaf says "Produce of Mexico". Are they intentionally misleading customers? Does the big signoutside set an expectation that this store cannot feasibly deliver on?


9/28

Traditional grocery aisle: A morgue for dead food

Wandering up and down a seemingly endless number of tall and narrow aisles, customers are forced to make theirchoices in isolation from each other. At best, aisles mediate customers' first impressions with thousands ofcommercial brands. Supermarket aisles are actually modeled after warehouses where the packaged and processeditems await their invariably broad distribution. This model ensures an optimal number of products per square inch,yet it de-humanizes the customers' experience.

How might we make shopping a more social activity?


10/28

Islands on the other hand, are about creating a natural, foraging-like flow through a market. Customers can easilyobserve each other's actions and food selections. Opportunities for behavior modeling as well as conversationsabout healthy choices are likely to emerge.


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The hexagon optimizes a customer's flow through a market area, while also fitting compactly next to each otherfor transport to an impromptu place, such as an outdoor farmer's market.


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Each of the six sides of the islands can hold any type of washed produce. Round foods such as grapefruits andoranges can rest on the top. A gradual 28 slope covered in a non-toxic rubber texture prevents things fromsliding onto the floor.


13/28

Pop-up one of these concept stores almost anywhere.


14/28

The pilot store could be located in a San Francisco neighborhood such as Noe Valley or SOMA. Take any cornergrocery store with its long aisles, frozen food section, and soda/beer coolers and replace them with islands. Ifthere's still enough room, build in an aquaponics area where the store can produce its own food to ofset dayswhen local growers may have slightly lower yields.


15/28

The produce on each island may be contextualized by particular food activities (cleansing, juicing, etc) and by thespecific SF Bay Area farming community from where the produce originated.


16/28

How might we create loyal, lifelong customers?

With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful ofcorporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buylocal these days.

I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conflicted withthemselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollar

they can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your health. Here are some examples of what I mean byconflicting messages...


17/28

Josie is on her way home from work and walks into our store in Noe Valley located on 24th and Diamond. Uponentering, Josie's entire being resets as the smell of fresh produce fills her nose. She notices that she suddenlyfeels much happier and relaxed.


18/28

She continues to the juice island (A) to try a free sample that a Food Ambassador is giving out. The freshly pressedjuice made from locally grown fruits and vegetables cools her mouth and throat as it flows down to her stomach.She instantly feels a rush of energy as her mouth tingles from the citrus and mango. She tells the FoodAmbassador she wants one gallon of juice. The Ambassador begins making it for her.


19/28

Josie continues to the Berkeley island (B) because she knows that every Tuesday they will have her favorite Kalefrom an urban farm that grows a particularly flavorful variety, which makes a far more satisfying salad. She alsoloves cilantro and parsley in her salad, but she doesn't see it at the Berkeley island.


20/28

Josie heads over to the cleansing island (C) where there seems to always be heaps of both cilantro and parsley.Now she feels like she got the things she needs for dinner tonight, but she always likes to explore.


21/28

Josie walks past the nearby San Francisco island (D) to see if there's anything new and interesting. As always, Josiediscovers something on the San Francisco island she has never even heard of before. A Food Ambassador explainsto Josie that a SF grower has been experimenting with varieties of dandelions and mint to create wild efects on thepalate. She buys one small edible bouquet.


22/28

Josie walks past the Marin island (E). A Marin County winery has set aside a large quantity of their grapes just forour pilot store. Each bunch of grapes has a tag attached that reads: "Free wine tasting for two". Josie grabs onebunchmostly for the wine tasting at the vineyardand sneaks a bite of a grape before she motions to one of theFood Ambassadors that she is ready to pay with her Square account.


23/28

On her way out, she walks past the juice island (A) where a Food Ambassador hands her the small jug of freshlypressed juice, which is also charged to Josie through her Square account. Josie places the jug in her clothshopping bag with her other purchases and heads home.


24/28

Food ambassador

This is a Food Ambassador. Food Ambassadors wear many hats. On any given day they could visit a local grower,tend to the in-store aquaponic system, or "work the floor" by teaching customers about the food they're eating (orabout to eat). Food Ambassadors are a kind of forager in chief.


25/28

Aquaponic system

In-Store Aquaponic Systems. Aquaponic systems allow each store to have their own unique food oferings. We arealso looking into the possibility of increasing the number of fish in the systems from 100 to 300 so we can beginofering fresh tilapia to our customers.


26/28

Urban farm

Urban Farms. Here's that urban farm in Berkeley that provides the kale Josie loves so much. The farm is actuallylocated directly above some underground BART rails, as are several of the other farms in the East Bay with whomwe work.


27/28

Fresh & Easy: FAIL

British grocer Tesco tried to reach into the US natural food market, competing with likes of Whole Foods andTrader Joes. Analysts attribute Fresh & Easys failure to their use of self-service check-out stands, which confusedconsumers used to heavy store helper presence. The chains lack of vouchers and coupons alienated price-sensitive shoppers. And the push toward ready-made meals werent compatible with local tastes.


28/28

Fishbowl discussion about the topic.

Documents

Forager (April 18th, Urban Tech SF)