By: Cathy Polley, RPh, Vice President, Health & Wellness, FMI & Executive Director, FMI Foundation

If I say the words chicken soup and tissues, images of coughing, sneezing and fever probably jump into your head. It’s true, these items do seem to pair up when you have a cold, but they might also be beneficial when you’re well—and that’s why most grocery stores carry them all year round.

Just as chicken soup and tissues are there for you when you’re sick or healthy, so too are food retailers. According to Retail Contributions to Health and Wellness, the majority of food retailers surveyed (74%) have organized their health and wellness activities to balance engagement with both well and sick customers.

In order to strike this balance, survey respondents say their health and wellness programs either have pharmacy team leadership (59%) or nutrition team leadership (50%). Once operationalized, the pharmacy teams (43%) and the nutrition teams (38%) are primary leaders of in-store health and wellness programs across the country. 

Just how are food retailers helping shoppers in all health situations? Food retailers survey respondents  report offering a variety of health and wellness services including community health events, product sampling, healthy recipes, store tours, cooking demonstrations, wellness classes, immunizations, health screenings, and more—all in addition to chicken soup, aspirin and tissues.