NGA Foundation Unveils Student Case Study Competition Topic
The NGA Foundation, the 501(c)3 nonprofit arm of the National Grocers Association, has revealed the topic for the 2025 Student Case Study Competition, sponsored by UNFI: “A Path to Sustainable Success.” For the competition, student teams will create action plans for how the participating retailer, Aspen, Colo.-based Clark’s Market, can minimize its environmental footprint and make the business case for sustainability. The competition will take place during The NGA Show, scheduled for Feb. 23-25, at Caesars Forum Convention Center, in Las Vegas.
“Clark’s Market is honored to be the focus of this year’s student competition,” noted Tom Clark, president and CEO of the retailer, which operates 11 stores in Colorado, Utah and Arizona. “We look forward to learning the creative ways that students will demonstrate the operational impacts of sustainability and how initial investment costs will balance out in the long term.”
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Hosted annually by the NGA Foundation, the Student Case Study Competition enables college students from across the United States to come up with solutions to an issue currently affecting independent grocers. The program allows students to interact with an independent and gain real-life experience. Participants go through three rounds of judging from food industry professionals, with the winners and their schools receiving a cash prize.
In 2025, students will consider questions such as the most important factors when starting a food waste mitigation initiative and the metrics to gauge success; how to optimize product assortment, placement and signage to educate customers about sustainable choices; and what relevant partnerships can be forged across the grocery industry and supply chain to achieve sustainability goals.
“UNFI is proud to continue its support for this program, which is important to attracting talent and further developing leadership in our industry,” said Matt Echols, NGA board member and chief corporate affairs officer at Providence, R.I.-based UNFI, which is returning as the competition’s title sponsor.
Each year, an independent retailer is chosen as the subject of the competition, providing a budget and relevant details for the students. Among the previous retailers are Niemann Foods, Dierbergs, Woodman’s Food Markets, Karns Quality Foods and Buehler’s Fresh Foods.
Washington, D.C.-based NGA is the national trade association representing the retail and wholesale community grocers that comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry. Providence, R.I.-based UNFI delivers a wide variety of products to more than 30,000 customer locations throughout North America, including natural product superstores, independent retailers, conventional supermarket chains, e-commerce retailers and foodservice customers. The largest publicly traded grocery distributor in America, the company is No. 22 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
