A Strong Foundation

The National Grocers Association's new CEO, Peter Larkin, plans to build on the accomplishments of his predecessor.

This past July, Peter Larkin, former president and CEO of the California Grocers Association (CGA), took the helm of the National Grocers Association (N.G.A.) as its president and CEO following the retirement of Tom Zaucha, who had led the Arlington, Va.-based trade group for 28 years.

Before starting his own government relations consulting firm in 2008, Larkin was president and CEO of the Sacramento-based CGA, where he worked as the trade group's chief legislative advocate, chief liaison with fellow regional and national associations, and chief media spokesman. His other responsibilities included overseeing the association's annual convention, educational programs, publications, member services and human resources. Larkin was also the president of the CGA Educational Foundation and an officer of the California Shopping Cart Retrieval Corp. (a for-profit subsidiary of CGA).

Prior to joining the CGA, Larkin was VP of state government relations and environmental affairs for Food Marketing Institute (FMI) in Washington. His retail experience also includes managing government and media relations programs for the Cincinnati-based Kroger Co.

While his career history certainly has prepared him well for his role as N.G.A.'s new chief, he'll be the first to admit that he arrives during a challenging time for the independent grocer, but feels the strong foundation built by his predecessor is the perfect launching pad to take the association to the next level, as Progressive Grocer Independent learned during a one-on-one interview with Larkin.

PG: Tell us the state of the industry and how it relates to the independent grocer.

Peter Larkin: We live in interesting times. We're close to what could be very important election at the national level [The interview took place before the recent midterm elections-ed.], and even though we're not electing a president, we have some very important congressional elections that could be a report card on the Obama administration to date. There's a very good chance that the house may switch from Democratic control to Republican control, and less of a chance, but still a possibility, that the Senate could shift, so everyone will be watching very carefully, because what happens in November could have a major impact not only on N.G.A.'s legislative agenda, but on the business community in general.

There are a lot of uncertainties about some of the policies coming out of Washington. I can tell you from my experience here at the N.G.A. for the last couple of months, there is deep concern over the health care reform legislation. Health care reform ranks as the top concern among our membership, and I think rightly so, because there are so many questions yet to be answered about how the law will be implemented.

We have a relationship with a law firm that has experts on health care issues, and they are in high demand among our members to help sort out how health care legislation can impact their companies, their employees and decisions they have to make. Unfortunately, there are more unanswered questions than there are answers at this point — anywhere from 70 percent to 80 percent of their questions have gone unanswered.

And that uncertainty — not only with health care reform, but with the other initiatives coming out of Congress — makes it difficult to know what the future will mean to the bottom line of their businesses.

After Congress [returned from] its August recess, all of its attention turned to the Bush tax cuts and whether or not these cuts will be extended, to whom they'll be extended and for what period of time. It's difficult to run a business when you don't understand what the tax implications are going to be going forward, what your responsibilities under health care reform will be, whether or not the economy is going to turn around, and they are looking to Washington to give them a clear and concise message about how they're going to address this situation.

Health care is the best example of that, but there are a lot of other issues. What's going to happen with immigration reform? Many people think that immigration issues only impact the border states, but I think every one of our members ought to be concerned with them. What's going to happen to the death tax? The list goes on.

PG: What kind of consumer and industry trends are impacting the industry, and what's N.G.A.'s role in helping its members address these trends?

Larkin: I think the top consumer trend impacting our industry isn't going to come as a big surprise, but given the state of our economy, value shopping is an important trend. Have we experienced a sea change in the way people shop grocery stores? If the economy turns around, will this trend reverse to what we considered usual, or is this a permanent shift? How do we help? Our emphasis is on education, and, to the extent that we can be the eyes and ears of the industry, gather data, seek industry experts to help our members sort through that information, and provide some clarity as to where the consumer is going when it comes to the whole value shopping issue. That's one of the most important things we can do right now.

Another issue is trust, consumers' lack of trust in the business community in general, especially after what happened to this country's financial system. The question is, do they trust the independent grocer? We think they do. We are closer to the customer, as we're not a big business; we are small businesses, we have our finger on the pulse, and I think that we can maintain the consumer's trust.

Health and wellness is another key consumer trend. Again, our goal would be to provide educational resources and guidance for our members. Certainly, at our Executive Management Conference and convention workshops, we'll focus and try and provide some guidance on health and wellness.

I think that our members are uniquely positioned to provide some solutions in the healthy food arena by working with public policy makers to address the food desert issue, as well as by opening stores in some of the urban and rural food deserts in the U.S.

Then there is mobile and social marketing, and new ways to connect to consumers using emerging technology. Our members are certainly cognizant that they need to do it; the question is, what is the best way to leverage these new platforms? That's where N.G.A. can help, because we have among our membership people who are out front leading the way, experimenting with new technology, being the pioneers, and we have the ability through share groups and convention workshops, through our website and all of the various electronic publications we have, where we can share some of these successes and failures, and find solutions for some of the roadblocks people have run into.

PG: What about sustainability?

Larkin: Energy costs were second on the list of concerns among independent grocers, according to research from our just-released 2010 Independent Grocers Survey. We work closely with EPA to provide members with information and guidance about programs like Energy Star, GreenChill and LEED certification. Again, we also do this through our convention workshops, N.G.A. TV, articles that we publish online and so on.

We make sure that the independent understands that many of these programs, while making retailers more environmentally friendly, also help reduce costs in the process. We also guide them on what they can do in their stores, such as recycling plastic bags, earth-friendly cardboard and innovative packaging materials. With our wholesalers, and to a lesser extent but not excluding our retailers, the whole transportation area is a key area for sustainability efforts such as using efficient fuel and consolidating deliveries.

PG: What does N.G.A. offer from a market leadership standpoint upon which you can build?

Larkin: I like the way you phrased the question "upon which you can build," because I am very fortunate to now be leading an organization that I think has one of the strongest foundations of any trade association I've had the opportunity to work for, and I credit Tom Zaucha and the staff and board leadership for 28 years of understanding what the focus and mission of this organization is, and that is to be the voice, to speak for and provide resources for the independent grocer and the wholesalers that serve them.

So, there is a strong foundation, but, yes, of course we can build on that. A lot of what will come out in our strategic planning and in our needs assessment will address that topic specifically. I think it will always be important to address education. Our independents and wholesalers have different educational needs than chain grocers or retailers in other segments of the food industry.

We also have a very strong offering in terms of front end checkout solutions for our members, through our partnerships with Pan-Oston and FirstData. Our members can really look to us for expertise in what is the latest and greatest for the front end of the store, where all of the transactions take place, and arguably one of the most important parts of the whole food distribution system. We are also strongly positioned to help our members in terms of financial management, family business issues, and I can't emphasize enough our voice in the government relations arena.

"Our emphasis is on education, and to gather data and seek industry experts to help our members sort through that information, and provide some clarity."

—Peter Larkin, N.G.A.