Grocery Update # 26: Regenerative Finance and Food System Change.

Also: Jersey's Freshest Specialty Grocer. CVS Workers on Strike. How to Spot Union Grown Produce.

Discontents: 1. Regenerative Finance and Food System Change. 2. How To Buy Union Grown Produce. 3. Jersey’s Freshest Specialty Grocer. 4. Why CVS Workers Are On Strike. 5. Tunes

1. Regenerative Finance and Food System Change.

There are two huge systemic hurdles for real food industry change. The first is a highly concentrated and extractive CPG/wholesale/retail sector oligopoly that sucks up a disproportionate share of value. We talk about this a lot. The other massive hurdle is the financing to fund long term shifts to better supply chains and food production methods, instead of just business-as-usual short term profiteering and wealth concentration. In terms of this finance puzzle, some investors are starting to rise to the occasion, and watching that shift is fascinating.

One of the best places to see this in action is the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum. Their conference, like the regenerative food movement, is full of contradictions and positive potential. First, centering the capitalists (called “capital holders” in polite company) in food system change can be problematic for a few reasons, namely that their wealth and influence are still dependent on the folks in the trenches doing the work to build products and enterprise value. And questions remain of who has access to capital, how they are required to deploy it by their limited partners and shareholders, and what their biases, priorities, and recoupment timelines are, especially in a society with savage inequalities of class, race and gender. But moving some of the more enlightened capitalists to the right side of history is better for everyone in the long term. Even if it can be… awkward.

And deciding on what constitutes “regenerative” remains a challenge. Thankfully, the RFSI team has compiled a list of relevant standards and certifications for the regenerative food landscape. Building on this contradiction, there is a growing movement to platform and support CPG brands that use regenerative and regenerative organic production methods, such as Wildway, Tree-Range Farms, SIMPLi, GoodSAM, PBC, Hickory Nut Gap, Sol Simple, White Leaf Provisions, and Traditional Medicinals. While ranching and livestock attracts an overabundance of regenerative sector hype and controversy, plant-based and multi-ingredient products seem to be gaining more market share. And RFSI leader Sarah Day Levesque has published key learnings of the event, each of which could be the subject of a graduate thesis in itself (hint, hint biz school folks): Consumer Demand and CPG Play a Critical Role But Need More Attention; The Missing Middle is Being Recognized; Proving Economic Viability Still Needed to Drive Expansion; and It’s Never Too Late to Consider a Systems-Based Approach to Investing.

Our colleague Eve Cohen attended RFSI and has generously shared her observations and insights with The Checkout Grocery Update. Eve Cohen is Co-Founder and CEO, Marcellus Foods.

“I’m still digesting an incredible week in Denver for the Regenerative Food Systems Investment Forum. My main takeaway? The regenerative movement is about people as much as it is about soil. Diverse small and mid-sized farmers across regions are calling for recognition within the regenerative movement. These farmers not only steward the land but also sustain livelihoods and enable communities—especially rural ones—to thrive. If we want a resilient food system, we must establish a definition of "regenerative" that works across bioregions and prioritizes equitable prosperity, not just soil health.

“One insight from has stayed with me: food crops only account for 5.4% of U.S. agricultural acreage. When I asked why focusing on food crops still matters, Emma Fuller of Fractal Agriculture’s response was simple yet profound: "Because of people. Everyone eats. Focus on people."  

“The energy and enthusiasm around middle infrastructure at the forum was inspiring. Rex Raimond of Transformational Investing in Food Systems led a powerful discussion that highlighted the opportunities for collaboration in aggregation, distribution, and processing to unlock market access for regional farmers, building resilience and enabling positive outcomes. Alisa Knapp and David Cooper shared their “Triad of Success” framework, emphasizing that when farmers, investors, and innovators align, the middle of the value chain transforms. Supply and demand for regenerative ingredients come into balance turning a bottleneck into a catalyst for change. It’s clear that investments in upstream infrastructure must translate into viable, scalable opportunities for regenerative businesses in CPG, retail, and hospitality.

“We also need to rethink our reliance on consumer choice as the driver of change.”

“Large institutions—K-12 schools, hospitals, universities—are critical channels for moving nutrient-dense, regenerative ingredients into communities. Organizations like Eat Real Certified (led by the incredible Nora LaTorre) and Chef Ann Foundation are doing incredible work reshaping school meal programs and driving meaningful policy changes that impact lives every day.

“It was thrilling to see so much conversation at the forum around creative financing vehicles to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture. I am excited to see more attention paid to succession planning, employee ownership models, and alternatives to traditional exits. These models hold the key to creating viable regenerative businesses rooted in their communities for the long term.

“I left the forum feeling encouraged by the momentum—but also keenly aware of how much work lies ahead. If we can align across the value chain and rethink how we define success, we can create a food system that works for the land, for farmers, and most importantly, for people.”

2. How To Shop For Union Grown Produce.

The United Farmworkers (UFW) union has published a brief guide on produce varieties and brands that are grown by union labor.

Why should you care? Many farmworkers are immigrants, undocumented or H-2A guest workers and don’t have the full labor protections that many of us take for granted. They are under constant threat of deportation and endure sexual violence, harassment, bigotry and wage theft on the job. They pay billions in taxes. They are ridiculously underpaid and work long hours in conditions that many of us can’t imagine: through brutal heat and cold, dark mornings, or in mud and ice and torrential rain. All to make sure we can eat. No one can survive without farmworkers. Farmworkers are essential. “Farm workers under UFW contract enjoy good wages, benefits & working conditions. When you purchase agricultural products, please help farm workers maintain hard won victories in the fields by looking for these labels.”

3. Jersey’s Freshest Specialty Grocer.

Livoti’s is a family owned specialty grocer with a few locations near the Jersey Shore. I love the Jersey Shore. In fact, I am going to throw down right now and say I love New Jersey. Yes. I am a New Yorker by birth. I lived in Texas for 20-odd years. But New Jersey is a special place. Diverse, both heavily industrial and oddly pastoral, lots of dense cities and sprawling parks. And of course, the beaches. Jersey Fresh. Jersey Strong. Hidden in a highway strip mall near Kevin Smith’s rapidly gentrifying, diverse, blue collar hub of Red Bank, Livoti’s captures so much of what makes the Garden State an underappreciated gem.

It's nice to walk into an entryway that welcomes you with a big display of imported pasta. Not talking cheap potato chips and seltzer in the foyer here. And not just your standard issue penne or elbow cuts either. Legit bronze die cut trofie, girelle, caserece, alongside some more familiar fusilli and farfalle (AKA, the varnishkes in kasha varnishkes). And gnocchi, some taralli crackers and the carnaroli rice for risotto. And I haven’t even walked into the store for gawd sakes.

Flanking the doorway is a powerstack of canned tomatoes. At least a pallet worth of mixed varieties, vertically organized by brand. No Delmonte and Hunt’s. Nope. Piles of Cento, La Fede, Pastene, Sclafani, Tuttorosso, the more vowels the better. Real Italian-style plum tomatoes, maybe even some from the San Marzano slopes of Mount Vesuvius. Still the best tomatoes for cooking. And ranging from 2/$5 to the low $3.00 range, not a bad price for the quality.

The ceiling held hanging wooden pergolas laced with faux grapes, grapevines and small wicker baskets, flanking thoughtfully placed track lighting to make the real grapes and apples almost sparkle. The pergola continued over and around the cash registers, giving the checkout a comforting, intimate space for you to hand over your hard earned dollars. Please take my money you charming bastards.

Produce was, how do I put this… tastefully merchandised.

Every fruit neatly stacked, rotated, polished and bright. Merchandising is skilled work, the roots of which go back thousands of years, as I have written, to the souks, bazaars, plazas, open air markets. That was the vibe here. The skills, the legacy.

A few rows of produce bins, with ample cross merchandising space below for high margin, high turn, non-perishable canned and bottled goods in complementary categories, like croutons, cranberry sauce, olive oil, paper plates. A packed salad cooler, split between pre-bagged and in-house made leafy options, led off the lengthy wet rack. Fresh olives in a crate. I have actually never seen fresh olives like this. I guess you are supposed to brine them yourself? Cool, but sounds like too much work. I am anti-DIY these days.

Speaking of not doing it yourself, a huge labor saving section of pre-cut, chopped, bagged and packaged vegetables for all your cooking needs. Carrots, onions, garlic, squash, broccoli, brussells, snow peas, zucchini noodles, cabbage, all recipe ready. Eve Cohen would approve. Investors! Stop throwing your money at high-risk, bullshit food tech and livestock-centered regenerative systems and start investing in actual food, made from real, tasty, nutrient dense and easy to use plants, that are cut, chopped, shredded and minimally processed to save us work in the kitchen. Tastes great, more filling. Real Food from actual plants, not cattle feed-adjacent meat analogues laced with special sauce excreted from genetically modified microbes that are, ahem, *impossible* to digest.

The wet rack ended in a neat section of leafy greens, leeks, broccoli, all deep green, fresh and adjacent to a specialty meat case with all sorts of tubular, salt cured, artisanally packaged and hand cut pork products. Not my thing, too treif. But this is a specialty market, so it comes with the territory.

The cheese island on the other hand was epic. Enough to make Kroger-owned Murray’s ripen with envy. A four sided case with cheese cutter staff in the center, each side was packed to the brim with brie, asiago, fresh, warm mozzarella bundles, cheddar, fontina, gouda, Manchego from goats, cows, sheep. Cheese is so crazy. Literally salted, slowly rotting ungulate milk, consumed and metabolized by ambient microorganisms into this endless range of calorie, nutrient and umami-dense options. Did I make that sound gross? Lol.

Across from the cheese, a more than respectable olive bar, with all the usual suspects. Red peppers, artichokes, mini mozzarella balls, soppressata salad, all anchored by a 6 foot 5 store manager looking like an extra from Goodfellas, glaring at me until I warmly thanked him for what a wonderful store he had here. I fear no man, but I don’t want any trouble. I was on a mission. To find my son some authentic gluten free Italian food. And around the corner from that olive bar scene, my reason for the visit, my destination category, was there. A full upright cooler of gluten free Italian entrees. Why was this so important? I grew up on Bronx Park East, a few blocks from Morris Park and its sundry best in class pizzerias, and a short bus ride to Belmont, where A Bronx Tale took place. East Coast Italian is one of my soul foods. But finding the authentic stuff gluten free? Not easy.

But this gluten free assortment was on the money.

Chicken parm. Eggplant parm. Penne a la Vodka. Eggplant parm, but vodka style. Alfredo. Rollatini. Garlic and olive oil fettucini. Sicilian rice balls. The goods. Apparently, the owner’s kid has Celiac Disease, so they take this stuff seriously. I filled my basked with entrees, some of which my son never had before from a real Italian joint. Truly good score.

Of course, for the normies out there who can actually metabolize gluten, there were ten times more options. Lucky fuckers. Livoti’s obviously specializes in oven ready, prepared takeout meals and ready to eat options. Several large coolers full of them, with dozens, if not over a hundred varieties, with every square inch of spare cooler space packed with cross merchandising of salt and pepper, breadcrumbs, seasonings, more non-perishable gross margin boosters. This ready to eat category must be a huge chunk of the business, probably 20-25% of store sales, operating with a high margin, high shrink proposition drawing customers in with gravitron-like attractive forces balanced out by smart, dense, margins conscious, labor-intensive New York City-style merchandising.

The meat and poultry sections were clean, fresh smelling, brightly colored and well stocked. Evenly split between vaguely feedlot-produced cuts and higher priced, higher attribute hormone, antibiotic free, grass-fed and organic options, including a special feature of Bell & Evans. The sausage section was justifiably enormous, all freshly ground and packed in house under the Livoti’s label. The fresh seafood section was gorgeous, small and tightly stocked with shellfish, shrimp, fresh cut filets. There was not much info on sourcing and how much came from ocean bottom scraping trawlers versus locally-owned and more sustainably line and hook independent operators, but the store made you assume it was the latter.

The store had a full freezer section of fruits, vegetables, entrees, pizzas, but what caught my eye were the fresh frozen pasta varieties like shells, tortellini, ravioli and gnocchi, as well as a full door of gluten free entrees, appetizers and snacks. We snagged some gluten free spanakopita because I grew up on that stuff and I wanted my son to experience my favorite Greek appetizer/snacks. Growing up with food sensitivities is not easy, so it should at least be enjoyable and fun. Spanakopita for all. Now if only someone could make a gluten free baklava, my life would be complete…

Milk pricing for gallons was high but still lower than a recent visit to Walmart, at 4.99 for conventional. The dairy section was quite adequate, but probably a bit too expensive to be the main reason for shopping here. Likewise, the 6 or 7 aisles of ambient grocery products. A full assortment across 50 or 60 categories, soda, seasonings, salty snacks from Frito Lay, pantry loaders from Campbells, Heinz, Woeber’s, Ken’s, Alessia, Colavita and the prototypical KeHe neighborhood grocery assortment, plus plenty of bagged grains and canned beans. But prices were silly, as if to say, “we have trapped you here between our gluten free rollatini, imported pasta and stunningly fresh seafood, why don’t you pad our margins and buy some $7 cocoa puffs and $6 jars of mustard? Suckahs.”

But once you evaded that 300 or so linear feet of low temptation, high margin consumer packaged goods, you still had the bakery, the Pasticerria. Not low temptation. High glycemic, high margin, high shrink. A table of fresh pound cakes, whole and in their baking pans, or pre-sliced in plastic cartons. I did not know pound cakes were still so popular, who still eats so much pound cake? A wall of cupcakes and a glass cooler of fully loaded, swirled frosting glazed, fruit dotted cakes and pastries, tiramisu, chocolate, carrot. Macarons. A wall of packaged cookies, several varieties of black and whites, florentines, linzers, pignolis, red velvets, biscotti, butter, jelly dipped, reginas, baklava, birds nests, and then an assortment of neopolitans, cannolis, cream puffs and cheesecakes likely peer to peer with Veniero’s best offerings. Plus cello-wrapped gift packs, tied off with a bow. And then yet more fresh baked cookies in their own little corner nook, eye level with our inner 6 year olds, another couple dozen varieties of all shapes, colors and flavors. I have been to so many a stellar, family owned Italian, Chinese, Kosher, Mexican or Indian pastry shop, but damn if Livoti’s doesn’t swing for the fences here. Why get that stuff at Acme or Shaw’s? If you need a pastry, support a locally-owned or cooperative bakery. Dammit.

And the endcaps were not shabby either. A full upright of Livoti’s imported pasta, Teflon-die cut, but a step up from Ronzoni. Filipe Berio sauces and olive oils flanking a standard specialty olive oil set with all of the KeHe and Chex greatest hits, like Cento, Barberi, Paesano, Partanna and Colavita. And the seasonal end, in this case Halloween, all spooky and campy, at least through 11 pm on All Hallow’s Eve, when it will inevitable be switched out for the red and amber, stuffing and broth loaded, feathered and pilgrim buckle hat-bedecked, Thanksgiving assortment. I. Can’t. Wait.

Even past the pergola shaded cash registers, more merchandising. Joe’s Teas leading a couple metro racks of higher end ready to drink beverages. And a locked display of Livoti’s branded swag, in case you need an “Italian Princess” jersey or a “My Cannoli Is Bigger Than Yours” hoody, because not everything need be so tasteful.

The real specialty here, though, is the skilled work, the merchandising.

The food preparation, the orchestration and lighting, the thoughtfulness and care put into making the shopping experience sing. Livoti’s staff was present throughout the store, answering questions, touching up displays, ringing up shoppers, prepping dishes, cutting meat, avoiding the glowering gaze of The Manager, my dude, chill. It is a labor intensive operation. The work is not easy. Sometimes exhausting, but vital and essential to making sure shoppers can have the best possible food for their pantries, their families, their weeknights and holidays. Under appreciated, but overachieving, locally loved, scrappy and full of heart. Just like the Garden State.

4. Why CVS Workers Are On Strike In California.

UFCW Local 770 and 324 members have gone on strike at seven CVS pharmacies in Southern California. The strike is set to continue expanding throughout California. Last month, nearly 7,000 CVS Pharmacy workers authorized their bargaining team to call for an unfair labor practice strike.

CVS workers are protesting the company's Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs). In August, UFCW Locals in California representing CVS workers filed unfair labor practice charges against CVS for unlawful surveillance of workers, retaliation for union activity, and prohibiting employees from engaging in union activity. The UFCW CVS bargaining committee, made up of members from eight UFCW Locals representing CVS workers across California, has been in negotiations with the company since May, trying to reach a tentative contract agreement that gives workers fair wages, safe staffing levels, and affordable health insurance.

Throughout contract negotiations, hundreds of CVS workers, customers, and union members from across the country have taken action by holding rallies, gathering petition signatures, and calling on the company to bargain in good faith and reach a fair and reasonable contract agreement with its workers.

The average CVS clerk makes less than $20 an hour and can’t afford to buy insurance from CVS, a health insurance company. Meanwhile, CVS is one of the most profitable healthcare companies in the country, made a profit of $11 billion in 2023, and paid its CEO over $21 million last year. Pharmacy Technicians, who are required to complete an extensive CVS Pharmacy Technician Training Program as well as satisfy all registration, licensing and state certification requirements, currently make only $24.90 an hour after five years. The livable wage in California for an adult with one child is $48.03, according to MIT.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), representing over 300 labor unions and more than 800,000 employees in Los Angeles County, has already voted for a strike sanction, showing their strong support for the CVS workers. Additionally, numerous community organizations are standing in solidarity with these workers in their fight for fair bargaining, better wages, affordable healthcare, and improved working conditions.

In addition, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union Locals  135, 324,  770, 1167, 1428, 1442 and 8GS, representing 3,500 Rite Aid Pharmacy workers across California, just announced an overwhelming membership vote in favor of authorizing their bargaining team to call for an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike. Over 10,000 pharmacy workers across the state are now primed to strike just as flu season ramps up.

UFCW members request that customers not cross picket lines at CVS while the strike is ongoing. Stay tuned for exclusive interviews with these striking pharmacy techs in our next issue of The Checkout Grocery Update.

5. Tunes.

There are plenty of stellar musicians from the Garden State. Whitney Houston, The Misfits and Glenn Danzig, Debbie Harry, Queen Latifah. Jon Bon Jovi. George Clinton. But c’mon, this one should be obvious. One of my top 10 tunes.

peace.