On Wednesday, CGA CEO and President Ron Fong was a featured panelist during the Rising Tides 2020 summit at the state capitol. The two-day policy discussion was put together by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) and focused on economic security issues.

Fong was one of four panelists selected to participate in a session titled, “What do Workers Need? Critical Roles for Unions and Companies in the New Economy.” The panel was moderated by Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson) and also include Rana Sarkar, Consul General of Canada; Jeni Chih, Senior Director of Global Benefits for Gap, Inc.; and Tia Orr, Director of Government Affairs at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

With multiple legislators in attendance, alongside many other policy influencers, the summit was the perfect venue to place California’s grocery community and its unique qualities front-and-center for lawmakers.

In one particular highlight from the discussion, the CGA CEO shared how thinking around how to help workers adapt should start with the state’s housing crisis.

“I think affordable housing has become an issue,” Fong said. “We’re still building new stores in our communities. When we open a new store, we tend to hire within. The issue lately that has been identified is: Can we draw from our own community because they can afford to live there?”

Watch the full livestream.

Each year, a number of new laws are enacted as of January 1. This year is no different, yet 2020 also brings with it complicated new laws like Assembly Bill 5, which has the potential to change the face of employment.

Click below for an overview of these new laws, provided CGAEF and our partners at Kahn, Soares & Conway, LLP

There’s no more comforting feeling than unpacking the spoils of a large grocery shop. A full fridge is a sign that my family is well taken care of.

I’m lucky, I have a working refrigerator. I’m able-bodied and capable of shopping for my family regularly. I live in a home that’s free from vermin. And, most importantly, I have the funds to be able to afford to keep a stocked refrigerator and pantry.

But that wasn’t always the case, no when I was growing up. I had a somewhat atypical childhood (I wrote a whole book about it!) and the times in which I lived with food insecurity shaped much about the way I live my life and feed my family today.

While food insecurity may be part of my past, according to the USDA there are currently 14.3 million Americans living with the uncertainty that they can adequately provide nutrition for themselves and their families. In many instances, the people struggling to put food on the table aren’t who you’d suspect.

They’re young families that make too much to qualify for food assistance, but not enough to cover the rising cost of housing, transportation, childcare and food. It’s the elderly patron who puts off shopping because their fixed income or inability to get to the store safely or carry their groceries into their home.

It’s the nice middle-aged woman who asks about your kids at checkout, but is living with hoarding disorder and doesn’t have the sanitary means to store fresh food at home. It’s the family raising kids in an urban food desert who don’t have access to healthful foods.

Feeding my family, making sure that my children have fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy sources of protein and a seemingly endless supply of milk is at the forefront of my priorities.

Every time I packed up my trunk I am thankful that my kids will never worry about the freshness of their food or if they will need to worry about running out.

Taking for granted that fresh food is available is a luxury I’m grateful I can provide them with, but I will always instill in them the knowledge that not everyone is so lucky.

As we embark on a new year I implore you to think of ways you can give back to those members of your community living with food insecurity, either by donating foods that are close to expiration to local food banks, hosting community events to help your neighbors in need, or by reaching out to one customer at a time to see how you can help.

I know that feeding people is your business, but making sure our communities are taken care of everyone’s business.

Another Fantastic Conference is in the Books

From the entire CGA team, thank you for a great three days in Palm Springs, Calif. We hope you found this year’s conference productive and full of inspiring ideas.

Have feedback? Feel free to open up the conference app and complete any of the available surveys!

Mark your calendars! Next year’s conference will take place September 27-29, 2020.

It’s nearly deadline day at the Capitol as the Legislature approaches the final day to pass new bills on September 13.

While CGA has had a number of legislative victories already in 2019, improvements to the state’s recycling system and policy on single-use plastics remains one of the still outstanding issues on the Association’s radar.

Currently SB 54 by Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) and AB 1080 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) are close to arriving on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. A new article by Los Angeles Times explores the impact these two bills would have and features CGA President and CEO Ron Fong.

In a key shift, the California Grocers Assn. came out in support of AB 1080 and SB 54 Wednesday.

Speaking to the Southern California newspaper, Fong delivered the following explanation for why California’s grocery community supports the legislative compromise represented in the assembly and senate bills.

Members were concerned about obtaining the types of food-safe plastic that would meet the bill’s proposed standards and the potential lack of infrastructure to recycle these plastics. After lengthy negotiations, lawmakers and association representatives agreed on modifications that will allow some flexibility for food containers and help jump-start the needed recycling infrastructure.

Both bills now await votes before the close of the legislative year. If passed, they will go to the governor, who would have until Oct. 13 to take action on them.

SACRAMENTO, CA (8/16/2019) – California Grocers Association (CGA) President and CEO Ron Fong joined California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra at a press conference on Friday, August 16, 2019, announcing the State of California filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the legality of a new “public charge” rule that could deny green cards to immigrants who receive public assistance, including Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.

Last October, the Department of Homeland Security issued a proposed rule that would significantly change the grounds for excluding immigrants under the Immigration and Nationality Act. 

The lawsuit, filed on August 16, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, claims the Rule targets working immigrants and their families by creating unnecessary new barriers to lawful admission to the United States.

“CGA joins California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra with concerns about expansion of the public charge definition to include SNAP benefits,” Fong said after the press conference.

“As grocers we believe it is vitally important individuals and families have reliable access to healthy foods,” Fong added. “The SNAP program is a critical piece of the puzzle to combat food insecurity and support healthy eating in California. Including SNAP benefits in the criteria for determining immigration eligibility is likely to serve as disincentive for legal immigrants to access necessary life-line services like SNAP.”

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The California Grocers Association is a non-profit, statewide trade association representing the food industry since 1898. CGA represents approximately 300 retail members operating over 6,000 food stores in California and Nevada, and approximately 150 grocery supplier companies.

Novelty Services Don’t Take the Place of my regular shopping — in fact, they often encourage me to buy more than I normally would.

By Kimberly Miller
Writer, Actress

There was a time when I considered myself a bit of a gourmand. I read food blogs and cookbooks for fun, watched the Food Network religiously, followed celebrity chefs on social media, and read their memoirs to live vicariously through their escapades.

Each week I spent half my weekend (and paycheck) hopping from shop to shop in search of the perfect ingredients for the complicated, restaurant-worthy dishes I’d make during the week ahead. Making beautiful food was what I did to relax after a long day of work.

Dinner these days is the opposite of relaxing. Each night I make three different meals: one that’s meatless, high in protein and low in carbs for my bodybuilder/vegetarian husband; something “not yucky” for my toddler who considers dinner time a battle Royale; and for myself I make something without soy or dairy since I’m nursing a baby with food allergies. Needless to say I’m just making the same easy to prepare stuff night after night after night.

Insert yawn here.

It’s because of this food rut that I decided to take a chance on a mystery produce delivery subscription. Fruits and vegetables are the only foods everyone in my family can eat at the same time, and I desperately needed to shake things up.

The first box did not disappoint. Garlic scapes! Swiss chard! Teeny tiny sweeter than sweet mangoes! Everything included was stuff that was either too small or too misshapen to sell well in a regular market.

But to me, it was the inspiration I needed to enjoy cooking again. Something I hadn’t done in a long time. I could make my own compound butter with the garlic scapes. Steam and sauté the Swiss chard and serve with a beautiful fillet of salmon, make a mango lassi to go along with the aloo gobi I’d make from the potatoes and fresh cauliflower in the box.

Hooked, I immediately signed up for a weekly subscription to the service, but after about a month realized that while I loved the novelty and the inspiration it provided me, I also craved control over the contents of my fridge. We’re a family with two working parents and two kids — I need a plan! SO now I get a box every two months instead, enough to revive my zeal for cooking, but not so much that it goes to waste because we just don’t have the time to get creative every night.

Novelty services like this one don’t take the place of my regular shopping — in fact, they often encourage me to buy more than I normally would — what they do is break up the monotony of a yawn-worth grocery list.

While I only get a surprise produce bo on my doorstep every couple of months, I’m now taking more chances when I roam the aisles of my regular store each week. Sure, my toddler may not like kabocha squash, but he won’t know unless he tries it.

Read more from Issue 5 of California Grocer.