The Forecast: What Our Future Holds

The latest issue of CGA’s flagship magazine explores what lies ahead for business and California in 2026 and beyond. In a climate of heightened anxiety around emerging technologies, politics, and affordability, the pages of this issue will offer insights and important context to help you prepare for what’s to come.

Read about California’s evolving demographics, how economic anxiety may lead to progress on affordability, and how the Governor’s race, $20B budget deficit, and widespread skeptisim towards AI will shape retail in 2026. Finally, get to know new board chair Rich Wardwell (Superior Grocers) and learn about CGA’s partnership with Sacramento State University to meet student needs on campus.

Don’t miss the following must-read sections from Issue 4:

• Forecasting California Politics in 2026: A Year of Uncertainty and Opportunity
• Pg. 18 | Tim Townsend
• The New California Plurality: When Demographics Stop Being Destiny
• Pg. 24 | Mike Madrid
• Incoming Chair Rich Wardwell, a Driven Leader with Compassion
• Pg. 30 | Dorsey Griffith
• A Political Earthquake with Economic Roots
• Pg. 36 | Matt Rodriguez

Click here to read Issue 4.

Mid-October was the deadline for the federal government to take action to fund SNAP benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown. No action was taken, meaning SNAP recipients nationwide will lose their benefits next month. In California, that means that CalFresh food benefits, which are completely federally funded, will not be provided to 5.5 million Californians during the month of November.

CDSS provided CGA with in-store flyers retailers can use to notify customers of the shutdown and direct them to resources. Access the flyers below in both English and Spanish:

• CalFresh Shutdown Flyer (English)
• CalFresh Shutdown Flyer (Spanish)

State officials confirmed with CGA that once a budget deal is reached and the federal government releases funding, it will take two to four days before benefits could be issued.

While SNAP benefits will not be funded, the WIC program received additional funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and will remain fully operational through November 30. The USDA also confirmed SNAP recipients will be able to use their EBT card unspent October balances in November.

It’s important for retailers to remember that despite these challenging circumstances, the SNAP Equal Treatment rule remains in effect.

Please reach out to Tim James for questions or more information.

Issue 2: Rough Seas Ahead

The latest issue of CGA’s flagship magazine explores the choppy waters grocers are navigating in 2025. From on-again-off-again tariffs to disruptive artificial intelligence, the pages of this issue offer ideas and inspiration to help you sail through rough seas.

Read about how tariffs are impacting ethnic specialty grocers, how high-agency employees may help your company weather uncertain times, and how grocers can adopt AI tools to boost efficiency and profits amid high food prices.

Don’t miss the following must-read sections from Issue 2:

• Know the Enemy. Know Yourself. Fear Not.
  • Pg. 8 | Kevin Coupe
• Ethnic Food Markets Face a “Tarrifying” Uncertainty
  • Pg. 16 | Bill Romanelli
• High Agency: The Answer for Volatile Times
  • Pg. 22 | Nate Rose
• New AI Grocery Solutions Have Arrived, but Many Grocers Have Yet to Fully Embrace Them
  • Pg. 28 | Dorsey Griffith

Contact Nate Rose if you’d like to be added to our print subscription list.

Invest in Your Store Leaders

CGA and the CGA Educational Foundation’s popular one-day Store Leader Training Seminars are back! Featuring keynote speaker Drew Dudley, this session will explore the real values behind leadership to strengthen your team and business.

This full-day experience—designed specifically for store-level leaders—is an engaging, funny, and practical exploration of what leadership really looks like on the floor. Through stories, structured reflection, and high-energy collaboration and competition, attendees will identify the values that will actually shape their decisions—and leave with leadership tools they can use.

Choose the best session for your team and register below.

Northern California

• Tuesday, July 22, 2025
• Register
• Doubletree Pleasanton at the Club

Southern California

• Thursday, July 24, 2025
• Register
• Hilton Costa Mesa

The Real Values Behind Leadership

Humans are the only creatures on the planet who have a gap between stimulus and response. Your leadership isn’t found in job titles or policies, but rather how you use the “gift of the gap”: how you overcome emotions in order choose to handle a rude customer, respond to an empty shift, and balance policy with empathy and humanity. 

In other words, it’s not a poster on the breakroom wall—it’s embedded in the barcode of everything you do. 

This full-day experience—designed specifically for store-level leaders—is an engaging, funny, and deeply practical exploration of what leadership really looks like on the floor. Through stories, laughter, structured reflection, and high-energy collaboration and competition, you will identify the values that will actually shape your decisions—and leave with a leadership tool you can use immediately to ensure you’re not distracted from that commitment. 

We’ll explore why real leadership often feels invisible, why good people sometimes make bad choices under pressure, and how to build a personal “leadership test” that helps you lead with clarity and consistency—even on days when everything’s going sideways. 

By the end of this session, you will be able to: 

• Identify the core personal leadership values that already drive your leadership (and define them in real-life terms) 
• Engage in a deeper, collective examination of the organizational values you use to guide decision-making in the workplace 
• Recognize the simple, often invisible actions that define true leadership in a retail environment 
• Build a simple daily accountability tool to turn values into habits (even in chaotic or exhausting shifts) 
• Learn and share strategies with peers for managing people, pressure, and performance with integrity 
• Better understand the professional and financial support offered by CGA in building your skills and career 

Featured Speaker

Drew Dudley

Somewhere around the middle of his undergraduate education, Drew realized engaging with the world was a lot more fun than writing papers about it. While still a student he became heavily involved in Canada’s largest post-secondary charitable initiative in support of Cystic Fibrosis Canada, eventually serving as the National Chair of the organization. As he moved into his career, he took on the challenge of creating and building the Leadership Development Program at the University of Toronto, which became the largest and most dynamic in the country.

It was those leadership students who changed the course of Drew’s professional life: they secretly organized a campaign to put him onstage at TEDxToronto 2010, where he delivered a talk that would go on to generate more than 8 million views around the web. A high-achieving lifestyle took its toll however: undiagnosed bipolar disorder set the foundation for binge eating and drinking, and Drew grew to over 300 pounds while struggling with the emotional challenges of a career that kept him on the road 250 days a year.

Drew credits the Day One process with saving his life—he began applying the process to improving his mental and physical health. Recognizing how many people were struggling silently with similar battles, Drew began infusing these experiences into his keynotes, hoping to remind people that their scars in no way stand in the way of their leadership.

In 2018, Drew shared both his story and the Day One process in his first book This is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters. Today, Drew continues to travel the world sharing the Day One process with organizations of all kinds—aiming to redefine leadership for as many people as possible.

To kick off summer, the CGA Independent Operators Committee hosted the inaugural Independent Grocers Bocce Ball Tournament on Tuesday, June 3.

Nearly 100 independent operators and suppliers met in San Rafael for a laid back day of networking, connection, and fun on the bocce court. Attendees enjoyed tasty bites and refreshments provided by our generous event sponsors.

Check out event photos below.