The Checkout Podcast presents: Grocery Nerds!
Grocery Nerds is the leading source for insider commentary and analysis on the $1.1 trillion U.S. grocery industry. Founded by 30 year industry veteran operator, analyst and O.G. Grocery Nerd Errol Schweizer, Grocery Nerds has four priorities: to demystify the grocery business, including pricing, market segmentation and business operations in the real world-not via academia or public relations B.S.; to platform and hear from essential, front-line grocery workers; to engage with emerging brand innovators and trend leaders; and to hear from independent and cooperative grocery operators on how they are surviving and thriving in this competitive, complex and cutthroat industry. So, are you a Grocery Nerd too?
Born in The Bronx, NYC, Errol Schweizer is a 25+ year veteran of the food system, with experience in retail, food service, cooperatives, farmers markets, urban agriculture, community organizing and food policy. He has a B.Sc. in Biology and has worked nearly every retail and service sector job, from grill cook and dishwasher, to stock clerk and purchasing manager. As the former V.P. of Grocery for Whole Foods, he spent over a decade bringing more than 6,000 products to market while developing new categories and supply chains.
Errol has had a huge impact on Non-GMO and Organic product availability, fair labor standards, Halal and Kosher certification, plant-based foods, and grass-fed and humanely-raised meat, eggs and dairy.
Errol co-founded Drop the Rock, the campaign to overturn mandatory minimum sentencing in New York State, and was instrumental in legalizing hemp and cannabis in many states in the U.S.
Errol was selected as a 2023 Bevnet/NOSH top 50 food industry notables. He was awarded Supermarket News Retail Game-changer of the Year in 2015 and was recognized by the Hemp Industry Association with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. He is also a longtime organizer, researcher and published author on environmental justice issues. Errol has also been a Board Member, Advisor and Co-Founder for over two dozen companies in the consumer packaged goods, indie/co-op retail and cannabis sectors, and is active in regional food policy and building public sector supply chains. Errol is a member of the National Writers Union and Freelance Solidarity Project and is committed to diversity and equity in the food system. Errol supports the rights of all workers to organize and join a union. Errol is also the publisher of The Checkout Grocery Update, a widely read, weekly deep dive into the workings of the $1.1 trillion grocery industry
