Page 34 - Today's Dietitian (March 2020)

calendar. No matter what type of publication a store publishes Gelson’s kitchen—a lofty solo endeavor, but one she enjoys. “I
(eg, a weekly circular or bimonthly magazine), most supermar- have always written my own content, and I feel it has helped
ket chains generally choose themes before the calendar year me build a loyal base who trusts me and seeks my guidance
begins, and, from those themes, they develop subthemes, and, when they have questions about their diets or need product
within each subtheme, articles and recipes evolve. This is how recommendations,” she says.
Beth Stark, RDN, LDN, manager of nutrition and lifestyle ini- Hembree taps into her customers for inspiration as well.
tiatives for Weis Markets in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, who drives “A large source of inspiration is gathered from my responsi-
the content for the chain’s HealthyBites Magazine, generates bilities within my role at Kroger: providing nutrition counsel-
ideas for the bimonthly publication. She and her team of six in- ing through telenutrition and in-store clinic appointments. I
store RDs brainstorm ideas, generally beginning with health find I can get a good read on what is overwhelming, confus-
awareness months and seasonal trends such as holidays, back ing, popular, or interesting from what our customers/patients
to school, or summer grilling. And they give common topics a bring up in our discussions,” she says. In addition, she finds
new spin. Grilling goes from basic to plant based—instantly webinars on various nutrition topics from different companies,
making it a hot topic. such as Dietitian Central, Orgain, General Mills Bell Institute,
Nikita Grove, RDN, LDN, a retail dietitian for Wakefern and Kellogg’s, to be insightful. She also looks to websites and
Food Corporation in Philadelphia, plans her monthly cam- newsletters such as FoodNavigator-USA, Progressive Grocer,
paigns around the corporate monthly theme and weekly sub- ScienceDaily, and Supermarket News to keep abreast of current
themes. “I also look at what items are on sale or have any nutrition issues and grocery industry highlights.
coupon offerings. Other factors that come into play include
seasonal offerings or promotions and ‘awareness months,’ such Driver of Communication
as diabetes and heart health months, which we can highlight Weis’ HealthyBites Magazine serves as the primary commu-
in coordination with resources that are made available by the nication vehicle for customers regarding nutrition, health,
many nonprofit organizations we work with,” she says. and wellness. According to Stark, “It also drives what RDs are
“I get most of my newsletter inspiration from talking to doing in store and makes their monthly event planning more
customers,” says Jessica Siegel, MPH, RD, a dietitian for Gel- efficient.” They can use recipes for demos or samples and even
son’s Markets in Culver City, California. “Our clientele is quite create workshops around it, bringing the content of the maga-
sophisticated and educated, so they always have good and zine to life through store events. The magazine’s content also is
interesting questions. I also attend conferences and read arti- used to drive social media and dietitian TV appearances.
cles in publications such as Today’s Dietitian and The New York The production of HealthyBites Magazine has evolved over
Times,” she says. Siegel has been the only dietitian for Gelson’s the years. Originally, the Weis dietitian team wrote the con-
27 stores for 18 years. She writes Nutrition Notes, a monthly tent, sold ads, developed recipes, and took charge of photog-
full-color, four-page newsletter on nutrition and health, and raphy, layout, and video production. Now that the team has
develops recipes, including many best-selling salads sold by grown from four to nine RDs over the past three years, Weis
decided to work with a creative design and publishing partner
to produce HealthyBites Magazine. The arrangement enables
the team to focus on other areas of retail nutrition and health
and wellness strategy, and it’s given the magazine a fresh look
and feel. On a smaller scale, Stark’s team still contributes to
magazine content when they’re inspired to write articles on
topics such as heart health or gluten-free diets. “While writing
isn’t something all of the dietitians particularly enjoy, the ones