WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Raley’s continues to reimagine the grocery aisles with another bold move in the name of health and wellness for their customers. By changing the layout of the cold cereal aisle, considering the amount of added sugar respective to the calorie count and serving size, Raley’s is giving prime placement to cereals with less added sugar. Meanwhile, cereals with 25% or more of the total calories coming from added sugar, based on a standardized one cup serving of cereal, will be moved to the bottom shelf.
Raley’s is committed to promoting transparency to help customers make better decisions for their personal wellness journey. Today’s consumer is taking a hands-on approach to their health. Americans are reading labels and following nutrition guidelines and are conscious of their sugar intake. According to Nielsen, 22% of households are restricting sugar intake, while 52% are actively trying to avoid artificial sweeteners.
“We know that the changes in Raley’s stores can positively influence our customers’ choices,” said Keith Knopf, President & CEO. “Our team has thoughtfully developed a system to evaluate added sugar in cold cereals. We believe between education and product placement, we can help more customers identify and avoid added sugar.”
In partnership with Label Insight, Raley’s developed a sugar filter equation to guide the product placement on shelf. Using the Nutrition Facts Label and a standardized one-cup serving size, Raley’s considered the total calories and total added sugars. This equation identified which cold cereals are “Higher in Added Sugar,” labeled with blue shelf tags, and which ones are “Lower in Added Sugar,” labeled with gold shelf tags.
“Studies have shown that added sugars may contribute to a diet that is high in calories but low in essential nutrients,” said Yvette Waters, MS, RDN, CISSN, and Nutrition Strategist & Brand Influencer for Raley’s. “As the resident nutrition expert, I’m passionate about helping our customers find better for you options.”
Store signage and education is an important component to reimagining the cereal aisle. In Raley’s commitment to transparency, it has added a series of shelf blades down the aisle to communicate the placement change to customers and aim to increase awareness about added sugars in food.
Raley’s is increasing sugar awareness through customer education with animated videos and content marketing at Raleys.com/addedsugar. Most recently, Raley’s owner Mike Teel launched Minute with Mike Teel, a video series focusing on the amount of added sugar in food products and the need for change in the industry.
While Raley’s is starting in the cereal aisle, the company is currently analyzing calories coming from added sugar in all processed foods, and has plans to expand to additional categories.
Raley’s has made incremental changes to their stores to position better for you products more readily available. In 2015, Raley’s eliminated the sale of tobacco in all grocery stores. Raley’s Shelf Guide is a one-of-a-kind shelf tag program providing label transparency to help customers make informed food purchasing decisions. Earlier this year, Raley’s eliminated conventional candy from the check stands, reducing the overall sugar offerings by 25%.