By Jim Dudlicek, Director, Communications and External Affairs
It’s probably no surprise that practically every day of every week of every month is the official national day, week or month for some type of food, providing a seemingly endless supply of marketing and merchandising opportunities for the independent grocery retailer.
In addition to offering a calendar full of delicacies, April is actually National Food Month, making it the Holy Grail for merchandisers looking to drive sales throughout the store.
Supermarkets already excel at celebrating food, so here’s your chance to turn up the volume. And with grocery prices expected to continue to rise, these are good opportunities to steer your customers toward the best deals for creating meal and occasion solutions that fulfill their needs.
For example, April is National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Month (the day is April 12), and it’s also Florida Tomato Month, presenting opportunities for cross-merch in dairy, bakery and produce. That’s also a great chance for specials in your prepared food department, where you can also leverage National Sushi Month, plus BLT Sandwich Month and National Egg Salad Week (April 12-18).
While most folks identify April 15 with taxes, it’s also National Glazed Ham Day, so use that as an opportunity to help shoppers stretch their dollars in your meat department. Follow that up with National Prime Rib Day on April 27.
There’s no shortage of ideas for sales, specials and sampling events across every store department, from bakery (National Pineapple Upside-down Cake Day, April 20) to seafood (National Shrimp Scampi Day, April 29) to special occasions (National Picnic Day, April 23) that cross multiple aisles.
At this point, we’re over a week into April, so hurry up and get creative with these platforms for enhancing the shopper experience. And don’t stop with April – just Google “food month” and you’ll find opportunities for the rest of the year.
Oh, and if you come up with a really cool campaign, consider entering it in NGA’s Creative Choice Awards.
Here’s a full list of April events for reference:
April
National BLT Sandwich Month
National Florida Tomato Month
National Garlic Month
National Grilled Cheese Month
National Soft Pretzel Month
National Soyfoods Month
April 12-18
National Egg Salad Week
Daily Holidays
April 1
National Soylent Green Day
National Sourdough Bread Day
April 2
National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day
April 3
National Chocolate Mousse Day
April 4
National Cordon Bleu Day
International Carrot Day
April 5
Caramel Day
National Raisin & Spice Bar Day
April 6
National Caramel Popcorn Day
International Carbonara Day
New Beer’s Eve
April 7
National Coffee Cake Day
National Beer Day
April 8
National Empanada Day
April 9
National Chinese Almond Cookie Day
April 10
National Cinnamon Crescent Day
April 11
National Cheese Fondue Day
April 12
National Licorice Day
National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day
April 13
National Peach Cobbler Day
April 14
National Pecan Day
April 15
National Glazed Ham Day
April 16
National Eggs Benedict Day
National Baked Ham with Pineapple Day
Day of the Mushroom
April 17
National Cheeseball Day
World Malbec Day
April 18
National Animal Crackers Day
April 19
National Rice Ball Day
April 20
National Pineapple Upside-down Cake Day
April 21
National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day
April 22
National Jelly Bean Day
April 23
National Cherry Cheesecake Day
National Picnic Day
April 24
National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day
April 25
National Crotilla Day
National Zucchini Bread Day
April 26
National Pretzel Day
April 27
National Prime Rib Day
April 28
National Blueberry Pie Day
April 29
National Shrimp Scampi Day
April 30
National Oatmeal Cookie Day
National Raisin Day
Source: https://foodimentary.com/
