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Industry leaders gathered recently at FMI’s FreshForward conference and Fresh Foods Leadership Council to discuss the evolving fresh food landscape. While the challenges facing retailers and suppliers continue to grow, several clear opportunities have emerged for fresh produce categories, including potatoes.
A Circana presentation highlighted the continued financial pressures facing fresh food shoppers. Rising food costs and economic uncertainty are prompting consumers to place greater emphasis on value, making affordability and versatility increasingly important drivers of purchase decisions. In May 2026, 57% of primary grocery shoppers said retail and foodservice prices were higher than expected, and 78% said their financial situation was the same as or worse than a year earlier. Over the most recent 52 weeks, perishable dollar sales rose about 0.5% — essentially flat — while fresh’s dollar share slipped about 0.7 points, while fresh potatoes rose 0.3%, led by yellows, petites, and medleys.
Digital grocery shopping continues to be a significant source of growth within fresh foods, reaching roughly $30 billion, up approximately 23% year over year. The strong performance of fresh products online challenges the longstanding assumption that consumers are reluctant to purchase produce they cannot personally select. As digital shopping becomes more routine, strong product content, imagery, and online merchandising will become increasingly important drivers of category growth. Online purchases of fresh potatoes grew 18% compared to prior year.
Retailers also spent time on the challenge of reaching Gen Z — a group too diverse to market to as a single demographic, and one that’s more likely to trust an influencer than a brand. Retailers emphasized that Gen Z is not a homogeneous consumer group and is often more influenced by peers and content creators than by traditional brand messaging. The discussion reinforced the importance of authentic content, relatable storytelling, and consumer-led engagement strategies.
Retailers identified meal-solution merchandising as one of the largest untapped opportunities within fresh departments. Rather than promoting individual items, retailers are increasingly focused on helping shoppers solve the question of “what’s for dinner?” through product combinations, recipe inspiration, and convenience-focused solutions. For potatoes, that means leaning into convenience and cross-promotion — few people eat potatoes plain — and using packaging, often the back label, to show shoppers quick preparations using appliances like air fryers.
Roughly 90% of fresh potato shoppers decide to buy before they reach the store, so the opportunity is to help retailers grow the basket. That might mean moving a russet shopper toward adding a bag of petites or a flavored, value-added tray.
Technology was a recurring theme throughout both meetings. Schnucks, a St. Louis-area retailer, demonstrated a consumer-facing AI agent that can provide meal recommendations, recipe suggestions, and product pairings. These developments signal a future where product discovery increasingly occurs through digital and AI-powered platforms, underscoring the importance of accurate product information.
Across the discussions, four themes consistently surfaced: consumer demand for value, continued growth in digital grocery shopping, meal-solution merchandising, and the increasing role of technology in product discovery. Together, these trends point to opportunities for the potato industry to strengthen relevance, drive incremental purchases, and better align with evolving shopper expectations.