The Checkout: Grocery Nerds – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Checkout: Grocery Nerds

Errol Schweizer

Business

Society & Culture

Frequency: 1 episode/11d. Total Eps: 196

Formerly The Checkout, 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?

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Data updated on 02/09/2026

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https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-checkout-2
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https://uncpress.org/book/9781469622071/dispossession/
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https://fourhourworkweek.com/
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Score global : 48%

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#13 Andrea Abel's Fight to Improve Food Justice in Texas

Episode 197

Tuesday, September 1, 2026 • Duration 34:55

In this episode, Andrea Abel, Executive Director of Farm Share Austin, discusses the organization's efforts to improve food justice in Austin, Texas. She highlights the challenges of funding cuts, the importance of local farming, and innovative programs to increase food access for underserved communities.

Andrea joined Farmshare Austin as executive director in January 2017, but her hands have been in the soil and her heart in food and agriculture for most of her life. Throughout Andrea’s career, she has focused on creating community sustainability in a variety of nonprofit and government positions. Farmshare unites Andrea’s passions for ensuring that food is a human right by implementing community-driven, collaborative problem-solving and leveraging collective impact. In addition to her role at Farmshare, Andrea currently is an appointee to the Austin Travis County Food Policy Board and has been deeply involved in the creation and implementation of the 2024 Austin-Travis County Food Plan.

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#12: From Cashier to Author: Ann Larson's Industry Insights

Episode 196

Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 33:27

Ann Larson shares her journey from grocery store worker to author, revealing the hidden realities of the grocery industry, labor struggles, and potential reforms. Discover insights on corporate power, worker solidarity, and how consumers can support change.

Ann Larson’s writing on education, debt, and low-wage work has appeared in The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fast Company, and The Nation, among other publications. She is author of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register, and coauthor of Can’t Pay Won’t Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition and is a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

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#11: Alicia Kennedy's Journey: From Vegan Bakery to Food Critic

Episode 195

Tuesday, August 18, 2026 • Duration 30:29

Alicia Kennedy, a food writer with a background in food production, discusses her journey from running a vegan bakery to becoming a renowned food critic and author. The conversation explores food systems, veganism, cultural history, and her latest book, offering deep insights into food politics and personal stories.

Alicia Kennedy publishes a twice-weekly food and culture newsletter called From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy ()aliciakennedy.news), as well as the digital magazine Tomato Tomato (tomatotomato.xyz). She’s the author most recently of On Eating: The Making and Unmaking of My Appetites, a memoir of food and place.

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#10: The Future of Natural Sweeteners with CEO Aaron Henderson

Episode 194

Tuesday, August 11, 2026 • Duration 29:46

In this in-depth interview, Aaron Henderson, CEO of Sweetleaf Stevia, shares his extensive experience in the grocery and CPG industry, focusing on natural sweeteners, supply chain intricacies, and evolving consumer trends like GLP-1. Discover insights on sourcing, product innovation, industry challenges, and the future of natural sweeteners in a rapidly changing market.

Aaron Henderson is the current CEO of Wisdom Natural Brands, makers of SweetLeaf Stevia, with 25+ years of leadership experience driving growth across marketing, sales and brand strategy. As former CEO of The Touch Agency, Aaron worked on 200+ brands and saw 38 acquisitions. Co-founder of Midnight Venture Partners, a leading early stage venture capital fund focused on better-for-you brands.

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#9 Exploring Mamdani's Grocery Plan and the History Behind It.

Episode 193

Tuesday, August 4, 2026 • Duration 23:00

Will it work? This episode explores New York City's innovative plan under Mamdani to open publicly subsidized grocery stores, aiming to make healthy food affordable and accessible for all. We discuss the details of the plan, its potential impact, and the broader context of grocery industry challenges that brought us here.

Key Topics:

Mamdani's grocery plan and its details
Comparison with military commissary system
Impact of industry inflation and challenges
Role of subsidies and private operators
Labor protections and union involvement
Community and market-driven product assortment
Potential flaws and criticisms of the plan

Mamdani, public grocery stores, New York City, food affordability, food supply chain, grocery industry, subsidies, labor protections, community impact

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#8: How Saffron Road Disrupted Frozen Food with Authenticity and Innovation

Episode 192

Tuesday, July 28, 2026 • Duration 29:05

This interview with Adnan Durrani and Paul Turbeville explores the journey of Saffron Road, innovation in frozen foods, and navigating the competitive grocery landscape with a focus on health, authenticity, and strategic growth.

Adnan Durrani has been a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist for almost 30 years. He founded Vermont Pure Water Company(now part of Primo Brands , NYSE) and was a partner in Stonyfield Farms, Inc, which was sold initially to Dannon in 2001 (now part of Lactalis). He was also a principal of Delicious Brands, Inc., which he scaled, with the financial backing of Carl Icahn, to become the 5th largest cookie brand in the U.S. Adnan has been recognized as one of the entrepreneurs who engineered “20 Ideas That Changed The Way The World Does Business”.

Paul Turbeville is Chief Executive Officer of Saffron Road, a leading brand of premium frozen ethnic meals and snacks. He joined the company as President in November 2024 and was named CEO in January 2025. He is responsible for overall company strategy and leadership across sales, marketing, operations, and customer relationships, with a focus on reigniting growth, strengthening the brand’s position in the marketplace, and helping the founder realize his vision for the company.

Prior to Saffron Road, Paul served as Chief Commercial Officer for Village Gourmet, a premium protein and gourmet products platform with five operating companies in the charcuterie, gourmet products, and fresh sausage categories. He joined in 2021 and led commercial strategy, sales, and marketing until November 2024.

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#7 How Legislation Can Lower Food Prices and Support Small Grocers

Episode 191

Tuesday, July 21, 2026 • Duration 29:43

Chris Jones is an attorney and founder of Center Market Strategies, a boutique law and advocacy firm that specializes in antitrust. He leads the Main Street Competition Coalition, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization for independent business and agriculture producers harmed by monopolistic conduct. He has more than 16 years of experience in competition, food and agriculture, and supply-chain policy inside and outside of government. He recently served as Chief Government Relations Officer & Counsel at the National Grocers Association, the trade association for independent grocery stores.

Errol and Chris Jones discuss the impact of market power, consolidation, and legislation on independent grocers and consumers. He explores the history of the Robinson Patman Act, current challenges faced by small businesses, and legislative efforts to promote competition.

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#6: How Aldi Is Winning the US Grocery War

Episode 190

Tuesday, July 14, 2026 • Duration 17:23

Aldi's success is driven by operational efficiency, not market magic. In this episode, we explore Aldi's rise in the US grocery market, analyzing its low-cost, highly efficient business model rooted in post-war German austerity and modern operational excellence. Discover how Aldi's strategies are reshaping American grocery shopping amidst economic turmoil.

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#5 Jose Oliva: Solving Food Industry Problems with HEAL Food Alliance

Episode 189

Tuesday, July 7, 2026 • Duration 35:23

Jose Oliva, Campaigns Director at Heal Food Alliance, shares insights into the food industry's labor issues, food insecurity among workers, and systemic reforms needed for a fairer food system.

Jose Oliva was born in Xelaju, Guatemala. In 1985 he and his family were forced to flee the civil war and come to the US. Once in Chicago he was called to be Executive Director of Casa Guatemala where he began to organize day-laborers in Chicago’s street corners. He founded the Chicago Interfaith Workers’ Center and then became the Coordinator of Interfaith Worker Justice’s National Workers' Centers Network. Jose served in several leadership positions at the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, the national organization of restaurant workers. Jose was the Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Food Chain Workers Alliance, a national coalition of food-worker organizations that collectively represents over 350,000 workers.

Jose is a 2017 James Beard Award recipient and a 2018 American Food Hero Awardee and a 2020 Castanea Fellow. Currently he is the Campaigns Director at HEAL (Health Environment Agriculture and Labor) Food Alliance, a national multi-sector coalition representing over two million people in the food system. He also chairs the Chicago Region Food System Fund and serves on the boards of Woods Fund of Chicago and the Growing Justice Fund.

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#4 Stacy Mitchell: The Threat of Corporate Power on Local Communities

Episode 188

Thursday, July 2, 2026 • Duration 38:57

In this in-depth interview, Stacy Mitchell from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance discusses the monopolistic practices in the food industry, Amazon's dominance, and the impact of market concentration on local communities and food deserts. The conversation explores antitrust laws, corporate power, and potential policy reforms to foster competition and local self-determination.

Stacy Mitchell is a writer, strategist, and policy advocate. Her work focuses on dismantling concentrated corporate power and building thriving communities and a healthy democracy. She is Co-Executive Director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an organization that for five decades has challenged the wisdom of neoliberalism and championed local, community-oriented models — from municipal broadband to distributed solar power, community banks, family farms, and local businesses. Stacy has played a leading role in today’s growing antimonopoly movement, helping to popularize its ideas and secure its embrace by the Biden Administration. Her insights about the importance of small, independent business have shaped the thinking of a wide range of policymakers, scholars, and advocates.

Stacy has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Washington Post, and many other outlets, both popular and academic. She is the author of Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Businesses, which was named a best business book of 2007 by the American Library Association’s Booklist. In 2016, she co-authored Amazon’s Stranglehold, an influential report that “provided a road map for a new, more critical approach to the e-commerce colossus,” the New York Times noted in a profile of her in 2020. Congress cited her research on Amazon’s monopolization strategy in its investigation of Big Tech’s dominance in 2021 and her work informed the Federal Trade Commission’s antitrust lawsuit against the company in 2023.

Through her advocacy, Stacy has advanced policies that expand community self-determination and build happier, more prosperous, and more sustainable places. In 2022, the political strategy firm Baron of the top ten “antitrust super influencers” for her role in shaping federal policymaking and discourse. She has also worked extensively at the local level, helping communities craft policies that support local entrepreneurship and vibrant commercial districts. A close collaborator of both small business leaders and progressive organizers, Stacy has co-founded many campaigns and coalitions, including Athena and Small Business Rising. She also serves on the board of the Maine Center for Economic Policy.

The Checkout: Grocery Nerds – Details, episodes & analysis

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The Checkout: Grocery Nerds – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Bookshop99+

Other46

Amazon16

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Bookshop99+

Other46

Amazon16