Consumers Demand Healthy Foods

N E W   Y O R K,  Sept. 10 -- Samantha Sadoux went natural at the Fairway market.

Pesticide-free fruits and vegetables initially lured her into the New York City market, and Sadoux eventually ventured beyond the organic produce bins to shop for a variety of "natural" alternatives to staples produced with white flour, preservatives, refined sugars, artificial flavors and genetically modified foods.

The 30-year-old personal trainer became a regular at the natural-foods section of the store after deciding to be more careful about what she was putting into her body. "The food costs more, but you get what you pay for," she says.

Like Sadoux, many customers are attracted to natural-foods stores by produce that's often fresher, tastier and better-looking than fruits and vegetables found in traditional stores.

As more Americans embrace healthy diets, natural and organic foods are shedding their slightly subversive aura and entering the mainstream. The trend toward wholesome eating is driven by worries about food safety, as well as Americans' desire to take a more hands-on role in their health, experts say

"It's no longer just the beard-and-sandals set shopping for home-ground peanut butter," says Grant Ferrier, editor of Nutrition Business Journal in San Diego.

Baby Boomers the Bread and Butter

As demand has grown, natural-foods stores have been steadily expanding beyond the academic and professional communities that nurtured them since the 1970s. Baby boomers concerned about feeling and looking good are still the industry's bread and butter.

Consumer confidence in natural foods can only improve after federal organic standards are implemented in October 2002, Ferrier says.

Natural foods stores did $15.9 billion in business in the United States last year, up 7.3 percent from the year before, Ferrier says. Of that total, $8.7 billion was spent on foods, with the rest going mostly for vitamins and other dietary supplements.

Some 11,000 outlets sell natural foods in the United States. More than half of them are smaller, independent stores with less than 6,000 square feet of floor space, or less than half the size of a typical supermarket, which has between 15,000 and 20,000 square feet of retail space.