Company Blog

The Good Ol’ Days

by Adam Zack — June 20, 2018

What brings back memories of good times and comfort?

Remember when you could get a triple scoop of ice cream at the Thrifty for 15 cents?

Those cylinder shaped scoops of your favorite flavors stacked three high that inevitably dripped all down your hand. Or when you didn’t have to lock your doors at night and every 4^th of July there was a block party and all the dads drank beer, shot off fireworks while the kids ran around with sparklers. How great it was when you didn’t have to worry about cholesterol or gluten or allergies. There was no bottled water; you drank from the garden hose. You just ate what you were served by mom and it was all good. Remember when gas was $1 and T-bone steaks were 2 inches thick and the smell of the charcoal grill was the best thing in the world? Ahhh, the good old days. If you’re in your 50’s or older your sense of nostalgia seems to become heightened every year. Now it’s bad news here, problems there, more worries than during the time when “things were simple”. If you’re a millennial now you’re probably thinking: “What the hell is this old man prattling on about anyway?” Nostalgia is really just a recollection of good memories. We reminisce and feel good about the times in the past that we felt really great. And we have a longing to recreate those times. That’s fortunate for us as food retailers, as we have the opportunity to focus sales and promotions around our customers’ nostalgia. Truckload meat sales, weekend barbecues, ice cream socials, Sunday Suppers and bake sales are all opportunities that we have to capitalize on nostalgia to differentiate ourselves from competition. Old-fashioned service never goes out of style. But there is a limited window of opportunity for good old nostalgia. We’re all gonna need help cutting our food one day, so the question for the future is what can we do to bring a sense of nostalgia to the millennials? What brings back memories of good times and comfort? What would trigger those thoughts that would give us the opportunity to have them say, “Those were the good ol’ days?” I am going to have to consult my millennial daughters on this one.