The document describes a proposed concept for a grocery store pilot that focuses on selling locally-sourced produce and creating a more social shopping experience for customers. Key points: - The store would replace long aisles with hexagonal "islands" of produce grouped by source location (e.g. Berkeley, San Francisco). This allows for easier observation and conversation between customers. - "Food ambassadors" would educate customers about the foods and local farms/producers. Some produce would be accompanied by opportunities like wine tastings. - The store would include an aquaponic system to grow some of its own food. This could help when local supplier yields are lower. - A story describes a customer

1. Forager
When a species forages, it's typically a given that their food comes from local sources. Until recently, people had been foraging for food for thousands of years.

2. How might we promote foraging in the city?
With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful of corporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buy local these days.

3. What is it like to “forage” in the local grocery story?
I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conflicted with themselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollar they can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your
health. Here are some examples of what I mean by conflicting messages...

4. Farmer’s market façade
By placing produce outside of the main entrance—in their "fresh-from-the-farm" crates—Berkeley Bowl tries to convey a farmer's market image just before people walk through the door. Once inside, it's just like any other grocery chain...

5. Freakishly huge carrots de México
Berkeley Bowl's produce travels from far away places to end up on your table: Mexico, Peru, Chile, Oregon, Nevada. While some produce—artichokes—come from California, at least 70% of it comes from Mexico. While the variety and size of the produce section at Berkeley Bowl was
impressive, I think it's time to explore one of the adjacent aisles...

6. Fatty dairy trap
Behind all thirteen of these freezer doors are hundreds of cartons of ice cream: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and milk fat. Let's go across town to another chain that fronts a down-to-earth image: Trader Joe's...

7. Convenience trap
These peeled and cut carrots succinctly illustrate Trader Joe's modus operandi: To encourage you to grab as many over-priced and over-packaged items as possible and get the hell out. Their stores are small in comparison to others, and in order to make up for this shortcoming they
need a steady flow of customers through the checkout lines. Bagging-up and weighing your own produce will just disrupt their precious flow. By the way, the price for these carrots was $1.50 per package (15 ounces). The usual price for whole, unpeeled carrots is about $0.70 per
pound (16 ounces).
While at Trader Joe's, I ran into a friend. She told me about another Berkeley store that has a great reputation for selling locally grown foods, Monterey Market...

8. Fine-print trap
The sign outside says "Bay Area: Buy Fresh Buy Local" and inside the price tags say "California". The small sticker on the aloe vera leaf says "Produce of Mexico". Are they intentionally misleading customers? Does the big sign outside set an expectation that this store cannot feasibly
deliver on?

9. Traditional grocery aisle: A morgue for dead food
Wandering up and down a seemingly endless number of tall and narrow aisles, customers are forced to make their choices in isolation from each other. At best, aisles mediate customers' first impressions with thousands of commercial brands. Supermarket aisles are actually modeled
after warehouses where the packaged and processed items await their invariably broad distribution. This model ensures an optimal number of products per square inch, yet it de-humanizes the customers' experience.
How might we make shopping a more social activity?

10. Islands on the other hand, are about creating a natural, foraging-like flow through a market. Customers can easily observe each other's actions and food selections. Opportunities for behavior modeling as well as conversations about healthy choices are likely to emerge.

11. The hexagon optimizes a customer's flow through a market area, while also fitting compactly next to each other for transport to an impromptu place, such as an outdoor farmer's market.

12. Each of the six sides of the islands can hold any type of washed produce. Round foods such as grapefruits and oranges can rest on the top. A gradual 28° slope covered in a non-toxic rubber texture prevents things from sliding onto the floor.

13. Pop-up one of these concept stores almost anywhere.

14. The pilot store could be located in a San Francisco neighborhood such as Noe Valley or SOMA. Take any corner grocery store with its long aisles, frozen food section, and soda/beer coolers and replace them with islands. If there's still enough room, build in an aquaponics area where
the store can produce its own food to offset days when local growers may have slightly lower yields.

15. The produce on each island may be contextualized by particular food activities (cleansing, juicing, etc) and by the specific SF Bay Area farming community from where the produce originated.

16. How might we create loyal, lifelong customers?
With the advent of mechanized farming and most of the nation's food supply under control of a handful of corporations, people have lost the connection to where their food comes from: It's actually less convenient to buy local these days.
I visited a few "natural" grocery chains in the Berkeley area and I was appalled at how they conflicted with themselves. Through many mixed messages, "natural" food grocers mask their true intention: To take every dollar they can from you regardless of the long-term impact on your
health. Here are some examples of what I mean by conflicting messages...

17. Josie is on her way home from work and walks into our store in Noe Valley located on 24th and Diamond. Upon entering, Josie's entire being resets as the smell of fresh produce fills her nose. She notices that she suddenly feels much happier and relaxed.

18. She continues to the juice island (A) to try a free sample that a Food Ambassador is giving out. The freshly pressed juice made from locally grown fruits and vegetables cools her mouth and throat as it flows down to her stomach. She instantly feels a rush of energy as her mouth tingles
from the citrus and mango. She tells the Food Ambassador she wants one ½ gallon of juice. The Ambassador begins making it for her.

19. Josie continues to the Berkeley island (B) because she knows that every Tuesday they will have her favorite Kale from an urban farm that grows a particularly flavorful variety, which makes a far more satisfying salad. She also loves cilantro and parsley in her salad, but she doesn't see it
at the Berkeley island.

20. Josie heads over to the cleansing island (C) where there seems to always be heaps of both cilantro and parsley. Now she feels like she got the things she needs for dinner tonight, but she always likes to explore.

21. Josie walks past the nearby San Francisco island (D) to see if there's anything new and interesting. As always, Josie discovers something on the San Francisco island she has never even heard of before. A Food Ambassador explains to Josie that a SF grower has been experimenting with
varieties of dandelions and mint to create wild effects on the palate. She buys one small edible bouquet.

22. Josie walks past the Marin island (E). A Marin County winery has set aside a large quantity of their grapes just for our pilot store. Each bunch of grapes has a tag attached that reads: "Free wine tasting for two". Josie grabs one bunch—mostly for the wine tasting at the vineyard—and
sneaks a bite of a grape before she motions to one of the Food Ambassadors that she is ready to pay with her Square account.

23. On her way out, she walks past the juice island (A) where a Food Ambassador hands her the small jug of freshly pressed juice, which is also charged to Josie through her Square account. Josie places the jug in her cloth shopping bag with her other purchases and heads home.

24. Food ambassador
This is a Food Ambassador. Food Ambassadors wear many hats. On any given day they could visit a local grower, tend to the in-store aquaponic system, or "work the floor" by teaching customers about the food they're eating (or about to eat). Food Ambassadors are a kind of “forager
in chief”.

25. Aquaponic system
In-Store Aquaponic Systems. Aquaponic systems allow each store to have their own unique food offerings. We are also looking into the possibility of increasing the number of fish in the systems from 100 to 300 so we can begin offering fresh tilapia to our customers.

26. Urban farm
Urban Farms. Here's that urban farm in Berkeley that provides the kale Josie loves so much. The farm is actually located directly above some underground BART rails, as are several of the other farms in the East Bay with whom we work.

27. Fresh & Easy: FAIL
British grocer Tesco tried to reach into the US natural food market, competing with likes of Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Analysts attribute Fresh & Easy’s failure to their use of self-service check-out stands, which confused consumers used to heavy store helper presence. The chain’s
lack of vouchers and coupons alienated price-sensitive shoppers. And the push toward ready-made meals weren’t compatible with local tastes.

28. “Fishbowl” discussion about the topic.