I attended Aimpoint’s Annual Agri-food Industry Wargame last week in Nashville, Tennessee. One hundred of us set about to understand how agriculture, food, and healthcare will adapt to global needs from now through 2070. Attendees include farmers, AgCredit banks, seed companies, startups, market research firms, grocery, and healthcare.
As part of the wargame, we broke into 3 major groups:
The “Futures” team that outlined 2070.
The Systems team outlined the barriers facing change and societal pressures, like rising healthcare costs and deglobalization.
The Generators. Each Generator had a business in turmoil that needed to adapt to the needs of the Futures and Systems teams.
I was given a grocery retail store. Leveraged with debt. And a reputation for selling processed food. Based in rural America. Perhaps a version of Dollar General. My job was to revitalize the business.
Two days of intense craziness with 100 other people.
The futures and systems team asked us to make various changes. In my grocery business, they wanted more fresh food, expanded regenerative practices, and reduced rural healthcare costs. All while keeping prices low.
We saw the grocery as a critical intersection point of customers, farmers, rural banking, and rural healthcare. We saw the opportunity to use the grocery store as a point of health delivery and as demand for better food from regional supply chains.
I took the work product of our team’s efforts and transformed it into a future state in the form of an article published in the Atlantic. Perhaps written by Michale Lewis. An article describing the transformation of Dollar General into a solution for better health. In which the food system takes market share from healthcare. Rather than Dollar General, I called it Heartland Mart.
My question to you….. Is this a possible future?
Here is the first draft.....
From Discount to Deliverance: The Transformation of Heartland Mart to Eden
In the rural heartlands of America, Heartland Mart was a name as ubiquitous as the cornfields and quilting bees that colored the country's pastoral tapestry. A network of budget-friendly grocery stores, Heartland Mart was a sanctuary for thrifty shopping, its aisles packed with the seductive glitter of low-cost, processed foods. For years, the chain thrived, unfurling across the landscape like a well-worn map, serving communities otherwise starved for retail options. Yet, beneath the surface of this commercial success story lay an unsettling reality: Heartland Mart was accused of being a silent harbinger of metabolic diseases, the unwitting ally of diabetes and heart disease, dealing in the very commodities that were crippling the nation's health.
The turn of the decade brought with it a tidal wave of change. Spiraling healthcare costs, a burgeoning wellness movement, and a series of damning reports linking diet to chronic disease converged, casting a pall over Heartland Mart’s empire. Critics argued that the store was complicit in an epidemic of obesity and malnutrition, its shelves laden with sugary, salt-filled temptations. But within this crucible of criticism, the seeds of transformation were being sown.
Heartland Mart's journey towards redemption began with an unassuming piece of customer service technology: the digital receipt. In a move that was part pragmatism, part epiphany, Heartland Mart started sending purchase receipts to their customers’ emails and phones, turning each summary of purchase into a narrative of nutrition. Healthier options were highlighted, accompanied by gentle nudges towards better choices and stark reminders of the consequences of sugary, processed foods. To the surprise of skeptics, there was a spark of interest. The latent demand for nutrition, long ignored in rural communities, began to stir.
Recognizing the interdependence of community health and commercial success, Heartland Mart forged an alliance with an unlikely partner: the regional healthcare systems. This partnership emerged out of a shared recognition that every small town with a Heartland Mart was also home to a struggling hospital, often dealing with the fallout of poor dietary choices. Together, they embarked on a quest to promote healthier eating habits, launching an integrated campaign that made nutritious food choices a viable option, even on a shoestring budget.
One of the most innovative strides in this partnership was the co-location of diabetes treatment centers within Heartland Mart stores. These educational sanctuaries provided vital information and care at a fraction of the usual cost, all while drawing upon full reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a win-win for both profit margins and public health.
The vision didn't stop there. Heartland Mart looked to the very earth that its customers tilled, partnering with local farmers to encourage regenerative agriculture practices that bolstered nutrition without burdening budgets. With a guaranteed off-take agreement in place, farmers found new allies in the form of loans from the Farm Credit System, allowing them to invest in sustainable practices that enriched both soil and society.
Nutritionists from the partner hospitals suggested a shift towards plant-based meals, if only for one or two dinners a week. Heartland Mart responded by establishing teaching centers where families could learn about plant-based nutrition and discover affordable, healthy recipes. This curriculum also became a tool for caregivers managing chronic diseases, fostering a holistic approach to health education.
Without increasing its physical footprint, Heartland Mart wove a new tapestry of wellness that spanned its supply chain, customer base, and the healthcare industry. This network encompassed the entire rural ecosystem: the customers who shopped, the hospital staff who healed, the farmers who grew, and the drivers who delivered.
The culmination of this effort was more than economic. Heartland Mart experienced a surge in sales, chipping away at the market share of larger competitors and local healthcare providers alike. But beyond the bottom line, the store became synonymous with goodwill and community well-being. In recognition of this seismic shift, Heartland Mart rebranded itself as Eden, a name that conjured images of a verdant paradise, of beginnings anew. Eden's mission crystallized around this new identity: to be a rural wellness company, a beacon of family nutrition, and a guardian of multi-generational longevity.
As Eden, the former Heartland Mart stands as a testament to the power of business transformation aligned with community health. Its aisles are no longer just corridors of commerce, but the pathways to a better, healthier way of life for the rural heart of America.
The power of Creative Destruction.
What a great return to writing Carter. Sounds like a great seminar. Ill health due to food is an intractible problem and has traversed the whole world. Part of it is political which makes solutions even more unlikely I fear. Highly processed foods are a ruse to highjack our taste buds so we might eat extra calories hence obesity. With population growth mostly flat and the need for 2000 calories being static, the food industry flourishes by getting us to eat too many. It is their only method to grow revenue. To not do that in the capitalist system is a mortal sin and not survivable. Having converted to a WFPB diet I marvel at how much I eat now. Most everything nutrient rather than calorie dense.