MNN - Mother Nature Network

Siel: Hi, my name is Siel from MNN. And I’m with Brenda from Publix Supermarkets.
Brenda: Publix is a supermarket in the southeast Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee and we’ve been around for nearly 80 years. We provide the greatest shopping experience possible for our customers at our supermarkets at about 1,000 locations.
Siel: Tell me a little bit about what Publix is doing.
Brenda: Well, first of all, we’ve got several things going on today. Publix Supermarkets is very committed to the environment and just keeping our planet as green as possible. So we’ve done several things here today. We have a bag that is the result of a contest that kids did where they would compete to create a green message for other kids. So we printed it on the bag. And we’re giving it away today, so please take one.
Siel: Oh, thanks.
Brenda: Yeah. Publix is also very focused on the environment through our GreenWise Markets Program, which is an all-natural and organic product line that we have in our stores. So we encourage folks to support the environment and eat organic and all natural products. So we’ve got a lot going on today.
Siel: Great. And I heard you just introduced some new organic products, a salsa.
Brenda: We do have a salsa which is a part of our Publix GreenWise Market line. In fact, we have probably more than 40 different items on that product line right now, one of which we’re sampling today, which is our all natural salmon, sockeye salmon from Alaska.
Siel: Oh, wow.
Brenda: And that’s why he’s over there so that everybody can try that out.
Siel: And how long have you had this private line?
Brenda: Publix private, um, Publix GreenWise Markets has been around, I would say about five years now.
Siel: Oh, wow.
Brenda: Hmm-mm. And we actually have entire stores down in Florida where they are all natural and organic, the entire store market is. So we have our traditional Publix Supermarkets and we have our Publix GreenWise Market down in Florida, and it’s been a very important learning opportunity for us to understand the market of going green and the customer base that’s interested in environmentally sound products. So it’s giving us a lot of learning opportunity so that we can roll them over into our day-to-day operations.