Grocery: classification, list, features, storage conditions

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

We are all familiar with such concepts as a grocery store, groceries and groceries in general, but who really knows what they mean? Often, this group of food products means the entire range of retail outlets, regardless of the product range of a particular store. Although the list of groceries includes a long and varied list of foodstuffs, it is still not endless, and the assortment of groceries can be classified.

What is groceries?

A buyer, having come to any grocery store, simply cannot help but buy something from the category of groceries. Goods falling under this category make up the lion's share of the entire range of counters. Of course, among other departments, the store will have a confectionery, a dairy, a gastronomy, and a showcase withalcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, but groceries are the backbone of any retail or wholesale store.

Dictionaries and manuals for organizing outlets say that groceries are the range of food products that do not require the creation of special conditions for their sale and storage. Mostly it is a "dry" product with a long shelf life.

The very word "groceries" came to us from overseas Turkey (bakkal - the original, in some sources it is interpreted literally as "goods on the face - look and take"). Grocers were those sellers in whose windows you could buy whatever your heart desires. It can be concluded that there was once a food group called "grocery" presented on store shelves, was even more diverse than it is now, but this is most likely not an omission and a shortcoming of the modern market, but an exaggeration of past years.

Product List

At the moment, a much wider range of products is available to customers than several centuries ago, and it would be ridiculous to compare the variety of even the largest nineteenth-century shop with a modern supermarket. In addition, the current sanitary and hygienic standards and requirements for sellers have become incomparably stricter, so the classification of the assortment in retail outlets has become more regulated and unambiguous.

Grocery group of goods is rich in such items:

• coffee, tea, cocoa, including packaged andinstant concentrates;
• all kinds of cereals, pasta and their derivatives (mixes, cereals, muesli, cereals, breakfast cereals);
• multi-grain flour, pancake mixes;
• spices and seasonings, also s alt and sugar;
• food additives such as gelatin, citric acid, dried yeast, etc.;
• sealed dressings (sauces, ketchups, mustard, horseradish, tomato paste);
• vegetable oils;
• instant soups, potatoes, cereals and vermicelli.

Thing and "loose"

As you can see, groceries are quite a diverse concept. However, it can be classified according to another principle. Most of the groceries are piece units, already packaged in small packages of portions of food. Manufacturers offer their customers the most optimal and convenient pack weight, in addition to speeding up the sales process, because the seller does not need to use scales every time and make complex calculations, each packaging has its own price and mass justification.

Expensive spices and seasonings are sold in small portions of 5-15 grams, but you can always buy large packages if necessary. Cereals, sugar and flour are another matter - often in each package there is a standard portion of one kilogram, but the constant increase in prices makes manufacturers go for a trick and a large number of packaged cereals and other bulk goods presented on the windows of supermarkets and shops can weigh 750 or 900 grams.

Despite the widespread use of self-service stores, where it is much more convenient for customers to buy packaged goods. Many stores still sell bulk goods, and in the markets you can even buy vegetable oil on tap, coffee, teas and spices are also weighed and sold by the seller in the quantity that the buyer needs. This method of selling groceries has a great advantage, because the customer can always reliably assess the quality of the purchase by its appearance, texture and smell.

Grocer or just the department?

Despite the wide range of groceries in the store, it is simply impossible to find a retail outlet that would not sell products that do not fall under the category of groceries. Discerning shoppers want to go to one store and buy whatever they need without having to go from one vendor to another.

Modern conditions of trade are developing in such a way that the owners of food pavilions are forced to give consumers all the variety of requested products, so groceries in the store are sold only in one of the departments, on a par with other product groups.

Note to Grocers

The big advantage of selling groceries is that goods from this group have a long shelf life, do not require the creation of special conditions for their storage, and also do not force sellers to equip technologically sophisticated storage facilities.

Storage of groceries shouldtake place in a cool room (not higher than 18 degrees Celsius), with low humidity. If the warehouse is damp, then the products will become unusable, because cereals, spices and coffee tea absorb moisture from the atmosphere, in addition, they can be saturated with foreign aromas, which will also greatly damage their quality. An important requirement for warehouses intended for storing groceries is that the racks on which the goods will be laid out should not touch the walls.