Supermarket trends | Buzz words include "service," "local" and "ethnic"

As if it weren't already easy enough to assemble a last-minute meal, supermarkets say they'll offer even more convenience this year, with expanded selections of ready-to-cook meats and seafood, pre-sliced fruits and veggies and more labels and instructions to help you sort through the abundance and get something tasty on the table.

And don't be surprised if many more of those items in your basket hail from local farms, ranches and dairies. As farmers markets unfurl awnings in more neighborhoods and food issues remain headline news, supermarkets are promoting their local connections to quell concerns about food origins.

"All the changes people are going to see are caused by changes in the lifestyles that shoppers live. Supermarkets are geared to respond to what they're shopping for," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president at the Food Marketing Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based trade association for the nation's supermarkets.

Marian Salzman, executive vice president with ad agency JWT and a food-trends consultant, predicts stores will emphasize fresh and frozen produce over canned and offer more grab-and-go prepared meals low in sodium. She also foresees a growing consumer backlash against farmed fish and against buying foods in bulk in the name of better portion control.

"I think people are going to suddenly say 'I don't know why I need to have five cases of Oreo cookies, maybe I just need a 100-calorie pack, or maybe just one cookie," Salzman said.

Other trends analysts and marketers predict for 2007:

• Greater emphasis on Indian cuisine and ingredients. "Suddenly India is the new China," Salzman said. Also look for more foods from Ethiopian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cuisine.

• More organics, fair-trade products and other foods that appeal to a growing consumer desire to know how food was raised, how workers were treated and how far foods have traveled.

• More labels on foods touting health benefits, such as antioxidants in blueberries, or the absence of ingredients considered unhealthly, such as trans fats.

• A greater variety of portion sizes. Not only will you be able to buy smaller cuts of meat and fish, many markets will offer them wrapped in individual portions so that a home cook can prepare only the necessary amount. "I think that's part of a bigger trend we're going to keep seeing, concern we're having as a nation about our health and wellness," Sansolo said.

• More high-end sweets, pastries and other treats. "With people more focused on their nutrition and their health and where they need to get their fiber and everything else, when they choose to indulge they're going to make it worth it," said Stephanie Steiner, grocery merchandiser for PCC Natural Markets. "It's going to be beautiful chocolate. It's going to be their absolute favorite potato chips."

• Expanded customer service, especially geared toward connoisseurs and cooking newbies intimidated by the range of offerings. Some Whole Foods Markets feature special computers that answer product questions and suggest recipes and wine pairings. Metropolitan Market has hired cheese and wine experts and other staff to offer a level of customer service akin to a hotel concierge.

"We really think it's important to have face-to-face time with customers because we can answer the information quickly. We have so many experts on hand," said Ilga Westberg, a Metropolitan Market spokeswoman. "If someone needs extra help learning how to debone a chicken or slice a leek, we can take them to a kiosk and show them."

QFC is trying to make its stores easier to navigate by integrating its natural-foods departments with conventionally grown items so that customers can make easier comparisons, and by offering smaller shopping carts in urban stores for easier movement in narrow aisles, said Kristin Mass, a company spokeswoman. The chain also has eliminated trans fats from cooking oil for fried chicken, chicken tenders and jo jo potatoes.

PCC Natural Markets is shifting away from products that include high fructose corn syrup. Steiner anticipates it will be the next additive on the radar of the health conscious, due to its links to obesity. Instead, PCC is offering more products sweetened with agave, the plant used to make tequila.

The chain will continue to highlight its growing selection of fair-trade products and local organic and conventional produce and is working on adding signs around its stores to guide customers with special dietary needs toward foods they can eat.

Metropolitan Market plans to put more emphasis on its cheese selection, and is pairing many of those cheeses with imported preserves and other treats from Armenia and Georgia, the former Soviet republic.

"Everyone is trying more, and you're seeing cheese plates at restaurants. I think that's a trend that's not going to go away, and it's exciting," Westberg said.

All stores predicted honeycrisp apples, cara cara oranges and tomatoes on the vine will continue to be popular, though there are bound to be surprises as well. Customers have suddenly clamored for heirloom tomatoes they saw at a weekend farmers market, a special maple syrup they saw on the Food Network or a lemon they read about in Cooking Light.

"If Martha Stewart runs a special, we run out of that product overnight," said Joe Hardiman, PCC's produce merchandiser.

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618

or kgaudette@seattletimes.com