Inspiring Careers in Food

Junior Achievement and FMI Foundation are paving the way for a brighter tomorrow for today's students while strengthening the food industry workforce.

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A Partnership for Your Workforce Challenges

The food industry faces several workforce challenges, including labor shortages, increased competition, employee expectations, and health and safety concerns.

Through this dynamic partnership, FMI members will open doors to countless opportunities for students, foster community engagement and highlight the diverse and rewarding career paths in the food industry available now and in the future.

In fact, according to FMI's Food Retailing Industry Speaks report, the majority of food retailers and suppliers report that the ability to recruit and retain quality employees remains a challenge. Recruitment and retention issues can affect bottom lines and can have negative impacts on their businesses.

To combat these challenges, food retailers and suppliers have implemented:

Training Programs
Increased Compensation
Improved Benefit Packages

Still, the key to a career in the food industry is exposure to the variety of career paths and options that can inspire success.

Partner to Empower Your Future Workforce

How is The Food Industry Supporting Its Workforce?

92% of retailers increased wages and salaries

74% of retailers improved benefits and 65% utilized flex time

$600 average training investment per retail employee

100% of suppliers have in-house training and development

New Titles in the Food Industry

Many food retailers and most food suppliers have added new departments or titles in the past few years that represent the evolving food industry.

Sustainability

Cutting-edge roles that make a real impact on the environment and drive meaningful change.

Consumer Insights

Unlock powerful insights that drive product innovation and marketing strategies.

Technology

Create smarter and safer food experiences with ground-breaking innovations.

Social Media Analytics

An essential tool to shape brand narratives and connect with audiences.

People/Labor

Workers are needed across all stages of the supply chain—from farming and production to distribution, retail and customer service.

Grocery is a place where you can start out as a bagger, and through hard work and great training programs, end up as a store director making over 6 figures. Aside from store positions, grocers have every other support job that other industries have in IT, HR, Finance, etc. [Programs with] Junior Achievement help kids understand the job market and provide them with career readiness and financial skills. Our industry is a great place for kids to get their start, and then grow within the company in any number of great career tracks. It’s a great pipeline and partnership opportunity.

--Joel Kuplack, SVP, Human Resources, Festival Foods

Find a Partner

Partnerships with Junior Achievement are customizable and vary by local community. With over 100 Junior Achievement Area offices, there's certain to be a partnership opportunity near you.

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