Grocery Outlet CMO: The eat-at-home trend 'isn't going to change'

Grocery Outlet CMO Layla Kasha joins Yahoo Finance's Melody Hahm to discuss how the company is faring amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and what they're expecting in 2021.

Video Transcript

MELODY HAHM: We've all been trying to stay put during the coronavirus pandemic where we're cautioned to stay home as much as possible. But sometimes you just need to go to the grocery store and do your own groceries. And one chain called the Grocery Outlet has more than 375 independently-operated stores across California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Washington, and Pennsylvania.

Chief Marketing Officer Layla Kasha, the Grocery Outlet CMO joins us now. Thanks so much for joining us, Layla.

LAYLA KASHA: Thanks for having me, Melody. Happy to be here.

MELODY HAHM: Yeah. So tell us about all of those stores across your locations. As mentioned, they are independently owned. But give us a sense of the sort of guidance you are giving some of these small mom-and-pop shops.

LAYLA KASHA: Yeah. So I think the great thing about Grocery Outlet-- you know, we're known for a couple of different things-- how we buy. We buy opportunistically. That's how we pass the deals on to our customers, but also how we sell.

So all of our stores are individually owned and operated by our amazing operators. And they have really been front line heroes during this pandemic. They have been working tirelessly with their staff to keep products on shelves, to keep customers informed.

Very quickly after the pandemic, many of them were going live every day, watching their trucks unload. So people could see what was on the truck-- if there was toilet paper, if there was sugar. They were able to interact in real time with the customers. Customers were asking things like, "Do you have sugar today? Do you have coffee?"

If you remember the early days of the pandemic, it was really hard to figure out where and who had what. And then, to get there, you kind of were doing a lot of different stops-- right-- because you were trying to find the toilet paper. And you were trying to find specific things that you needed.

And so, the ability for them to communicate with their customers directly in real time was really, really key. And they're just out-of-the-box thinkers. And they really are super involved with their communities. And they have been an absolute joy. I've been here for four years. They've been a joy the whole four years I've been here. But really during this pandemic, they were just outstanding.

MELODY HAHM: And of course, Grocery Outlet is actually celebrating a very big milestone next year-- the 75th anniversary. As you think about growth and the kinds of trends you're seeing, as you mentioned, you're pretty sustainable in the way that you're trying to be opportunistically buying sort of other goods across a wide category, whether it's wine and beer and food and sugar. What do you expect consumers to really be searching for as we kind of get past the sort of famine era that you alluded to that really defined many parts of the pandemic?

LAYLA KASHA: I think customers really right now are telling us two different things. They really want to shop local. This pandemic has caused, as you were mentioning in your earlier segment, businesses to close and communities to really be damaged by that. And so, people are really looking to shop local and keep their money in their community. And so, we're seeing that trend play out very clearly.

And the other thing we're seeing is eat at home. Right? So we know this because we've all been eating at home for 9 months, going on 10 months. But that trend isn't going to change. I think even as things start opening back up, there will be that continued desire based on budgetary constraints or just feeling more safe. They really want to eat at home. And so, that trend continues.

And then, also the budget trend-- right. Everyone's really, really being careful with their dollars. And Grocery Outlet is a great place to stretch that budget. And so, we're seeing those three trends really play out right now. And I think that continues through 2021.

MELODY HAHM: Yeah. Thanks so much for joining us today, Layla Kasha, the CMO of Grocery Outlet. We do want to point out that Grocery Outlet does trade under the ticker GO. The stock is up about 40% so far this year in 2020.