Hy-Vee Dietitians Urge Shoppers to Think Rice

ARLINGTON, VA -- This September, USA Rice partnered with supermarket registered dietitians (SRDs) at Hy-Vee, a chain with 236 supermarkets located throughout Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.  All month long, Hy-Vee SRDs spread the word about U.S.-grown rice and National Rice Month (NRM) online, in stores, and through local media outlets.

In the September issue of Hy-Vee’s Healthy Bites e-newsletter, USA Rice’s Cranberry Pecan Rice Pilaf was featured as a ‘Dietitian Recipe of the Month.’  The newsletter promoted NRM as well as the health benefits and culinary versatility of rice to more than 90,000 subscribers and was also published on the Hy-Vee website that receives more than 800,000 unique visitors per month.  

“Since Hy-Vee has an in-store dietitian at each of their locations, we made sure they received USA Rice’s recipe cards and SRD toolkits to use while interacting with shoppers,” said Paul Galvani, chairman of the USA Rice Retail Subcommittee.  “One dietitian even created a short Facebook video right from the rice aisle – she called out NRM and discussed the health and affordability of U.S. rice.”

As part of the NRM promotion, the Hy-Vee corporate dietitian team provided all in-store dietitians with a ‘Think Rice for Family Meals and Sides’ media pitch to use with local media outlets.  Several news article placements and one local TV segment called attention to NRM and featured content from USA Rice’s SRD toolkit.  All together, these placements exposed more than one million consumers to the health, economic, and culinary benefits of U.S.-grown rice.

“Hy-Vee is a food retailer known for its health and wellness initiatives, so partnering with their dietitians to promote U.S. rice was quite valuable,” said Galvani.  “This is just one example of how USA Rice partners with retail grocers to communicate our message.  Hy-Vee dietitians are trusted champions of U.S.-grown rice and we thank them for their support and promotion of National Rice Month."