Navigating the Aisles of Grocery Store Equity

The American grocery store industry faces a difficult dichotomy, one of food insecurity and food waste. Striking the balance between them, and being able to adequately provide for a population of all backgrounds is imperative towards ensuring the health of American communities.

Food waste in American grocery stores poses an environmental and economic toll on our society. These tolls include the squandering of resources like water, energy, and land to grow food that will eventually be discarded, and financial loss from investing resources in purchasing, storing and displaying products that will end up in landfills. One of the major reasons behind food waste in American grocery stores is the practice of overstocking perishable food products to ensure ample availability for customers. Though the intention of this practice is to ensure food security, more often than not, this leads to a surplus of foods.

At its core, food insecurity refers to the lack of reliable access to sufficient quantities of affordable, nutritious food. In Orange County, and throughout the Country, specific groups like low income households, undocumented immigrants, and senior citizens are often more vulnerable to experience.

In my research, I aimed to learn more about potential drivers of food surplus in Orange County - a sustainability issue regarding food waste. What is the spatial distribution of general grocery stores and international grocery stores like in Orange County? What is the quality of service and food in Orange County grocery stores? How do these pieces of information compare to demographic information like median household income, and immigrant status in Orange County cities? These questions provide important answers as to how Orange County is under or overserving certain communities. 

By comparing the City Population Map, with the Quantity of Grocery Stores per City Map, it is evident that cities with higher populations have more grocery stores, a favorable turnout. The map on the left hand side shows Orange County city population data, with lighter blue colors showing cities with a population on the lower end for Orange County cities and deeper blue colors showing cities with a population on the higher end for Orange County cities. It is worth noting, however, that the Cities of San Clemente, Laguna Niguel, Fountain Valley, and Tustin have a population that is low for Orange County cities, yet have a quantity of grocery stores that is not on the lowest end for Orange County cities. These types of imbalances are important to locate areas of food surplus and unequal spatial distribution of grocery stores.

Through comparing the Immigrant Population Percentage Map with the Quantity of International Grocery Stores per City Map, it can be concluded that areas with a higher population percentage of immigrants, shown in the deeper orange colors on the left, do have a greater quantity of international grocery stores, shown in deeper purple colors on the right.

A few cities fall outside of this conclusion, however, such as the Cities of Stanton, Cypress, Laguna Woods, and Brea having a immigrant population percentage of at least 20%, yet having zero international grocery stores. For people residing in these cities, they may have to travel far distances to obtain foods that pertain to their culture. This poses yet another issue of sustainability, as this increases the vehicle miles traveled for these individuals, potentially increasing the emissions of greenhouse gases.

My goal in comparing the Median Household Income Map with the Average Yelp Grocery Store Rating Map was to see if areas of higher or lower income received better or worse reviews. For the map on the left hand side, lower income cities are shown in lighter green colors and higher income cities are shown in darker green colors. For the map on the right hand side, cities with lower average grocery store ratings are shown in lighter orange colors, and cities with higher average grocery store ratings are shown in darker orange colors. Specifically, I wanted to see if there was a correlation between high yelp ratings with higher income cities, and lower yelp ratings with lower income cities. This was represented in cities like the Cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Stanton as they are lower income cities that also received the lower end of Yelp reviews. These poorer reviews are reflective of the quality of service and goods of these grocery stores. With low reviews, shoppers may feel less inclined to shop at these locations, leading to a higher margin of unpurchased and discarded goods. The Cities of Yorba Linda, Laguna Beach, and San Clemente also fell into this idea as they are higher income areas that received the higher end of Yelp reviews. With higher reviews, it is more likely that these grocery stores better retain a consistent set of customers and even attract customers from outside of the area.

There are, however, potential confounding variables that are worth making note of. Language barriers and their affect on ratings on Yelp are also an important factor to take into account. Cities with a population that is comparatively less proficient in English may have an average grocery store Yelp review that does not represent the communities they are serving. Not all cities, as well, have the same number of grocery stores which greatly affect how the cities average grocery store review comes out.

In conclusion, the spatial distribution of general and international grocery stores is appropriate for both the general population and immigrant population for Orange County cities. There is a mix of average grocery store yelp reviews per each city, and there isn’t sufficient evidence to say whether or not a certain median household income group receives higher or lower grocery store ratings. For my call to action, I would like to shed awareness that there are cities that do not fall under these ideas. There are cities that have a higher than median immigrant population percentage, with less than the median amount of international grocery stores, and cities that have a lower median household income that receive lower Yelp ratings compared to their higher income counterparts. There are several Orange County cities that are worth looking into to see if their communities are being under or overserved, and how to better distribute the presence of grocery stores both general and international. Through implementing a more spatially equal distribution of grocery stores based on metrics like city area, general population, and immigrant population, residents of Southern California will have easier access to high quality foods they need. Individual grocery stores may even see a decrease in discarded grocery items, and higher profit margins by being better able to cater to their communities.