Phil Lempert (born April 1953) has been the Food Trends Editor for

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's ''

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'' show since 1991. Known as the "SupermarketGuru", Lempert appears weekly with "New Product Hit's & Misses" on ''ABC Now'' and hosts a weekly

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

show called ''Good Day with SupermarketGuru.'' Lempert is a contributing editor of '' Winsight Grocery Business'', and a

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for ''WGB.'' He has written for ''

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'', ''

Family Circle ''Family Circle'' was an American women's magazine that covered topics such as homemaking, recipes and health. It was published from 1932 until the end of 2019. Originally distributed at supermarkets, it was one of the " Seven Sisters," a grou ...

'', and ''Meat & Seafood Merchandising'', among other publications. Lempert is the host of the Farm Food Facts, Lost in the Supermarket and Winsight Live podcasts.

Early career

Lempert worked at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

and

Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson by Wyndham, still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's, is an American hotel brand with over 200 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a Chain store, restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., wit ...

in high school, and after graduating

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

he worked in his family's food brokerage firm. He then attended

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

for graduate studies in package design and went on to create Lempert Design, Marketing & Advertising; during this time, Lempert began publishing the bi-weekly ''The Lempert Report''. He went on to become senior vice president of Age Wave a lifestyle consulting firm that focuses on the life path of the

baby boomer Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the demographic cohort preceded by the Silent Generation and followed by Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964 during the mid-20th century baby boom that ...

generation and then joined the

Tribune Company Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

as chairman of their food task force and created content for their newspapers, online services and television stations.

Career

Lempert is the Founder and Editor of SupermarketGuru.com, a website with a consumer panel of more than 100,000 opt-in participants nationwide who offer opinions on food and health related issues and products, a

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for Nutrient, nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or Fungus, fungal origin and contains essential nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, protein (nutrient), proteins, vitamins, ...

and

health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...

news hub created in 1994. As Editor, he produces a weekly "New Product Hit and Miss" segment and publishes e-publications targeted to

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s and businesses: ''Xtreme Retail23'', ''Food Nutrition & Science'', ''Coffee Chat News'' and ''Facts, Figures & the Future.'' In 2007, Lempert founded "Phil’s Supermarket," the first

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

to exist in the virtual world of

Second Life ''Second Life'' is a multiplayer virtual world that allows people to create an Avatar (computing), avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user-created content within a multi-user online environment. Developed for person ...

. In 2010, Lempert produced and hosted a documentary called ''Food Sense with Phil Lempert'' that aired on

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public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...

stations. The one-hour documentary follows a typical American

breakfast Breakfast is the first meal of the day usually eaten in the morning. The word in English refers to breaking the fasting period of the previous night. Various "typical" or "traditional" breakfast menus exist, with food choices varying by regi ...

egg An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the ...

bacon Bacon is a type of Curing (food preservation), salt-cured pork made from various cuts of meat, cuts, typically the pork belly, belly or less fatty parts of the back. It is eaten as a side dish (particularly in breakfasts), used as a central in ...

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As ...

, toast,

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and

strawberries The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit is appreciated f ...

from farm and factory to table. Viewers are introduced to both organic and conventional

food production The food industry is a complex, global network of diverse businesses that supplies most of the food consumed by the World population, world's population. The food industry today has become highly diversified, with manufacturing ranging from sm ...

methods and watch how the Mercantile Exchange and other issues impact food prices. Lempert is the former host of a live call-in syndicated radio show called ''Shopping Smart'' and from 1989 to 2005 he hosted a weekly, live call-in radio show, ''Before You Bite with Phil Lempert.'' Lempert was a correspondent for

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'' Up All Night,'' a monthly guest on

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's ''International Journalists Debate'' and was a weekly contributor to

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’s ''Good Food'' program. Lempert has appeared on ''

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

'', ''

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', broadcast from Chic ...

'', '' Discovery Health'' and ''

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'' and has been profiled and interviewed by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', ''

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'', ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'', ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'', ''

National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays Source (journalism), sources for tips (chec ...

'', ''Daily News'', ''

'', ''

Boston Herald The ''Boston Herald'' is an American conservative daily newspaper whose primary market is Boston, Massachusetts, and its surrounding area. It was founded in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States. It has been awarde ...

'', ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

,'' and ''

Brandweek ''Brandweek'' is a three-day brand marketing symposium and a part of Adweek, Llc. It was also previously a weekly American marketing trade publication that was published between 1986 and April 2011. Profile Brandweek is a part of Adweek, cover ...

''.

Books and public speaking

Lempert is the author of ''Being the Shopper, Healthy, Wealthy & Wise, Phil Lempert’s Supermarket Shopping & Value Guide, Top Ten Trends for Baby Boomers and Crisis Management: A Workbook for Survival''. Lempert also hosts the

National Grocers Association National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

annual "Best Bagger Competition."

Personal life

Lempert is married to Laura B. Gray and resides in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

References

External links

SupermarketGuru.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lempert, Philip Living people 1953 births Television personalities from California Drexel University alumni American non-fiction writers American radio personalities People from Santa Monica, California Television personalities from New York City