When Krystal Register was studying nutrition dietetics in graduate school, she spent time in a tertiary-care hospital setting — an experience that helped her realize she could help people improve their lives by helping them decide what to eat.
“Once you see that level of care, you’re all the more driven to go back and see what [you] can do preventively,” said Register, a registered dietitian nutritionist who has served since March 2024 as vice president of health and well-being for FMI — The Food Industry Association. That set her on course for her role positioning supermarkets as critical links in the nation’s healthcare system.
But while she knew she wanted to help people make decisions about food, Register, who joined FMI in June 2020, didn’t initially plan to actually enter the food industry. After completing her academic training, she became a clinical dietitian and later moved on to be a personal nutrition coach before landing a job at Wegmans, where she worked for more than a decade as a nutritionist in stores the chain runs in Virginia and Maryland.
“I never thought I would end up in the grocery store, [but] once I was there, it’s just such a meaningful, powerful place to share health and nutrition messaging,” Register said in an interview. “[Supermarkets are] so vital to the health of all the families, all the households, all the community.”
Register was working at Wegmans and in the process of applying for a job at FMI just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020 and grocery workers were declared to have critical roles in fighting the respiratory illness — a designation she’s particularly proud of.
“It brings tears to my eyes now, but I have my letter that said I was an essential employee,” she said. “I was told to have that letter with me in the car, to have my uniform, my Wegmans uniform shirt on, and my Wegmans name badge [in case] I got pulled over trying to get to a store.”
Register is leading FMI’s health and well-being initiatives at a time when grocery stores have been stepping up their efforts to be seen as healthcare destinations.
“The opportunity for what we’re referring to as health-centered retail — or retail health — is really strategically shaping the future of food, pharmacy, nutrition and healthcare,” she said. “Healthcare providers are starting to send patients directly to the grocery store as part of their treatment plan. Nothing excites me more than this.”
Register reflected on her experience working as a supermarket nutritionist and discussed her role heading FMI’s nutrition-focused activities in a recent conversation with Grocery Dive.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
GROCERY DIVE: It sounds like you’ve truly found your life’s work working in a nutrition-focused role in the grocery industry.
KRYSTAL REGISTER: I do think this is my dream job, because it’s [about] the whole supply chain, too. I love being on the farm. I love seeing where food comes from, but then also helping [with] “how does that get into the grocery store?” “What messaging comes with it?”
What’s your sense about how people perceive the roles nutritionists play in helping them make choices about food?
Sometimes people think [dietitians] are finger-shaking, like police: “Don’t eat that, and don’t eat that.” It’s completely the opposite. Dietitians want people to enjoy all foods and erase any negative connotation [they] have with food.
It seems like you found your sweet spot in making connections between the role grocery stores play in people’s lives and what shoppers want.
Well-being encompasses so much more than just food. Just this morning, my team and the food safety team [at FMI] were talking about all of the other things you get at the grocery store beyond food that really contribute to the well-being of your household, whether that’s things you need [for cooking], like aluminum foil and hand soap and a food thermometer. Or maybe it’s the candle you put on the table that just makes the grocery store experience more joyful once you bring it home and put a meal on the family table.
How can grocers embed nutrition into their omnichannel relationships with customers?
The digital connection is just such a great conduit for health-and-nutrition messaging or labeling, recipes and ingredients. Taking that and putting it right in a digital tool, you can personalize one-on-one consultations with registered dietitians. You can talk about products and add them right to your shopping cart. Then you can come and meet two weeks later and say, “Hey, Krystal, my family didn't really like that recipe. That one took too much time for me.”
Many of the registered dietitians who are working one-on-one with customers are actually doing that virtually. And we’re seeing that it’s a successful model, because you can be at home, it’s private … but you can have all of this other information pulled up. You can pull up a single product and search the ingredient list. You can look at how many calories or what’s a better swap in that same category.
What are your thoughts, based on your experience and what you’re seeing at FMI, about what grocers need to do to keep people feeling good about what grocers do?
Most consumers right now have a nutrition- or lifestyle-related health issue, and most often that’s partnered with nutrition or a lifestyle-related goal. So people want to improve their health or that of their families to live longer and stronger, and they don’t always know how — and now they’re constantly faced with all this conflicting and confusing messaging. At the end of the day, food resonates as part of [the] health journey, and trust in the grocery store is a great place to start.
How does the intense focus on saving money that we’ve been seeing connect with the work grocery store nutritionists do?
Eating well is the foundation of how shoppers think about value. So shoppers’ ideas of eating well are complex and highly personalized, but we found there’s four key benefit areas. Health is one of them, entertainment, exploration and convenience. So today’s shoppers are more interested than ever in all aspects of food and nutrition, while fine tuning what they consider healthy as they shop for food and beverages around the store.
Our consumer insights research finds that shoppers are defining value [as] more than just price and quality. Sure, value still includes price and quality, but shoppers are now considering things like freshness and health and nutrition. This means each shopper has their own unique way of defining value, and that definition may shift and evolve based on needs and the needs of the household.
Does that mean that people will actually pay more for a grocery-shopping experience they believe aligns with their own goals?
I think that shoppers, especially in today’s economy, view nutritious options as investments that pay off, and they’re willing to invest in both short-term health and long-term health. So [for] purchase drivers [like] health, entertainment, enjoyment and convenience, we find shoppers are willing to pay more for that, and shoppers [feel] the real value is unlocked when all those purchase drivers are combined and provide a meaningful positive experience around food.
