Editing Food distribution (section)

=== US food distribution from 1900 to 1960 ===
The United States' food distribution system has experienced major changes in the past hundred years.<ref name=":7" /> Food distribution primarily relied on small, local farms in the 1940s, but quickly grew to become a large business in the 1960s.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=&displayGroupName=Magazines&currPage=&dviSelectedPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA352603575&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=temple_main&jsid=6f206dadcd18b21868a424846f374a10|title=Meal deal; American food distribution|date=2013|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2016-10-20|via=Gale}}</ref> Three economic advances that allowed for the growth in food distribution between 1910 and 1960 were the establishment of [[chain store]]s, [[Retailers' cooperative|retail cooperatives]], and [[supermarket]]s.<ref name=":7" />

==== Chain stores ====
Chain stores did not become popular in the United States until the end of [[World War I]]. It was reported in 1929 that chain stores accounted for 39% of all grocery sales in the United States. Chain stores' success is related to their ability to undersell smaller distributors. An anti-chain movement arose in response to the success of the [[chain store]]s during the [[Great Depression]], but caused little detriment to the success and profitability of the chains.<ref name=":7" />

==== Retail cooperatives ====
Another response to the success of the chain stores was the development of [[Retailers' cooperative|retail cooperatives]]. These organizations were founded by groups of individual food distributors who saw the benefits of using chain-style pricing. [[Retailers' cooperative|Retail cooperatives]] accounted for 7% to 8% of the food market in 1930, and an increase in their popularity with independent food distributors rose retail cooperative's market share to 13% by 1958.<ref name=":7" />

==== Supermarkets ====
The third and final change to US food distribution in the first half of the 20th century involved the establishment of supermarkets. The [[Ford Motor Company]] performed the first experiment regarding the [[Profit (economics)|profitability]] of large-scale supermarkets after the end of World War I. Supermarkets officially began gaining prominence in the 1930s and steadily continued their growth into the post-WWII era.<ref name=":7" />