Produce Lighting Basics

Appearance is everything

Lighting can make average produce look top quality or make top quality produce look average. Installing light fixtures built for grocery is an excellent way to improve the presentation of the produce, leading to higher sales and lower spoilage.

There are several approaches to produce department lighting, below are 3 broad lighting approaches.

• Medium Contrast – Medium contrast means a nice level of ambient light with the added punch of highlighting on the products. This is often achieved through track lighting utilizing flood optics or track lighting with highbay or linear fixtures above.

Lighting layout by Nick Jordan (JLH Lighting)

• Theatrical – The theatrical approach is all about high contrast presentation, allowing the produce to do all the talking. Often this is achieved with a single layer of track lighting equipped with narrow beam angles to focus most of the light on the displays, leaving only minimal light for the floor.

Lighting layout by Nick Jordan (Now with JLH Lighting).

• General – This approach is often either highbay, 2x4 troffers, or linear fixtures in a grid or general pattern. The lighting washes the product, floor, décor, etc. with an even light but does not highlight the product. This is often the lowest cost option and utilizes fixtures with a focus on energy efficiency, not color quality. A great option for discount grocery chains as they create a “low cost” feel to the store. Watch out for glare that distracts from the products as you can see in the below photo.

JLH Lighting did not design or supply for this grocer

The lighting approach is nothing without high quality, made for grocery light fixtures. Some important fixture specifications to look for when lighting fresh foods:

• Color quality / CRI – CRI represents a measurement for the general quality light. On a scale of 0-100, 100 being the best, look for lighting sporting a CRI over 90 for most fresh food applications. While not a specification you can rely on completely, CRI values under 90 can generally be eliminated as an viable option for fresh food lighting.

• R9 – The R9 measurement is part of a larger color test that includes more color samples than the typical CRI measurement. R9 is also measured on a scale of 0-100 but values over 50 should be considered “good”. Due to the way CRI is averaged, a fixture can have a CRI of 90 but an R9 value less than 10!

• Color Temperature (CCT) – Is it the right color temperature for both the products in the department and your overall store look?

• Efficiency – Efficiency values can be all over the place and are impacted by color temperature and color quality.

• Beam Characteristics – This is a tough one to see on a spec sheet but is easily noticed when demonstrated in store. To achieve an even illumination across the display you want an even beam pattern. Many, if not most, track lighting spot fixtures have a very high illumination in the center of the beam (hotspot) with a rapid falloff as you move away from center. This is excellent for applications such as illuminating a portrait on the wall of a hotel, but not a good option for grocery. You can often tell that a fixture has this type of beam pattern when the manufacturer touts it’s high CBCP values (Center beam candle power) as a primary feature. For example, a 30-35° optic can have a very different look on the product.

  The image on the left shows the beam come to somewhat of a point in the center. This is a hotspot.

  The image on the right shows a more flattened beam pattern at the bottom representing a more even light distribution.

• Warranty – The industry standard is 5 years warranty. Always ask how a manufacturer handles warranty claims should you need to make one. Do they require you to ship overseas? What is the turnaround for a replacement?

There is no single correct way to light a grocery store. The myriad of variables in the design of the store such as which way the front of the building faces, how many windows are present, skylights being used, desired “feel” of the store, and many others make it impossible to make a “one-size-fits-all” suggestion.

JLH Lighting offers lighting layout designs at no additional cost as part of our services. We will work with you and your team to put together the right lighting plan using only high end fixtures that are made for grocery. Give us a call, 314-888-9324.