Have you ever thought that what you see is sometimes different from what you are really seeing?
The famous Arcimboldo's "Vegetables In A Bowl Or The Gardener" painting is a clear example ....
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has said that industry is doing its part to help consumers build healthy diets, in response to a new research published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that criticized trade organizations progress on food marketing to children as limited.
The research review of 117 published articles and reports sought to assess how much progress industry has made in changing and reducing marketing of unhealthy foods to children in the five year period to January 2011, since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) first recommended ways in which industry stakeholders could help promote a healthy diet back in 2005. The review reported that trade organizations, including the GMA, have made only limited progress in reducing marketing to children , after weighing its members positive actions in the context of spending $1.6 million lobbying against soda taxes, and developing a front of pack labeling scheme in conjunction with the Food Marketing Institute.
Responding to the review, the GMA said: The health and wellness of our consumers has always been a top priority, and we have significantly accelerated our effort to help consumers build healthier lifestyles in recent years.
The GMA, which represents the interests of food and beverage manufacturing companies in the United States, said its members have developed and introduced to the marketplace more than 20,000 healthier products between 2002 and 2009 with reduced calories, fat, sodium or sugar; pledged to remove 1.5 trillion calories from the food supply by 2015; and supports Michelle Obama’s campaign to end childhood obesity within a generation.
US grocer Winn-Dixie Stores has said it enters fiscal 2012 as "a stronger company", despite booking a drop in full-year profits.
For the 12 months to June 29, the company reported a net loss of $70.1 million, compared to a net profit of $28.9m last year. Winn-Dixie posted an operating loss of $25.8 million, compared to operating income of $37.1 million.
Sales in the period dropped by 1.4% to $6.88 billion due to an extra week in Winn-Dixie's previous financial year and a 0.1% drop in identical-store sales.
In the fourth quarter, net profit dropped by 47.8% to $7.3 million, while operating profit fell by 62% to $6.2 million. Sales declined 3.8% to $1.6 billion.
Despite the fall in profits and sales, Winn-Dixie chairman and CEO Peter Lynch was optimistic about the year ahead. "We enter fiscal 2012 as a stronger company and look forward to building on the momentum we have established this year as we continue to grow sales through initiatives and customer loyalty program such as our fuelperks rewards program and transformational remodels," Lynch said. "Through the first two fiscal periods of the new year, this momentum has resulted in identical-store sales growth in excess of 3%."
US firm CA Technologies will monitor the IT network for Tesco Group, including Tesco Bank, Tesco.com and Tesco Mobile.
The company will deal with a wide range of IT work from health and performance of its supply chain, including desktop computers, servers, networks, credit card transactions, suppliers and supply orders.
CA Technologies has been a strategic IT partner to Tesco for the past 20 years.
by Christina Pirello - www.huffingtonpost.com
A night of television viewing is enough to make a person schizophrenic. We bounce like tennis balls among reality shows that are laughable in their banality and how out of touch they are with most people's reality; cooking shows that rival the coliseum events of ancient Rome; news programs with hosts like Dr. Sanjay Gupta encouraging Americans to eat more plant-based foods and interviewing people like former President Bill Clinton on his commitment to health and a vegan diet. Sandwiched between each program are ads for food, all kinds of food -- bizarre food, excessive food, greasy, salty, sugary food, diet food, fast food, convenient food -- but no food that supports human health.
The question is: How far can this food insanity go?
Just when I think there's no other outlandish product to bring to market; not one other junk food that can be flavored, colored, deep-fried and packaged like a Christmas ornament, something else hits and I am, once again, shocked at the quality of food being marketed to us without conscience or consequence. Except, of course, to our health.
An article written in TIME in June 2010, cites a study published in 2004 in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association that discussed the impact of advertised foods on American health. http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1993220,00.html It wouldn't surprise any of us now (knowing what we do) that when the research team involved in the study calculated the nutritional content of a 2000-calorie a day diet using foods only marketed on television, they discovered that this diet exceeded government recommendations for fat by 20 times and contained 25 times the recommended amount of sugar.
Oh, and this "TV diet" contained less than half of the recommended fruit and vegetables. To me, that time seems almost innocent in the face of the food marketed to us today.
Did food go crazy because of marketing or are food manufacturers just making crazier food to see what they can push us to buy next? This begs the bigger question: Are outrageous food items being marketed to us because we want them or do we want them because they are being marketed to us?
There's a lot of blame to go around, but ultimately, I am of the belief that we would not want -- or even think of -- some of the foods being sold to us if they were not so virulently marketed. Seriously, would you, in your wildest dreams, create a 2,300-calorie pork-topped deep dish pizza in your kitchen? Would a sandwich created from two pieces of fried chicken with bacon and cheese in the middle even occur to you? Would you create a salad that had more fat and calories than a cheeseburger and fries?
I don't think -- even in your most decadent dreams of food -- that you could come up with some of the swill being passed off on us as food. It's as though products are being created by mad scientists and we are living in one big experiment!
I am reminded of the 1980 film, "Fatso," with Dom Deluise about an overweight Italian man's struggle to lose weight. He joins a group called The Chubby Checkers, and one night, after watching television ad after television ad showcasing yummy, rich, fattening food, he calls his supporters to get him through a moment of weakness. His "checkers" arrive and they begin to chat about food, describing their most decadent treats and culminate with: jelly donuts with the jelly sucked out; ice cream stuffed inside and placed in a warm oven until they just begin to melt. That pales in comparison to what is on offer today.
With burgers the size of your head, buckets of fried chicken with cheese and mashed potatoes on top, pizzas with three meals worth of calories, chocolate-covered stuffed Oreos, the Baconator Triple from Wendy's (with 1330 calories and 38 grams of saturated fat), a bowl made of bread and filled with pasta, croissants and bagels stuffed with ham, cheese, eggs and bacon, it's no wonder we are losing our collective battle with obesity, diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
Things are so crazy that compared to other fast food options out there, Chicken McNuggets with fries seem like health food.
Sadly, there's a lot of money to be made by those who support the way we currently eat -- and the interests of those commercial organizations come at a great cost to consumers. More than 4 billion dollars was spent marketing fast foods to America in 2010. Television ads comprise the lionshare of ads we are bombarded with daily (with pharmaceuticals a close second and the great irony is that we wouldn't need a lot of the drugs out there if we ate food that was fit for human consumption).
Manufacturers love to tweak products in ways that leave our diet largely unchanged, but allow for new "hot buttons" to be added to the product packaging, creating a "health halo" and seduce us to buy more of whatever junk it may be. Pharmaceutical companies can then develop more and more drugs to cure us of the diseases that our food choices cause. The health care industry makes more money treating chronic diseases than it does preventing them. And the circle of business goes round and round -- leaving us dizzy with confusion.
For the life of me, I cannot figure out how people can go on believing the nonsense being fed to us (pun intended) about food. I cannot figure out why we are not protesting in the streets at the injustices being put on us in the name of profits. It's obvious to me that the bottom line of food companies has become far more important than the collective health of the people buying food.
People find lots of excuses. I hear them all the time: Life is difficult. We're entitled to a little pleasure as a reward for surviving our daily challenges -- like getting a lollipop for going to the dentist. The science is complicated and we suffer from information overload to the point of paralysis. It takes too much discipline and money to eat healthfully. Just getting through the day is hard enough. Besides, somebody will invent a pill or treatment, or some diet guru will give us the magical formula that will make us thin, fit, and energetic -- someday. In the meantime, what's the point of denying ourselves anything, no matter how bad we know it is for us? Eating fresh, whole foods, fruits and vegetables is a lot of work and oh, so expensive. So we smoke, we drink too much and we eat stuff that hurts us. There's a disconnect between what we say we want and what we are willing to do to get it. Then we feel guilty and stressed and the cycle just perpetuates itself.
We are in serious trouble. If you think it's too expensive to eat well, just take a good look at the increasing cost of health care -- much of which could be reduced if we took some pretty simple preventive measures now. Why is no one asking why? Or doing anything about it?
Just a few decades ago, the food industry made a conscious choice to seduce the American public into eating more processed food, which featured fat, sugar, salt and dozens of preservatives. And we could not have made it easier for them. We've come to love anything fast and convenient. "Heat and eat" or "grab and go" have become the buzzwords of the day. It seems that the less healthy the food, the more we love it. We left the dinner table for dinner in a bucket.
There has been a shift away from learning to cook -- even on television cooking shows -- to watching chefs stuff their faces in diners, cafes and at the base of the Eiffel Tower. And while many of these chefs make treks to the White House to plant gardens and cook vegetables for underserved school kids, you will not see them cooking these kinds of food on their shows. It's bad for advertising.
Our fascination with cooking shows and celebrity chefs rises, but the consumption of fast and processed foods has skyrocketed. With cooking transformed into a spectacle it has become another soporific that keeps us on the sofa, yearning, wanting, craving ... something -- which is just what advertisers want.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christina-pirello/junk-food-marketing_b_936365.html
The fast food giant has issued its first developmental licensee in China to help achieve its goal of 2,000 outlets by 2013.
The company has reportedly signed an agreement with Kunming North Star Enterprise to develop the chain in Yunnan Province.
A developmental licensee owns or secures all assets including property and buildings and has the right to develop in a defined geographic area. Kunming has taken over existing outlets in the area and plans to add 20 new locations in the next five years. McDonald’s primarily runs company-operated outlets in China and only has a small handful of franchised units at the moment. However, in order to speed up expansion the company recently said it expects franchised outlets to make up as much as 20-30% of its network in five or six years time.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market said it has installed solar panels on the rooftops of 10 stores in Phoenix and one in Los Angeles.
According to Fresh & Easy, the systems, from REC Solar, San Luis Obispo, Calif., will produce 746,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually to meet approximately 20% of each store’s energy production needs - equivalent to reducing 26 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions or eliminating 38 million miles driven by cars over the next 25 years.
Each of the Phoenix stores also features an in-store display that reports real-time solar energy production while explaining to customers how solar energy systems work.
Source: Supermarket News
US discounter Big Lots has reported its financial results for the second quarter ended July 30, 2011 with a net sales increase of 2.2% to $1.17 billion. Net income increased to $35.7million from the $38.9 million in Q2 last year while comparable store sales decreased 1.5%.
Quarter results were impacted by a loss from continuing operations of $1.2 million related to the acquisition of Liquidation World, the company’s first expansion outside of the US. The company opened 15 stores in the second quarter and invested $236 million to repurchase 7.2 million shares, or approximately 10% of its outstanding shares.
Source: Planet Retail
By Dr. Mark Lino, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, USDA
Recent news articles have reported that a healthy diet is expensive if one were to consume the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables. As the senior economist with the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) with over 20 years of experience in the area of food economics developing food plans and market baskets, I agree. Depending on the food choices, a healthy diet can be relatively expensive.
However, there is a compelling fact that these news reports fail to highlight - a healthy diet can be relatively inexpensive. Now some readers of this blog may think that this is another case of economic double talk or spin, but healthy foods come in a variety of forms and a range of prices that likely fit just about anyone’s budget.
To help consumers choose a diet that conforms to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, CNPP recently introduced a 7-day menu plan to help consumers improve their diet; you can find it at ChooseMyPlate.gov. Averaged over a week, this menu provides food choices that meet the recommended amounts of key nutrients. Based on national average food costs, adjusted to 2011 prices, the cost of this menu is less than the average amount spent for food, per person, for a 4-person family. For example, the average food cost for a 2,000 calorie diet is $6.65 per person per day.
According to a USDA study, the total costs for satisfying the USDA food pattern quantity and variety recommendations for fruits and vegetables in the Dietary Guidelines vary from day-to-day, but average just under $2.00 per day or, approximately, 40 to 50 cents per cup-equivalent, using 2008 prices for commonly consumed fruits and vegetables.
Many of the most commonly consumed fruits and vegetables - such as apples, bananas, navel oranges, fresh whole carrots, onions, and potatoes - cost less than 40 cents per cup-equivalent. A recent Produce Marketing Association report “The Cost of the Recommended Daily Servings of Fresh Produce” shows people can meet vegetable and fruit recommendations for about 50 cents per cup. The average price per cup-equivalent across all fresh produce is 42 cents for vegetables and 56 cents for fruits (based on 2009-10 data). Nationally, the average retail price for fresh vegetables and fruits recommended for a 2000 calorie diet (4.5 cup equivalents) is $2.18.
In the total US, the least expensive fresh vegetables were potatoes, lettuce, eggplant, greens, summer squash, carrots, and tomatillos. The least expensive fresh fruits were watermelon, bananas, apples, pears, pineapple, and peaches. According to a USDA study, opting for frozen or canned vegetables and fruits may also lower costs.
These studies show it is possible to eat a healthy low-cost diet or one that costs less than what people are presently spending. In fact, some of the studies showing that a healthy diet is expensive, also admit in their discussion section that a healthy diet can be inexpensive, depending on the food choices a person makes. This is the key – choosing healthy, low-cost foods.
For guidance, USDA has a website that helps people make these choices. It’s called The Recipe Finder Database. The site contains numerous recipes that are low cost and follow dietary recommendations. Weekly household menus can be built from these recipes.
In addition to selecting healthy, low-cost foods, I find that people need to build good shopping skills. These skills include doing comparison pricing, using coupons, buying fruits and vegetables in season, and storing produce bought in bulk in a way that preserves them safely for use over a longer period of time.
Of course, the selection of healthy foods, whether they be the higher or lower cost options, depends on people having access to such foods. This is an area of concern and one that USDA continues to address. In addition, many people in the United States have no income or fall below the poverty threshold. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) provides these people with the means to choose low-cost healthy foods.
Source: USDA Blog
US-based Walmart will look to expand in lower-tier Chinese cities, Walmart China President and CEO Ed Chan told the China Daily.
He said: "So far, 80% of our Chinese stores are in second, third or even fourth-tier cities. I believe the lower-tier cities will see faster economic development than first-tier ones. So, Walmart China will increase its investment in lower-tier cities."
Chan noted that China currently contributes "less than 10%" to Walmart’s international performance but that China "may one day be the biggest [retail market in the world]". Several high level executives have recently left Walmart China such as Rob Cissell, former Chief Operating Officer, and Shawn Gray, former Vice President of Walmart China's hypermarket operation.
Chan added: "The recent changes in our management level and the promotion of local staff are aimed at localizing personnel. And we are confident that the mix of Walmart global talents and strong local leaders will guide the company to further success in this booming market."
Source: Planet Retail
Chiquita has announced that it has become a national strategic partner with the US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Nutrition Communicator's Network, in order to promote dietary guidelines and the country's new food icon, MyPlate.
As a partner, and one of the first national fresh produce groups to join the initiative, Chiquita has said that it will work to promote MyPlate and the dietary guidelines to help consumers think differently about their food choices, starting with “Make Half Your Plate Fruits and Vegetables.”
As a new USDA national strategic partner, Chiquita said it would promote product nutrition information based upon the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, disseminate the US Centre for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) dietary guideline messages, and participate in CNPP sessions to develop and execute a joint strategic nutrition promotion plan.
Chiquita will begin by placing the MyPlate icon on its healthy snacking products across North America to point consumers to the place where they can get science-based nutrition guidance, with its Chiquita Bites line the first to carry the MyPlate icon later this year.
The federal Food and Drug Administration is banning imports of all papayas grown in Mexico because of widespread and ongoing salmonella contamination, the agency announced Thursday.
More than 15 percent of fresh papayas entering the US from Mexico were contaminated with the foodborne bacteria, an FDA investigation between May 12 and August 18 found. That included papayas from 28 different firms and included all the major papaya-producing regions in Mexico.
IBM announced that Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. has chosen IBM point-of-sale and self-checkout technology to help transform customer service, speed innovation and increase the operational efficiency of 484 Winn-Dixie store locations, and other store formats across the Southeastern United States.
Winn-Dixie, working in collaboration with IBM and SAM Group, Inc. - a premier IBM Business Partner - will implement a network of 6,000 IBM SurePOS™ 700 systems armed with IBM's SurePOS ACE and Retail Integration Framework software, which are components of IBM's Smarter Checkout solution. Winn-Dixie will also install IBM SurePoint™ infrared touch displays and SureMark™ thermal impact printers as part of its plan to create one the industry's most comprehensive, flexible and robust retail shopping environments.
The new technology is expected to improve customer service, speed the checkout process, simplify store operations, and enhance store team member productivity.
Coca-Cola and United Resource Recovery (URRC) are injecting life back into their US PET recycling plant after a six month project to overhaul operations. According to news reports, the joint venture, which makes food-grade pellets, was shut down last March. However, URRC president Carlos Gutierrez told FoodProductionDaily.com the Atlanta-based plant was never closed and that the firms had instead reduced operations while they modified some of the equipment at the bottle sorting line. Before the modifications, the firms were losing too much yield due to poor quality of the incoming post consumer collected bottles, said Gutierrez.
Italian retailer Conad has launched Cuor d’Emilia (Heart of Emilia), a new regional private label, to celebrate the Emilia-Romagna area where the retailer is located.
Cuor d’Emilia is a sub-brand of its private-label delicatessen line, Sapori & Dintorni, and comprises a broad range of typical Emilia-Romagna food products. It also offers some regional spirits, an innovative move since wines and spirits are underdeveloped in the private label ranges of Italian retailers.
Dutch grocer Ahold has signed a $98 million contract with IT service provider Logica for the outsourcing of human resource management at its Albert Heijn and Albert operations across Europe.
Under the nine-year business process outsourcing agreement, the service company will be working with Oracle and payroll services provider ADP to implement and operate a new payroll and personnel administration system for the retailer’s 100,000 employees in the Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Part of the offering is a self-service web portal providing salary information, training and management instructions.
Smart and Final has chosen LLamasoft’s Supply Chain Guru to help design and optimize its supply chain.
Headquartered in Los Angeles, where it was started 140 years ago, Smart & Final Stores LLC operates nearly 250 grocery and foodservice stores under the “Smart & Final”, “Smart & Final Extra!”, “Cash & Carry Smart Foodservice” and “SmartCo Foods” banners in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and northern Mexico.
While Smart & Final stores target both the foodservice and household markets, Cash & Carry Smart Foodservice stores are focused exclusively on serving foodservice professionals, including operators of small restaurants, catering companies, businesses, clubs and civic organizations. For household customers, Smart & Final stores provide a convenient, low-cost source for cooking and cleaning needs and are seen as the preferred destination for stocking-up their kitchens and preparing for holidays, parties and events.
LLamasoft provides software and expertise to design and improve supply chain network operations. Supply Chain Guru(R) is the leading supply chain design and predictive analytics application available in the market today. It enables companies to model, optimize and simulate their supply chain operations, leading to major improvements in cost, service, sustainability, and risk mitigation.
Kroger Co.’s sustainability efforts are being fueled by recent gains, but the company is taking a careful approach by embracing only those initiatives that appear to have real substance, said David Dillon, chairman and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati-based retailer.
“We are absolutely committed to only doing things that are real, not just nice marketing,” Dillon told attendees at the Grocery Manufacturers Association Executive Conference here. “We want to do things that our customers will see as meaningful and transparent and will believe in us as a result.”
Dillon said he is proud that over the past 10 years Kroger has reduced energy use in stores on a per-square-foot basis by 30%, “which for us is gigantic.” He also pointed to a big reduction in food waste, citing perishable product that would previously have been discarded but is now increasingly being moved to local food banks.
Other secondary areas of progress include LEED certification of stores, reduced energy and waste in manufacturing plants, and solar and wind projects, he said.
“We’ve been inspired by some of the results we’ve achieved, and that’s given us some encouragement to move forward,” he said.
Kroger’s strategy includes “moving sustainability to a more collaborative process by working with suppliers,” he said.
Source: Supermarket News
Shares in HJ Heinz fell yesterday after the US company reported a drop in first-quarter profits.
Heinz's stock was down more than 3% after it reported a 6% decrease in net income to $226.1 million for the three months to July 27. The company's operating income fell 8.9% to $370 million.
However, costs linked to Heinz's restructuring program, announced in May, hit profits. Excluding the charges from the supply chain and manufacturing revamp, net income increased to $255 million, compared to $240.4 million a year earlier. Operating income climbed 1.1% to $410 million.
However, Heinz saw its sales rise 14.9% to $2.85 billion, boosted by the acquisitions in the last year of Brazilian condiments maker Quero and Chinese soy sauce firm Foodstar. On an organic basis, sales were up 3.1%.
Chairman, president and CEO Bill Johnston said Heinz's operations in emerging markets had managed to help the company as it navigated challenging conditions in Europe and North America.
"Emerging markets generated a record 23% of our sales in the first quarter, up from 18% a year ago. Our strategy to accelerate growth in emerging markets organically and through acquisitions in countries with fast-growing populations helped Heinz deliver strong top-line growth and solid operating results despite the economic downturn in developed markets," Johnston said.
Heinz saw sales increase by 17.5% in Europe. Sales were up 4.9% on an organic basis and volumes rose 2.2%. In North America, Heinz's sales climbed 1.7%, although volumes fell 3.1%.
US grocery retailer Target will look to urban formats, international expansion and e-commerce for future growth with the aim to reach $100 billion in annual sales by 2017. CEO Greg Steinhafel told investors in New York: "As we plan our sales, we believe it's likely that the current economic recovery will continue to evolve slowly and unevenly, producing only modest annual increases in GDP and consumer spending. Against that backdrop, we'll work to gain greater loyalty and wallet share from our guests, particularly as they increase their shopping frequency in response to our remodels and 5% Rewards Program.”
Target has identified “hundreds” of potential trade areas for its new CityTarget format which is debuting in four markets next year. Target will evaluate the results at five pilot stores before rolling the concept out to new markets. Its Canadian operations, which will officially launch in 2013, are expected to add $6 billion in sales by 2017.
The California State Senate Appropriations Committee passed Assembly Bill 183 (AB 183), which if passed by both houses of the state legislature and signed by Governor Jerry Brown will ban sales of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands in retail stores in the Golden State, by a six-to-one majority last week.
Following passage by the Appropriations Committee, AB 183, which is nicknamed the "Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law," had its "second reading" on the floor of the California State Senate on Wednesday, August 17. When a bill passes out of committee to which it's been assigned in the California State Legislature, it is read on the floor for a second time.
The bill's passage in the Appropriations Committee is the legislation's last formal committee stop. The next step for AB 183 is for it to get what's called a "third reading."
In the "third reading," AB 183 will be read on the Senate floor, then debated by members. Following the debate, a roll call vote is set to be taken.
According to FreshandEasyBuzz, we will know soon because if AB 183 passes and is sent to Governor Brown he will have until the end of September to make the "Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy" law a reality or veto it. It's a 60% probability today the Governor will sign it if it passes in the senate. But Brown is known to go against type and odds. Therefore, our probability analysis that he will sign AB 183 could change between today and the end of September.
Grocery Manufacturers Association and Food Marketing Institute have launched a three-year initiative to help the industry reduce levels of food waste.
The effort includes participation from food retailers, manufacturers and the foodservice industry, said Meghan Stasz, a GMA consultant who is slated to become the association's director of sustainability next month.
The initiative is officially called “Food Waste Opportunities and Challenges.”
The effort, officially launched in June, aims to reduce the amount of food waste entering landfills and find better alternatives to landfills, such as composting, Stasz said. This could be accomplished, for example, by having food retailers, manufacturers and restaurants located in the same geographic area collaborate to provide enough waste to warrant working with a composter, she added.
Another goal is to provide more product supply to food banks, which accounts for the participation of Feeding America on the leadership committee.
Participants will assess the sources and causes of food waste and identify beneficial policy initiatives, solutions and other best practices.
Tengelmann-controlled grocer A&P has been approved a second deadline extension by the US Bankruptcy Court to submit an exclusive reorganization plan to its creditors. The cut-off date will be extended to January 16, 2012 from the previous deadline of December 31, 2011.
As negotiations continue with trade unions covering its approximately 40,000-strong workforce, the retailer has argued that an extension would assure stability throughout the holiday season, giving it “the very best opportunity for a successful exit from Chapter 11”.
Winn-Dixie Stores here said Thursday it would convert all six of its SaveRite discount supermarkets to conventional Winn-Dixie stores and discontinue the SaveRite banner.
"Phasing out the SaveRite banner makes sense and supports Winn-Dixie's neighborhood marketing strategy," said Peter Lynch, Winn-Dixie's chairman, president and chief executive officer. "By aligning all 484 stores under one Winn-Dixie banner, we will be able to ensure a more consistent shopping experience for all of our guests regardless of the type of neighborhood in which we operate."
The conversion from SaveRite to Winn-Dixie will take about four months, and stores will remain open, the company said, adding that all current SaveRite employees will be retained.
Winn-Dixie has owned the SaveRite banner for years, and at one time operated dozens of SaveRite locations. In 2009 the company had sought to revitalize the banner with a new prototype in Jacksonville following its emergence from bankruptcy and its exit from most of its SaveRite locations.
Source: Supermarket News
Private-equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has remained coy on reports that it, and Bain Capital, may be preparing a bid for premium food retailer Whole Foods Market.
The two private-equity firms may make a cash offer at a substantial premium to the current stock price of around $90 a share, according to a report citing unnamed sources in the UK's Daily Mail.
According to the reports, a potential deal would value Whole Foods at around $6 billion.
US grocery retailer Hy-Vee has introduced a new key tag through which customers can redeem SavingStar e-coupons, Supermarket News reported. Shoppers can register their tags and choose which e-coupons they want to download.
The value of the coupons are automatically added to customers' accounts when they scan their tag at the checkout. After amassing more than $5 in savings, shoppers can deposit this to their bank or PayPal account, have it transferred to an Amazon gift card or donate it to the American Forests charity.
Source: Planet Retail
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is looking to fill more than 100 positions over the next several weeks, including positions for four new stores in California. The company, which has created more than 4,000 jobs in California since 2007, is currently accepting applications for available positions at www.freshandeasy.com/joinus.
The new Fresh & Easy stores hiring over the next several weeks include:
Coldwater Canyon Ave & Sherman Way Los Angeles 18th St & La Cienega Ave Los Angeles Nohl Ranch Rd & Anaheim Hills Rd Anaheim Hills Tasman Dr & Fair Oaks Ave Sunnyvale.
The nation's largest drugstore chain unveiled a new store brand called Nice! as it mothballs an assortment of a dozen in-house brands and refocuses its private-label strategy.
The Nice! brand name, two years in the making, began to appear on Walgreens store shelves last month on food products from soup to nuts. The rollout of more than 400 items, mostly grocery and paper products, is scheduled to accelerate this month and wind up at all 7,742 Walgreens and Duane Reade drugstores nationwide by January.
The move comes as retailers from Costco Wholesale Corp. to Macy's Inc. beef up their house brands as a way to stand out from their competitors, build a consumer following and boost profits. Not only do retailers generate higher profit margins on products they make and sell themselves, but the most successful store brands, among them Costco's Kirkland Signature and Trader Joe's, can generate a fan base that keeps returning to the stores.
Walgreen Co. has no small ambitions for its Nice! line. The Deerfield-based chain brought in former Kraft Foods Inc. executive Maurice Alkemade in 2009 to create the program. Alkemade, a 14-year-Kraft veteran, most recently managed Kraft's business with Target. His goal at Walgreen: make Nice! a $1 billion-a-year brand.
As part of the makeover, Walgreen is phasing out in-house brands, including Deerfield Farms, W, Cafe W, W Ultra and Chief Karlin. The Walgreens label will also disappear from food and household products but remain on health and wellness items.
US retailer Target has reported that net income for the second quarter increased 3.7% to $704 million.
In Target’s retail segment, net sales rose 5.1% to $15.9 billion while comparable store sales were up 3.9%.
Dollar Tree's net earnings improved by 21.7% on an 11.9% gain in sales in the fiscal second quarter, which ended July 31. Comparable-store sales increased by 4.7%.
The company said the pace of sales would likely slow in the third quarter as compared with last year, when comps improved by 8.7%.
For the quarter Dollar Tree earned $94.9 million on sales of $1.5 billion. Margins improved 10 basis points to 35.2% of sales.
The Coca-Cola Co. and its Chinese bottling partners will invest an additional $4 billion in China over the next three years, starting in 2012. By the end of 2011, Coca-Cola and the bottling partners Swire Beverages Ltd. and COFCO Coca-Cola Beverage Co. Ltd. already will have invested more than $3 billion in China over the past three years (2009-2011). The additional $4 billion will bring total investment to $7 billion between 2009 and 2014.
China topped 1 billion unit cases through the first six months of 2011. Five years ago Coca-Cola sales topped 1 billion unit cases in China for the full year for the first time ever. Consumption of Coca-Cola Products in China in 2011 represents about 7% of the company’s global volume.
In 2011, the Coca-Cola China system already has opened a new plant in Sanshui and will open another plant in Yingkou later this year. Ground will be broken for construction of a new plant in Shijiazhuang later this year. The Coca-Cola Chinese system now operates more than 40 plants in China that employ more than 48,000 people.
Ever wondered how your supermarket manages to have just the right amount of burgers available when it’s barbecue weather and warming soups when it’s chilly?
The answer lies in sensitive forecasting techniques that can predict in astonishing detail how what we buy will be affected by even minor changes in temperature.
For example, when the mercury rises from 68 to 75°F then sales of hamburgers will increase by 42%, according to research from Tesco.
A ten degree rise on a summer weekend can mean customers want 300% more barbecue meat and 50% more coleslaw, but demand for green vegetables will fall by 25%.
Cold weather sees sales of cauliflower soup, long life milk, sausages and root vegetables soar. Tesco said yesterday that it had introduced a system based on 15 years’ research into shopping habits to make sure the right items were on the shelves.
Weather reports for 15 regions are taken and orders from local depots are increased and decreased automatically during the day.
They found we are deeply affected by the ‘first’ weekend of winter or summer.
As soon as it turns bitterly cold, hot chocolate and bird feed fly off the shelves. Whereas the first hot weekend can see strawberry sales increase by 20%.
One thing does not change throughout the year, we always buy more salad on a Monday, having over-indulged over the weekend.
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘Even a few degrees change in temperature can result in a significant shift in what people buy. It’s vital to ensure we have exactly the right amount of product on the shelf every day of the year. It also means we don’t order too much, which keeps food waste down.” Ian Michaelwaite, who provides forecasts for around 30 small chains of shops, said: “There is a 4.5% weather impact on sales of food, and 6$ for clothing, which can make a difference to profit and loss.” Source: Daily Mail
A dip in year-on-year US container imports is a reflection of a shipping anomaly and not falling US retail sales, reports freight and logistics news service ifw-net.com.
The site said US retail sales have improved this summer, while imported cargo volumes have fallen.
Jonathan Gold of the National Retail Federation (NRF) told Ifw-net that this dichotomy was a reflection of last year's unusual shipping patterns more than the economy.
"The economy continues to face challenges, but job growth has been steady and retailers have been adding jobs themselves as sales improve. Cargo figures for this autumn clearly show that retailers are expecting a healthy holiday season," he said.
A Global Port Tracker report produced on behalf of the NRF revealed that in June US ports saw a 5 per cent drop in container imports compared to the prior year. Port Tracker estimated the decline will have continued in July.
The June decline broke an 18-month stretch of year-on-year US import container growth. But the report explained that the figures are a skewed comparison against higher-than-normal numbers last summer, when shipping capacity fears caused many retailers to bring holiday merchandise into the country earlier than usual.
Actual US retail sales have seen 12 months of straight growth, it said. And full-year import container volumes for 2011 are forecast to reach 15.28m TEU, up 3.6 per cent on 2010.
Nevertheless, Ben Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates who produced the NRF's Port Tracker report, warned that a number of key economic indicators were raising concerns about future US cargo growth.
"In the US we have lower private consumption, lower government expenditure and lower indices, like the purchasing managers' index. This is cause for concern because it could lead to lower growth of trade volumes," he said.
Source: Fruitnet.com
US grocery retailer Meijer has announced it will increase the amount of fruit and vegetables it sources from farms in the Midwest of America by 5% this year.
Meijer will continue to buy its fresh produce from farms in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky and this commitment will account for almost one-third of all the fruit and vegetables it sells during the summer and early autumn. The Michigan-based grocer claims to have invested more than $60 million in local economies through this kind of initiative.
Seven & I-owned convenience chain 7-Eleven is expanding its network of stores by acquiring 51 ExxonMobil Corp stores in Dallas, Texas.
Financial terms of the deal are not available, though the transaction is expected to close towards the year end. Under the conditions of the pending deal, the outlets will continue to sell Exxon fuel and 7-Eleven will own and operate the accompanying retail stores.
Source: Planet Retail
Tesco in the UK is to stop offering bio-degradable plastic bags after independent research suggested they may damage wildlife and the environment, The Daily Mail has reported.
Tesco said it has began the process to switch to new bags, which are not bio-degradable but include 15% recycled material, earlier this year.
The German-owned discounter Aldi stole 3.6% of the market in the three months to August 7 – its largest-ever share – with sales up almost a quarter (24.4%) over the equivalent period a year ago.
Rival discounter Lidl maintained its own record share of 2.6%, while Waitrose again performed strongly, with sales up 8.3% on last year.
That was more than double the rate of growth for the market as a whole, up 3.8% on last year.
“It is evident that shoppers are trying to manage their ‘personal’ inflation by trading down,” said Kantar’s Edward Garner. “It’s therefore unsurprising that the discounters have pushed further ahead this month.”
He added: “While the discounters are prospering we are not seeing the shift towards consumers buying more own-label products that might be expected from cost-cutting.
“In fact, budget private-label is showing only muted growth of 2%, while premium own-label is growing at over 8% – confirming that, despite economic pressures, low price is not the only motivation in this market.”
The International Sugar Organization predicts world sugar prices will range between 23 cents and 28 cents a pound amid increased demand from China and Indonesia.
Prices were about 12.78 cents for the past decade, but were 27.84 cents at the close on August 12.
Walmart has reported its ninth consecutive quarterly decline of comparable store sales at its US division. Comparable store sales were down 0.9% at Walmart US for the second quarter ended July 29. Looking ahead to the third quarter, Walmart is expecting US comps to be in the range of negative 1% to positive 1%.
Net sales growth for the division edged up 0.4% to $64.9 billion while operating income rose 2.1% to $5 billion during the quarter.
Sam’s Club posted an impressive 5% rise in comparable store sales while Q3 comps are expected to increase between 3-5%. Net sales rose 9.5% to $13.6 billion while operating income increased 15% to $492 million.
International sales rose 16.2% to $30.1 billion while operating income increased 8.9% to $1.4 billion.
US-based retailer Walmart has reorganized its e-commerce business in several key markets as part of its strategy to keep pace with the likes of Amazon, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Walmart has restructured its internet operations in its home market, the UK, Japan and Canada in an attempt to better integrate online retailing with its bricks and mortar operations. In addition, Raul Vazquez who was in charge of e-commerce initiatives in developed markets and Steve Nave who was the head of Walmart.com have left the company. Joel Anderson has been appointed to lead Walmart.com and will report to Walmart US President Bill Simon. The retail giant’s online managers in developed markets will now report to country managers rather than be part of a global team.
In a memo to employees, Walmart executives said: “In these markets, our brands as well as our bricks and mortar presence is well-established. Our customer is demanding continuity between both channels - a seamless experience as she shops in her store and online - comparing prices, assortment and availability.”
Eduardo Castro-Wright, President and CEO of Global.com and Global Sourcing, will remain in charge of global e-commerce strategy and acquisitions, and maintain a "dotted-line" relationship with e-commerce leaders in developed countries, the memo said. In China and India, Walmart’s e-commerce efforts will continue to be led by EVP and COO of Global.com Wan Ling Martello.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released the Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Interactive Resource Disk for use by foodservice establishments and retail food stores in preventing transmission of foodborne pathogens that are often transmitted by sick food employees. The disk includes an interactive tool to assist the persons in charge of these establishments make the correct decisions to prevent sick employees from working with food. In addition, it contains several FDA resource documents such as the 2009 FDA Food Code, an Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Handbook, a recording of a satellite broadcast on “Using Employee Health and Personal Hygiene Measures,” and education and training materials in multiple languages on employee health and personal hygiene.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention annually publishes a list of infectious and communicable diseases that are transmitted through food and the FDA Food Code lists five of the pathogens that have high infectivity and are easily transmitted to food by sick employees. These pathogens, referred to as the “Big 5,” are: Norovirus, Hepatitis A virus, Salmonella Typhi, Shigella spp., and Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157:H7 or other Enterohemorrhagic or Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.
In order to prevent transmission of the "Big 5" to food or to other persons, it is important that all employees working with food are fully aware of their responsibility to report symptoms, diagnosis, past illness, and history of exposure associated with these pathogens. The interactive tool follows a question and answer format and focuses on symptoms associated with the “Big 5” pathogens, including vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, and sore throat with fever. When the person in charge is informed of employee symptoms or learns of a diagnosis, he or she can use the interactive tool to determine whether to notify the regulatory authority, whether to have the employee sent home or to remain at work, and when to allow the employee to return to work. or a health practitioner. The disk is not to be used as a substitute for state and local regulatory requirements.
The disk is a tool that quickly provides the information needed to prevent a sick food employee from transmitting a foodborne disease. It is not meant to be used as a tool to diagnose foodborne disease or as a substitute for consultation with a regulatory authority.
For more information and to download the interactive tool beginning August 19, 2011, visit: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/RetailFoodProtection/default.htm
The US on-line ad market is on a sharp trajectory this year, eMarketer estimates, with spending set to increase 20.2% to $31.3 billion. And based on an updated industry breakdown, retail and consumer packaged goods (CPG) will account for the largest shares of new spending.
Retail, already the highest-spending vertical on-line, will add over $1.3 billion to on-line budgets this year for growth of 24% and a total of $6.78 billion. The CPG industry will spend $640 million more to advertise on-line this year than last year, and will continue to grow spending by 14% to 29% each year through 2015.
Despite these strong gains, CPG will only be the fourth-highest-spending vertical by 2015, with automotive and financial services ahead in overall spending. Both of those industries will also post healthy growth throughout the forecast period after double-digit drops in spending during the recession.
Coca-Cola has 691 hybrid electric medium-duty trucks, and plans to have 740 alternative fuel vehicles operating in North America by the end of the year.
More than six in 10 New York City residents say they would welcome Walmart to their neighborhood, although support in the outer boroughs was stronger than in Manhattan, according to results of a poll by Marist College reported by Supermarket News.
Around 30% of those polled said they felt Walmart would make their neighborhood a better place to live, while 25% said Walmart would make their neighborhood worse. Forty-five percent said it would make no difference.
US retailer Target has partnered with Pret a Manger for its first CityTarget store in Chicago.
The UK-based sandwich chain will open in the State Street CityTarget in July 2012, offering shoppers a fresh, natural selection of grab-and-go sandwiches, soups, salads, coffee and more.
Target Senior Vice President, Grocery, Annette Miller said: “We believe Pret a Manger will help us provide guests in downtown Chicago with the exceptional, complete shopping experience they have come to expect from Target. Our Chicago CityTarget guests can pop in for a fresh sandwich or salad during their regular visits to our store for groceries or apartment essentials.”
Winn-Dixie Stores announced the completion of its first “transformational” remodel in the Central Florida region. The store features a new entrance with a farmers' market-style outdoor area leading into an expanded produce department, according to a release.
The deli and prepared food department has also been expanded to include a wood-burning rotisserie, a carving station, a custom sandwich shop, a chicken wing bar, and a selection of hot entrees and sides, including made-to-order pizza, pastas, fried chicken, barbecue and meatloaf. The area also features 11 different salads, including spinach antipasti and curried couscous.
New additions to other departments include an on-site sushi chef in seafood, an expanded selection of international cheeses staffed by a cheese specialist, a remodeled and expanded pharmacy department with a new wellness center, an upgraded floral department with an assortment of specialty gifts and seasonal merchandise, and a new cafe offering complimentary Wi-Fi access.
The new store also features upgraded decor throughout, including more modern lighting, as well as hardwood flooring in the produce, deli and bakery departments and polished concrete floors in Center Store.
The Apopka location is the fourth transformational remodel that Winn-Dixie has completed. The company currently has 17 stores scheduled to complete similar renovations this year, according to the release.
Source: SupermarketNews
Some Wall Street analysts say PepsiCo would benefit from splitting its fast-growing snack business from its beverage unit.
PepsiCo said no such plan is pending.
According to Harvard School of Public Health researchers, eating red meat - especially processed products - increases your risk of type 2 diabetes.
They also found that you can significantly lower your diabetes risk by replacing red meat with healthier proteins, such as nuts, whole grains or low-fat dairy products.
A daily serving of 50 grams of processed meat - equivalent to one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon - was associated with a 51% increased risk of diabetes.
Among people who ate one daily serving of red meat, substituting one serving of whole grains per day reduced the risk of diabetes by 23%. Substituting nuts resulted in a 21% lower risk, and substituting a low-fat dairy product, a 17% lower risk.
Coming off record results in its fiscal 2011, food maker H.J. Heinz is counting on growth in emerging markets to help it add to its bottom line.
For its fiscal 2011 ended April 27, Heinz's earnings grew 7%. Profit had fallen 1% in fiscal 2010. Revenue rose 2% to $10.7 billion in fiscal 2011.
Heinz's sales from emerging markets such as China, India, Indonesia and Russia accounted for 16% of total revenue in the latest fiscal year. That's up from 9% in fiscal 2005. The company expects that number to pick up to at least 20% in fiscal 2012 and 30% by fiscal 2016.
The company is target emerging markets due to their faster-growing economies. Heinz also seeks to take advantage of the rapidly-growing middle and above-middle classes in those nations, which would give it a much larger customer base.
According to researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the number of TV advertisements US children see for high-fat, salty and sugary foods and beverages has declined in recent years, but the majority of kids’ TV food advertising is still for less healthy choices.
According to the research, children aged 2 to 5 saw an average of 10.9 food-related television advertisements each day in 2009, down 17.8% from 2003, while 6- to 11-year-olds saw 12.7 food ads, down 6.9% on 2003. The largest reduction was for sweets ads, which fell by 55.1% among the younger age group and 44% among the 6- to 11-year-old group. Exposure to beverage ads fell 40%.
However, the researchers found that in 2009, 86% of ads targeted at children under 11 still featured products that were high in saturated fat, sodium or sugar, leading the researchers to suggest that industry self-regulation via the voluntary Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) has not done enough to reduce children’s exposure to advertisements less healthy foods.
Analysts at investment bank Liberum Capital said they expect Unilever to sell its food arm, excluding the ice cream and beverage category, for an estimated figure of $19.8 billion.
Any such deal would be used to fund a large acquisition in its home and personal care businesses, according to a Liberum Capital report on why now is the right time to buy Unilever stock.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) has said that industry is doing its part to help consumers build healthy diets, in response to a new research published in the latest edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that criticized trade organizations progress on food marketing to children as limited.
