Industry News

Restaurants are becoming an integral part of shopping centers, as they now account for a larger share of total leasing and often act as anchor tenants. When West Plano Village opens in Texas in 2010, restaurants will account for nearly half of all retail space. About 25% of Shops at Legacy's total retail space will be devoted to restaurants once its latest phase is finished this fall in Plano, TX. The trend marks a change from 20 years ago, when restaurants made up 10% to 15% of leasing, according to Herb Weitzman, chief executive of Cencor Realty Services, reported The Dallas Morning News. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Consumer Food Spending and the Changing Economy Although the slumping economy is impacting the restaurant industry and restaurant growth is forecast at the lowest level since 1991, concepts that offer unique and resonating value equation can find success, noted Kevin Higar, Senior Manager of Technomic Inc. during the Consumer Spending and the Changing Economy webinar presented by Technomic Inc. and The Food Institute. Additionally, opportunities to increase menu prices do exist, as not all menu price elasticities are created equal. Meanwhile, supermarkets can benefit from trading down, noted Ron Paul, President of Technomic. If you missed the webiner, but would like to purchase a recording of the event, click here.

Prices for school lunches are increasing by about 25 cents a meal this fall due to increasing food costs. For example, Newark, NJ is raising the full price of its daily lunches to $1.50 from $1.25, as its overall food budget grows to an estimated $5.2 million from $5 million last year. In Paterson, NJ, the full price is also increasing by 25 cents, to $2.25 in high schools and $2 in elementary schools, to help cover a 23% increase in bread prices alone in the last year, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Publix, Aldi, and Food Lion plan to increase their presence in metro Atlanta during the next 18 months in spite of a tough economy. The area could very well see more than 50 stores in the market, according to Aldi's Georgia director of real estate, reported Progressive Grocer. Full Story

J. Christopher's Restaurant will begin franchising by targeting the Atlanta suburbs and markets throughout the Southeast for expansion. The company currently has 20 locations including 17 Atlanta restaurants and one each in Nashville, TN, Savannah, GA and Tampa, FL. Full Story

The Hispanic grocery chain Gigante will rebrand itself after the banner of the company that bought it, El Super, bringing the total number of stores operated by Bodega Latina Corp. to 16. All but one Phoenix store are located in Southern California, reported Progressive Grocer. Full Story

Revionics Inc. launched the Revionics Advanced Pricing System, a price optimization offering, for the food distribution industry. The Revionics offering will integrate with existing installed customer service and enterprise systems used by distributors, reported CSP Daily News. Full Story

Wausau Paper is shutting down one of the two paper machines at its Specialty Products mill in Jay, ME by the end of this year in response to dramatically increased input costs and difficult market conditions. With a capacity of 40,000 tons annually, the machine serves the release liner market and a variety of smaller niche markets focusing on tape backing grades, high performance release liners and food service and food packaging market, reported Market Watch. Full Story

International News

Concerns were raised about the long-term future of Australia's small family-run independent supermarket operators and smaller retailers such as butchers, bakeries and greengrocers and their ability to compete with the major supermarket chains, according to a Competition and Consumer Commission report. Matters taken into consideration by the inquiry included: the current structure of the grocery industry; the nature of competition at the all levels of the grocery industry; the competitive position of small and independent retailers; pricing practices; factors influencing the pricing of inputs along the supply chain; any impediments to efficient pricing of inputs; and the effectiveness of the Horticulture Code of Conduct. Full Story, Full Report

Pioneer Hi-Bred opened two seed research centers in Europe to bring higher yielding corn and sunflower hybrids to farmers. The Dupont-owned company invested more than $5 million at the centers and transferred 25 existing researchers and 10 newly-hired researchers to the sites. The openings follow an increase of 10% in research spending for 2008 by Pioneer. Full Story

Health News

Blueberries, strawberries, spinach, oranges, mustard greens, and broccoli are among the super foods with the highest nutrient density, according to a measurement system developed by Yale University's Prevention Research Center. The system ranks foods on a numeric scale and those six received 100, the highest score possible, reported California Farm Bureau.

Washington News

Health officials in the U.S. and Canada are debating setting standards for warning labels amid increasing concern that consumers are so confused they are starting to ignore the warnings. FDA will hold a public hearing on Sept. 16, a first step toward developing what it calls "a long-term strategy" to clear the confusion, reported CBSNEWS.com. Full Story

The U.S. challenged China to justify the legality of its tax, subsidy, and export rules for farm products such as pork and wheat, according to a letter posted on the World Trade Organization's website. The U.S. questions take aim at an article of China's business law which "wholly exempts agricultural producers from the payment of enterprise income taxes with regard to the 'rearing of livestock,' including pork." The U.S. argues that the loophole also exempts processors of pork from the tax, and asked the Chinese government how much revenue its pork producers and processors are generating each year, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

Market News

Chiquita Brands International is looking to become more of a consumer-products company like Procter & Gamble, according to chairman and CEO Fernando Aguirre. The company is expanding into portable snacks and drinks while further growing the previous acquisition of prepackaged salad company Fresh Express. In addition, the company is a supplier of Burger King's new Fresh Apple Fries and supplies apple slices available as sides at 15,000 U.S. Subway stores. The company is the primary supplier of bananas for Starbucks' new Vivanno smoothies. Other initiatives include Just Fruit In A Bottle, a separate Chiquita-branded fruit smoothie now available in six European countries, reported The Cincinnati Enquirer. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Orange juice rose to its highest price in a week on concerns that Tropical Storm Gustav might become a hurricane, threatening citrus groves in Florida, according to The Bradenton Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

U.S. & Foreign Sales Leads

USDA purchased frozen blueberries. View Details

USDA offers to purchase frozen sweet potatoes. Offers are due by 1:00 p.m. (CT), Sept. 22. View Details

USDA offers to purchase frozen green beans. Offers are due by 1:00 p.m. (CT), Sept. 19. View Details

USDA offers to purchase frozen peas. Offers are due by 1:00 p.m. (CT), Sept. 22. View Details

USDA offers to purchase frozen corn. Offers are due by 1:00 p.m. (CT), Sept. 11. View Details

USDA offers to purchase frozen carrots. Offers are due by 1:00 p.m. (CT), Sept. 19. View Details