Industry News

Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. will convert all SaveRite-branded grocery stores to the Winn-Dixie-brand and discontinue the SaveRite banner. Six SaveRite locations in two states will convert to the Winn-Dixie store format, with four in Florida and two in Mississippi. Full Story

Burger King will change its target demographic to Moms instead of teens in an attempt to increase sales. The company will modernize stores over the next year and reintroduce the Breakfast Croissan'wich, reported USA Today. Full Story

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Independent grocery chains are finding success in food deserts by catering to the specific tastes of customers in individual stores. Half of Philadelphia grocer Jeff Brown's 10 ShopRite supermarkets are in food deserts. The newest 66,000-sq. ft. store has a separate halal meat section for the area's Muslim shoppers; sales at the store top $40 million a year, reported Reuters. Full Story

Some retailers and restaurants are raising consumer prices to help compensate for higher labor costs, which increased the most in almost three years during the second quarter. Fifty-three percent of these companies with annual sales of $10 million to $500 million lifted prices during the last 12 months, up from 32% a year ago, according to a quarterly survey by Barlow Research Associates, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story

Millennials gather information on products and services from more channels than Non-Millennials, and reported using a mobile device while shopping to research products (50% versus 21%), according to the American Millennials: Deciphering the Enigma Generation report from Barkley in partnership with Service Management Group and The Boston Consulting Group. Additionally, Millennials accounted for 18% of their monthly restaurant spend in the fast-casual format, compared to only 13% for Non-Millennials. Full Story

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International News

Pactiv Foodservice/Food Packaging will open a multi-million dollar facility in Mexico City to better service the growing Mexican market. The proposed facility will offer a full range of paper, foam and plastic cups and tableware. Full Story

MTY Food Group Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. entered into a binding agreement to acquire the assets of Mr. Submarine Ltd. for total consideration of $23.3 million in cash. Closing is expected on or before Oct. 31. Full Story In addition, MTY Food Group Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary MTY Tiki Ming Enterprises Inc. also entered into a binding agreement to acquire the assets of Koryo Korean BBQ Franchise Corp. for total consideration of about $1.8 million in cash. Closing is expected on or before Sept. 30. Full Story

Washington News

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 employees. Full Story

FNS is requesting information from the public on nutrition information and ingredient lists made available to schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. The agency is interested in examining what nutrition information and ingredient lists are made available to schools, the manner and scope of the information's accessibility and how that information and accessibility compare with the information schools may be seeking. Full Notice

Market News

The Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission landed more than 21 million-lbs. of the crabs in the nine-month season ended Aug. 14. The average annual harvest over the past 30 years is about 12 million-lbs., reported OregonLive.com. Full Story (Free Registration Required)