July 11, 2008

Operator News

G&R Acquisition, Inc. completed its acquisition of Max & Erma's Restaurants, Inc. for approximately $11.3 million in cash. Full Story

Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard modified a development agreement with its Midwest franchisee, Zen Partners, to transfer rights for up to three restaurants from Omaha, NE to Colorado. The chain also plans to open two company-owned restaurants in Colorado and one dual-branded Good Times-Taco John's franchised location in Sheridan, WY, reported Rocky Mountain News. Full Story

Palm Palace LLC will reopen as many as eight former La Shish restaurants in Southeast Michigan, under the Palm Palace banner. The first Palm Palace is scheduled to open July 30, reported Crain's Detroit Business. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Retail News

For the five-week period ending July 4, Wal-Mart experienced the strongest comparable store sales increases in the grocery, entertainment and health and wellness categories. Overall, the company's comparable store sales increased 6.1%, while net sales increased 10.1% during that time. The company noted that in addition to favorable weather and improved assortment, the economic stimulus checks contributed to increases in overall comparable store traffic results. Full Story

Three major U.S. grocery chains, as yet unnamed, are gearing up for the launch of the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System - until now known as the Overall Nutritional Quality Index, or ONQI - in their stores in September, according to Topco Associates, LLC, the system's co-originator. The first-wave debut of the newly named on-shelf consumer education program will be the precursor to a coast-to-coast presence by this time next year, Topco told Progressive Grocer. NuVal, LLC, the independent company formed to bring the system to market, is a joint venture of Topco and Yale-affiliated Griffin Hospital. Full Story

Kmart will close four stores, including three Super Kmart supercenters this fall in Defiance, OH, Reno, NV, and Greeley, CO, reported Supermarket News. Full Story

German retail group Rewe was cleared to purchase Austrian supermarket chain Adeg by the European Commission, with conditions. Following the transaction, Rewe would increase its share of Adeg from 24.9% to 75%, reported Wiener Zeitung. Full Story

Delhaize sees opportunities to expand in eastern Europe through the acquisition of medium-sized companies, noted CEO Pierre-Olivier Beckers in an interview with Het Financieele Dagblad, reported Reuters. Full Story

Industry News

As higher commodity prices become the "new normal" rather than a temporary peak, consumer behavior as well as retailer and supplier strategies may be impacted, according to Deloitte's Food and Beverage 2012 - A Taste of Things to Come report. While current food commodity prices may come down from their current peaks, the increases already seen in the real cost of food represent a permanent change. Full Release, Full Report

InBev NV and Anheuser-Busch began active negotiations for a friendly merger, and media reports claim InBev raised its bid to $70 per share, reported Reuters. Full Story

Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily)

Advertising Age talks with Dave Linne, senior VP-advertising at ConAgra, about his plans for the company's brands. Mr. Linne is aiming to make ConAgra's established group of iconic brands more top of mind, with advertising that reinvigorates the likes of Pam cooking spray, Reddi-Wip, Egg Beaters, Chef Boyardee, Hunt's tomato products and Orville Redenbacher. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Sheetz Inc. opened a 140,000-sq. ft. kitchen facility that will produce a new variety of bakery and ready to eat products to be shipped fresh daily to all 350 Sheetz convenience store locations. Full Story

Organic To Go developed a "three-pronged strategy" to market a concept that includes the building of retail cafes, catering and delivery services, and selling salads and sandwiches wholesale at universities, airports and hospitals, reported QSR Magazine. Full Story

The Gluten Free Certification Organization certified many of Stonyfield Farm products gluten-free. Full Story

In 2007, ice cream accounted for nearly 60% of total sales from ice cream, frozen novelties, sherbet and frozen yogurt combined. Frozen novelties made up over a third of sales (36%), while sherbet and frozen yogurt accounted for just 5%, according to Mintel. Notably, it seems that old-fashioned ice cream is becoming less popular with consumers. Although ice cream sales dominated the market in 2007, they were also 3.9% behind sales levels from 2002, as sales of frozen novelties grew 7.2% from 2002 to 2007, reported MarketWatch.com. Full Story

Cargill opened a new Snacks and Cereal Product Innovation Center in Minneapolis, MN. Full Story

The UK's Food Standards Agency revised its guidance on the use of words such as "fresh," "natural" and "pure" to provide clearer advice to manufacturers. The Agency last issued labeling guidelines on these marketing terms in 2002, after the Food Advisory Committee found that a lot of them were being misused and, in some cases, conveying messages that were far-removed from their generally accepted meanings, reported Food Production Daily. Full Story

The European Parliament published its draft report on amendments to the novel foods regulation, having made revisions to ensure better clarity. The regulation was introduced in 1997 and requires any food not commonly consumed in the EU prior to the rule's inception to undergo rigorous safety assessment before it can be brought to market, reported Food Production Daily. Full Story

Cargill, Bunge, and grain traders in two countries were raided by EU authorities in an antitrust investigation into alleged price-fixing. Officials also inspected the Rome office of Bunge's Italian subsidiary, reported International Herald Tribune. Full Story

Dover Industries Limited reached a conditional agreement to purchase Cereal Foods Canada, Inc.'s flour milling assets in Montreal, Quebec. Full Story

Health News

Less than 20% of adults now smoke, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

A combination of omega-3 fatty acids with uridine and choline improved memory and learning in a study with gerbils, and may have benefits for Alzheimer patients, according to research published in the Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology, reported Food Production Daily. Full Story

Washington News

Florida tomato growers are lining up congressional support to seek restitution for millions of dollars in losses linked to the nation's salmonella outbreak. "We believe it is maybe $100 million or more in Florida," said J. Luis Rodriguez, trade adviser for Florida Farmers Inc. Florida growers, many with multistate operations, plan to work with members of Congress such as Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Panama City, to seek an appropriation. Rodriguez expects it will take about six weeks to document and tally the losses, according to Palm Beach Post. Full Story

Total U.S. exports were $157.5 billion and imports were $217.3 billion in May, resulting in a goods and services deficit of $59.8 billion, down from $60.5 billion in April. May exports were $1.4 billion more than April exports, while imports were $0.7 billion more than April. Full Report

A federal judge refused to stop some Canadian beef imports, but agreed with lawyers for cattle, consumer and health interests that USDA should revisit rules that protect against the threat of mad cow disease. "Because the USDA failed to initiate new rulemaking before allowing importation of beef from Canadian cattle of any age, the court must remand to the USDA to provide notice and comment on the OTM (over 30 months of age) beef provisions," U.S. District Judge Lawrence Piersol wrote, reported Jackson Hole Star-Tribune. Full Story

Federal officials approved changes Nebraska Beef Ltd. proposed after it recalled 5.3 million pounds of beef last week. Although the changes were not revealed, the company's plan satisfies concerns raised after the meat was linked to an E. coli outbreak, said USDA spokeswoman Amanda Eamich, reported The Associated Press. Full Story

USDA is expected to finalize plans on July 11 to make retailers' names public during some meat recalls, reported The Associated Press. The department is expected to impose the requirement only in the case of so-called "Class I" recalls - those which are considered to pose the greatest health hazard. Full Story

USDA is weighing a policy change that could lead to the plowing of millions of acres of land that had been set aside for conservation. At issue is the Conservation Reserve Program, under which the government has paid farmers to stop growing row crops, such as corn and soybeans, on 34 million acres across the country, reported The Washington Post. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed a compromise plan to the Legislature to update California's water system by increasing storage, improving conveyance, protecting the Delta's ecosystem and promoting greater water conservation. Full Story

Market News

Dave Yanda, the new CEO of Lakeside Foods, discusses the changes in the vegetable processing industry and the challenges it is facing. For example, the company, which has 15 plants and eight distribution centers, paid 45% more for its raw produce, while steel can costs rose 11%, reported the Herald Times Reporter. Full Story

The prospective area for harvest of fresh market vegetables during the summer quarter is forecast to be 282,400 acres, down 6% from last year. Area forecast for melon harvest is 109,900 acres, down 8% from last year. Meanwhile, vegetable processors contracted 1.20 million acres to be planted to the five major vegetable crops (snap beans, sweet corn, cucumbers for pickles, green peas, and tomatoes). USDA Vegetable Report

Florida's all orange forecast, at 170 million boxes, increased 1% from the previous forecast and is 32% higher than last season's final utilization of 129 million boxes. Meanwhile, California's all grape production is forecast at 6.05 million tons, down 3% from a year ago. Also, the final forecast for the 2008 apricot crop is 86,840 tons, down 2% from the 2007 crop. USDA Crop Production Report

Duda Products Inc. inked a three-year deal to be Cargill's exclusive supplier of Florida orange and grapefruit concentrate in Japan, according to The News-Press. Full Story

USDA lifted its price projections for feed corn, oats, barley, and soybeans for the 2008/09 marketing year, leaving wheat price projections unchanged, and lowering its price forecast for rice, according to just released data. Full Report

USDA increased the 2007 crop year sugar Overall Allotment Quantity by 500,000 short tons, raw value. USDA expects the action to effectively eliminate marketing allotment program restrictions on domestic sugar beet and sugarcane processors and increase the 2007 crop year marketable sugar supply by 100,000 to 200,000 tons. Full Story

The Northwest cherry growing region shipped more than three million 20-lb. boxes, compared to the seven million normally shipped at this point in the harvest, according to the Northwest Cherry Growers. The region is expected to ship only about eight million 20-lb. boxes this season, just over half of the amount shipped a year ago, reported The Yakima Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Bartlett pear harvest started in California's Sacramento River district. Consumers can now find the first California-grown pears in retail stores, with larger quantities arriving next week, reported California Farm Bureau.

Health officials are uneasy about a variety of toxins found in paddlefish caviar, including mercury, chlordane and polychlorinated biphenyls. But advocates say the level of contaminants is below federal safety standards and that most consumers do not eat enough of it to suffer any ill effects. Kentucky, Indiana and Tennessee issued advisories warning consumers to limit their consumption of paddlefish caviar from portions of the Mississippi, Ohio and Tennessee rivers. Commercial fishermen collect five to 10 tons of Ohio River paddlefish caviar each year, according to The Associated Press. Full Story

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