July 23, 2008

A weak dollar and soft U.S. economy will lead to more takeover attempts by foreign food and beverage companies, similar to InBev's buyout of Anheuser Busch.

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IFDA News

IFDA has sent a letter to the United States Senate urging the Senators to take serious action on energy policy. As the price of energy has skyrocketed in recent months, distributors are facing unprecedented increases in transportation costs. While there are no immediate legislative solutions to the increasing cost of energy, the process of developing long term solutions must begin now. IFDA urged the Senate to pass legislation expanding the domestic supply of oil and gas, increase efforts on conservation, and invest in the development of new alternative fuels. President Bush recently lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling and IFDA called on the Senate to vote to end the statutory moratorium. IFDA has joined with other business organizations to found the Coalition for Affordable American Energy representing businesses users of energy. The coalition's goal is to press Congress to take immediate action to increase the development of domestic energy resources in an environmentally sensitive manner. For more information on this issue, contact the IFDA government relations department.

The registration deadline is fast approaching for the Food Industry Truck Driving Championship. This event tests your best drivers, rewards them for excellence in their job, and highlights your company's commitment to safety. This "national" level championship attracts drivers from across North America and should be an important part of your overall safety program. For full program information on the event, taking place September 12-14 in Orlando, FL, click here.

Operator News

A U.S. Domino's Pizza franchise, Cowabunga, Inc., added a new mobile pizza kitchen to its fleet, offering off-site production of selected menu items catered for specific events. The self-contained mobile unit is more than 26-ft. in length, eight feet wide, eight feet tall and comes equipped with a conveyer gas oven, counter space, three sinks, air conditioning, and a Domino's Pizza staff. Cowabunga, Inc. plans to use the unit for festival concessions, parties, tailgating, sporting, and fundraising events. Full Story

P.F. Chang's closed its only Japanese-concept restaurant, Taneko Japanese Tavern, after deciding to focus 100% on the growth and profitability of the company's two chain restaurants, P.F. Chang's China Bistro and Pei Wei Asian Diner, according to The Arizona Republic. Full Story

Organic To Go launched its catering service in Washington, DC, marking the brand's East Coast debut. The varied, full service, catering menu, created for groups of five to 1,000, offers the full range of hot and cold signature dishes all made without harmful additives, antibiotics, chemicals, pesticides, growth hormones or genetic modification. Full Story

Big Apple Bagels, three franchises combined into one, will open in Montgomery, OH on July 25. The franchises are Big Apple Bagels, Brewster's Coffee, and My Favorite Muffin, reported The Cincinnati Enquirer. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The Caliyogurt frozen yogurt chain is expanding in the Tampa Bay market, with new stores in downtown Clearwater and Davis Islands this month, reported the St. Petersburg Times. Full Story

Retail News

When consumers are hungry for a meal, convenience stores typically fall behind restaurants and grocery stores as a top-of-mind destination. However, when asked about snacks, most consumers think of c-stores ahead of all other venues, according to a recent Technomic study. Full Story

Food Lion LLC officially launched the Guiding Stars Nutrition Navigation System in all of its Food Lion stores. The Guiding Stars system follows a specific algorithm for labeling food items based on their nutritional content. The number of stars - one, two or three - on the product's shelf tag represents the nutritional value of the food item, with three stars being the best choice. Full Story

Nine convenience store sites in California from five different owners will be sold off in a single auction in August, reported CSP Daily News. Full Story

Dillons is building its first gas station not located in a grocery store parking lot. The new store, a small convenience kiosk surrounded by Dillons logo gasoline pumps, should open next month in Kansas, reported The Wichita Eagle. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Japan's supermarket sales fell 0.3% in the January-June period from a year before on a same-store basis for the 12th straight year of first-half decline. Sales at 8,713 outlets operated by 73 companies totaled ¥6.53 trillion before adjustments for the change in the number of stores were made, the Japan Chain Stores Association said, reported The Japan Times. Full Story

Industry News

Approximately 84% of U.S. consumers did not use their stimulus check to purchase groceries, despite rising food costs, low consumer confidence and grocers' mass-marketing push to attract economic stimulus spenders, according to a nationwide survey by Precima. The survey also found that 82% of respondents cooked at home more in the past six months instead of spending at a restaurant and 72% made fewer trips to buy groceries in the past six months. Full Story

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

Sabinsa Corporation received Halal certification for a number of its dietary supplement ingredients. The certification by the Islamic Foods and Nutritional Council of America applies to a range of its standardized botanical extracts, probiotics, enzymes and minerals, reported Food Navigator. Full Story

Kraft is introducing new LiveActive Chewy Granola Bars, the first-ever, non-refrigerated bar containing both a live probiotic culture and fiber. Full Story

Cargill developed a new flavor technology that delivers a consistent, fresh taste experience to consumers, and is safer for manufacturers than liquid alternatives. Freshzon technology is currently formulated for powdered applications such as drinks and gelatins. Full Story

The Absolut Spirits Company, Inc. rolled out Absolut Los Angeles, a limited-edition spirit that features several all-natural flavors, including blueberry, acai berry, acerola cherry, and pomegranate. Full Story

Carlsberg sold its stakes in Turk Tuborg and Israel Beer Breweries. Carlsberg received $80 million minus interest-bearing debt for its 95.6% stake in Turk Tuborg and $36 million for its 20% stake in Israel Beer, reported Reuters. Full Story

Health News

The nutritional benefits of organic produce compared to its conventional counterpart is being debated, with recent analysis disputing claims of its nutritional superiority, reported Food Production Daily. Full Story

Washington News

Los Angeles will ban all plastic bags from all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores as of July 1, 2010, reported AFP. Once the ban is effective, all store customers must provide their own bags or purchase bags made of paper or other biodegradable material from the store for 25 cents. Full Story

Seattle proposed that grocery, drug and convenience stores charge a 20-cent tax on disposable bags beginning next year, according to Mayor Greg Nickels. However, independent grocery owners are calling the 20-cent tax on plastic grocery bags "punitive" and want the city to exempt them from collecting it, reported Puget Sound Business Journal. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Three new class-action lawsuits were filed against U. S. Sugar claiming the sugar and citrus producer cheated its employee shareholders out of millions of dollars in retirement savings tied to company stock. All three new complaints and a similar January suit hinge on the fair price for U. S. Sugar shares and whether the company and its directors breached their duty to shareholders by rebuffing a 2005 offer from the Lawrence Group to buy U. S. Sugar for a sum that would have paid $293 a share, according to Miami Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Purely Juice must pay $1.5 million in damages to Pom Wonderful after as U.S. Federal Court in Los Angeles ruled its marketing was misleading. Purely Juice claimed that one of its products was "100% pure pomegranate juice" and contained "no added sugar or sweeteners." However, seven different labs found that the product contained trace amounts of pomegranate juice and high-fructose corn syrup, reported Brandweek. Full Story

FDA made grants available for equipment, supplies, personnel training, and facility upgrades to Food Emergency Response Laboratory Network (FERN) chemistry laboratories of State, local, and tribal governments. The cooperative agreements are to enable the analyses of foods and food products in the event that redundancy and/or additional laboratory surge capacity is needed by FERN for analyses related to chemical terrorism. These grants are also intended to expand participation in networks to enhance Federal, State, local, and tribal food safety and security efforts. Full Notice

Market News

While both shrimp and canned tuna recorded slight decreases in consumption they retained the number one and two positions on the National Fisheries Institute's "top ten" list of the most popular seafoods consumed in the U.S. for 2007. Meanwhile, Tilapia consumption continues to grow in the U.S., increasing by 330% since 2000. Full Story

Total red meat supplies in freezers were down 3% from the previous month, but up 6% from last year. Frozen pork supplies were down 9% from the previous month, but up 11% from last year. Meanwhile, total frozen poultry supplies were up 4% from the previous month and up 21% from a year ago. USDA Cold Storage

Black Diamond French Truffles Inc. plans to pump $25 million into a 200-acre black truffle farm in North Carolina. The soil where the trees will grow was adjusted to acquire the right acidity for truffles and the 80,000 trees the company is buying will be inoculated with the Perigord truffle. No truffles are expected to grow at the farm for another few years, but if all goes as planned, the goal is to gross about $30,000 an acre in the next five years, and $100,000 an acre by year 10, reported Bradenton Herald. Full Story

Growers in the southeastern lower coastal plain may have an advantage with a new peach variety that requires less winter chilling. The new variety, called Gulfcrimson, was developed by the Agricultural Research Service in cooperation with the University of Georgia and the University of Florida. Gulfcrimson only requires 400 hours of chilling to flower and set fruit, as compared to the traditional 650 hours. Full Story

Simmons Foods Inc. completed a buyout of broiler operations from Peterson Farms Inc. Simmons Foods acquired additional assets including feed milling, hatchery operations, first processing, transportation vehicles, flocks and a network of contract growers, reported ArkansasBusiness.com. Full Story

IFDA's Mission: The International Foodservice Distributors Association advocates the interests of the foodservice distribution community in government and industry affairs through research, education, and communications. IFDA represents foodservice distributors throughout the U.S., Canada, and internationally. For more information, click here.

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