August 19, 2011

Operator News

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

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

MTY Food Group Inc. entered into an agreement to purchase the Mr. Submarine Ltd. chain for $23.3 million in cash. MTY will also pay $1.8 million for Koryo Korean BBQ Franchise Corp., a chain with 20 outlets in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec, reported The Globe and Mail. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

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

Retail News

Winn-Dixie Stores will convert all SaveRite-branded grocery stores to Winn-Dixie-branded stores and discontinue the SaveRite banner, reported The Florida Times-Union. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

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

About 41% of New York City supermarkets reportedly complied with rules about pricing, labeling and weighing food, down from a 48% compliance rate in 2010, according to New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs. Commissioner Jonathan Mintz proposed the Grocery SHOP Act, "which would both give overcharged consumers 10 times the amount they were overcharged and that item for free, and also triple current city fines." Full Story

Industry News

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

Latest sales & earnings for food related companies (Updated Daily - FI Membership Required)

Groupon Inc. disclosed some details of its plan to offer location-based offers through mobile phones, developing technology that will track customers' location even if they do not have a Groupon app open on their phones, reported Reuters. Full Story

Japanese inspectors found the first case of radioactive contamination in rice in a sample from Hokota, about 90 miles south of the Fukushima plant. The prefecture stated the radiation was well within safe levels, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full Story (NYT Subscription Required)

Japan partially lifted its ban on cattle shipments from Miyagi prefecture but kept its ban on beef from Fukushima due to excessive levels of radioactive caesium, reported Reuters. Full Story

Sugar stockpiles in the EU are too low to meet demand because of constrained imports and adverse weather that hurt production, according to Nestle SA. Prices for sugar-based foods in the EU may rise as much as 20% by April on higher costs for the sweetener, noted R&R Ice Cream Plc, reported Bloomberg.com. Full Story

Washington News

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

The operator of Tavern Direct is making a $1.3 million bid for certain rights including ownership of the Tavern on the Green trademark for oils and salad dressing and the right to register and use the trademark on many other products. Tavern Direct, which distributes salad dressings, oils and marinades under the name associated with the defunct New York City restaurant, currently has the lead bid for the intellectual property rights, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

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)

USDA will release its Mushrooms report on Aug. 19 at 3:00 p.m. EST. View Report

APHIS determined that certain areas in Argentina are pest- free areas for South American fruit fly (Anastrepha fraterculus) and all other economically important species of Anastrepha. The determination was made in response to a request from the government of Argentina. Full Notice

USDA submitted multiple information collection requirement(s) to the Office of Management and Budget for review and clearance, including AMS' collection of information on various aspects of the grain and feed industry in determining available supplies and current pricing and the Livestock and Grain News reports. Full Notice

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