Retail News
The Pantry Inc. will convert 46 Kangaroo Express locations
in the Raleigh market with the goal of expanding its Fresh
Initiative to 60 stores in Charlotte, NC, by December. reported
Convenience Store News. Full
Story
About 76% of retailers with store sales growth greater than
the 3% industry average consider improving customer service
a top business challenge in 2010, according to RedPrairie
Corporation's March 2010 Enterprise Workforce Management
Benchmark Study. Some 62% of retail winners also consider
having a single enterprise workforce management suite as very
important for their business, while 88% are aiming to optimize
store processes. Full
Story
Warren Buffett's investment firm Berkshire Hathaway bought
around two million shares of Tesco, bringing its stake
to 3.02% of the total, reported Thisismoney.com. Full
Story
Canada-based independent grocer Quality Foods will begin
carrying selected Reed's beverages in all of its locations.
Full
Story
Executives at Fairway decided not to close the second-floor
cafe at its Upper West Side location. The cafe may be
reconfigured to allow for the sale of more baked goods, reported
The New York Times on the Web. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Manufacturer News
Senomyx, Inc. and PepsiCo entered into an
exclusive 60-day negotiation period regarding the completion
of a definitive agreement for a new collaboration related
to Senomyx's sweet taste technology. The letter agreement
provides for a potential multi-year collaborative research
program focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization
of new artificial sweet enhancers, natural sweet enhancers
and natural high potency sweeteners for the non-alcoholic
beverage category. Full
Story
United Natural Foods, Inc.'s York, PA-based
distribution center was awarded LEED Gold certification
by the U.S. Green Building Council and was verified by the
Green Building Certification Institute.
Full Story
New Product News: Mission Foods introduced
a 100% whole wheat flour tortilla. Full
Story ... Suntava developed a purple corn concentrate
to boost the health benefits of fruit and vegetable juice
drinks, reported Beverage Daily. Full
Story
Tasty Baking Company transitioned the remaining
two Tastykake production lines from the company's Hunting
Park facility to its LEED-registered bakery at the Philadelphia
Navy Yard. Full
Story
DNA Beverage Corp.'s complete line of meat
snack products will be available at all CVS and Walgreen
locations in Arizona. Full
Story
Adding tomato derivatives to traditional
starchy extruded snacks can improve their nutritional properties
by adding lycopene and fiber, found a study in Food
Chemistry, reported Bakery and Snacks. Full
Story
An extract from honey may prevent undesirable browning
of apple juice, suggests research from LWT Food
Science and Technology, reported Beverage Daily.
Full
Story

Foodservice News
The average American spends one hour and 13 minutes eating
and drinking per day, a decline of one minute compared
to 2007 findings, according to the 2009 American Time Use
Survey released by the Labor Department. Full
Story
Soup chain Zoup! plans to have 100 locations by 2014 and
will open 10 stores by the end of 2010. The company plans
to expand to Washington, DC, Boston and Canada, reported The
Detroit News. Full
Story
Hillstone Restaurant Group is in the process of converting
a number of its Houston's locations to the Hillstone brand
with the goal of bringing more local tastes to the menu. The
move will also reduce the number of Houston's-branded restaurants
to fewer than 20, reported Nation's Restaurant News.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
CKE Restaurants, Inc.'s Carl's Jr. and Hardee's chains
increased their system-wide unit count by five restaurants
for a consolidated total of 3,146 in the company's first quarter.
Full
Story
Washington News
A class-action lawsuit alleging illegal anticompetitive
efforts to fix prices paid to fishermen was filed against
Pacific Seafood Group in the U.S. District Court in Portland.
The suit alleges "fraudulent schemes" and "miscellaneous dirty
tricks" in addition to price fixing allegations, and seeks
class-action representation of more than 3,000 fishermen and
vessel owners who delivered crab, shrimp, whiting and other
seafood to West Coast ports since June 21, 2006, reported
The Seattle Times. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
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Now - The Future of Food Retailing 2010,
a webinar presented by the Food Institute and Willard
Bishop. Join Jim Hertel, Managing
Partner, and Craig Rosenblum, Partner, both of Willard
Bishop, and moderator Michael Sansolo, editor, columnist,
and FI Board Member, as they provide their unique
and unparalleled insights into the Future of Food
Retailing in a one-hour webinar to be held 12 p.m.
(EST), Tuesday, June 29. They will delve into retailer
strategies, identify specific actions Walmart and
others are taking, and point out intended and unintended
consequences of retailers' actions. They will also
point out winners and losers in the post-recession
food retailing landscape. To sign up and learn more,
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Alimentation Couche-Tard filed court papers in Iowa challenging
the constitutionality of several anti-takeover laws relating
to its pursuit of Casey's, reported Convenience Store News.
Full
Story
Magic Brands, LLC and Fuddruckers, Inc. obtained bankruptcy
court approval of the sale of substantially all of its
assets to Luby's, Inc. The transaction is expected to close
by July 26. Full
Story
FDA extended a survey of local, state and tribal governments
to update an inventory of food code adoptions and keep the
current database accurate and up- to-date. Full
Notice
FDA also extended a proposed information collection pertaining
to the threshold of regulation for substances used in
food-contact articles. In order to determine whether the intended
use of a substance in a food-contact article meets the threshold
criteria, producers must submit information to FDA including
the chemical composition of the substance for which the request
is made and detailed information on the conditions of use
of the substance. Full
Notice
Global News
Grupo Bimbo acquired Dulces Vero for an estimated
$85 million to $95 million, reported Financial Times.
Full
Story (Subscription Required)
The average Brazilian family spends 16.1% of their income
on food, according to government statistics agency IBGE,
reported Reuters. Full
Story
There is considerable interest in Europe in products that
help people unwind, according to Datamonitor. Drinks such
as herbal tea are entering the European market, reported Beverage
Daily. Full
Story
Some regulation of commodities futures markets is desirable,
according to the UN's FAO, but any intervention should be
cautious and stop short of imposing tight limits or an outright
ban on such trading. Full
Story

Market News
Chicken pullet placements were up 4.5% in May over last
year, beating expectations, and if the trend continues
through the end of the year "chicken production could increase
more than [2% to 3%]," stated KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst
Akshay S. Jagdale, reported The Associated Press. Full
Story
Ocean Beauty Seafoods entered into a multi-year agreement
with the Alaska village of Kaltag and Yukon River Gold
LLC to market chum salmon, also called Keta salmon, from the
Yukon River. Full
Story
Leaf lettuce volume in Monterey County, CA was up 13%
over 2008 and head lettuce was down 5%, according to an
annual crop report from Monterey County Agricultural Department.
Strawberry value increased 22% and has for the first time
become the county's No. 1 crop, surpassing leaf lettuce. The
value of all vegetable crops in the county rose from $2.5
billion in 2008 to $2.6 billion in 2009. Celery was among
the top performing vegetable crops, rising in value from $121
million in 2008 to $172 million in 2009. Full
Report
ERS will release its Vegetables and Melons Outlook report
on June 24 at 4:00 p.m. EST. View
Report
Wm. Bolthouse Farms Inc. closed its Buttonwillow, CA-based
facility. The company plans to streamline most of its
organic carrot processing and production to its Bakersfield,
CA-based facility, reported The Packer Online. Full
Story (Subscription Required)
Cocoa arrivals at ports in the Ivory Coast increased to
18,000 metric tons last week compared with just over 7,000
metric tons during the same week of the 2008-09 season, trimming
a year-on-year deficit to just over 1%, according to exporters.
The country accounts for about a third of global cocoa supply,
reported Reuters. Full
Story
The Center for Biological Diversity is demanding that
the U.S. government declare bluefin tuna an endangered
species, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
A commercial fisherman caught an Asian carp in Lake Calumet,
reportedly the first physical discovery of the fish in the
Chicago waterway system north of the electric barriers, reported
The Chicago Tribune. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
AMS established final volume regulation percentages of
85% free and 15% reserve for the 2009-10 crop of Natural
(sun-dried) Seedless raisins covered under the federal marketing
order for California raisins. Full
Notice
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