Retail News
Brands
should think of Facebook as a loyalty program, reported Advertising Age.
Some 117 brands have at least a million fans, with 40 more on pace to join this
year. About 84% of a typical brand's Facebook fans are existing customers, according
to DDB Worldwide and Opinionway Research. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Google began displaying geo-targeted
daily deal offers on Google.com's homepage, reported Advertising Age.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Jewel-Osco is partnering with
multiple food banks in Illinois and Indiana for its "Give a Little, Feed
a Lot" food drive to support Hunger Action Month in September. Last year,
the campaign raised over $2 million in combined food and cash donations. Full
Story A growing number of retailers are trying to deliver greater
value mainly through lower prices, according to a Brick Meets Click blog authored
by Bill Bishop. Whether these are offered on the shelf or reflected in specials
and promotions, there is a good chance that by themselves, lower prices will be
slow to increase sales. In some cases, they may even deflate sales below what
they would have been had there been no pricing initiative. However, pricing is
only one dimension of value. Full
Story 
About
74% of online U.S. adults have used an online coupon or coupon code at least once,
with 36% reporting that they use online coupons or coupon codes at least once
a month, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of CouponCabin.com.
Some 49% of those that use coupons use them on food and wine. Full
Story Four Target stores in or near San Diego will unveil remodels
this October with an expanded fresh-food layout, reported San Diego Union-Tribune.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required) New Store News: Fresh & Easy
plans to open six stores in the Sacramento, CA region in 2012. Full
Story ... Walmart plans to build a stand-alone 34,000-sq. ft. grocery
store in Omaha, NE, reported Omaha World-Herald. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) ... Harris Teeter will open a location
in Baltimore's Locust Point area on Dec. 7, reported Baltimore Business Journal.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Executives on the Move: Costco
named Craig Jelinek president and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2012; Jim Sinegal will
continue to serve on the Board of Directors. Full
Story ... The Wendy's Company named Emil Brolick president and CEO.
Full
Story ... Fishery Products International Inc. appointed Amy Amenta
senior marketing manager. Kristen Bouchie was appointed foodservice marketing
manager. Full
Story ... SymphonyIRI Group, Inc. named Rob Holston EVP of Symphony
Analytics, North America. Full
Story ... Cosi, Inc. appointed Mark Demilio interim CEO. Full
Story Manufacturer News
Unilever completed
the sale of the Alberto VO5 brand in the U.S. and Puerto Rico and the Rave
brand globally to private equity firm Brynwood Partners VI L.P., following approval
by the U.S. Department of Justice. Full
Story
H.J. Heinz Co. has no interest in selling off
its frozen food business. The company's CEO, chairman and president sees products
such as Smart Ones and Ore-Ida as core to the company's U.S. business, reported
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Full
Story Green Gourmet Foods of Ohio LLC will expand,
with plans to lease a 150,000-sq. ft. potato processing plant and make an investment
of at least $6.4 million in machinery and equipment, land and building acquisition.
The company makes microwaveable potato products, reported Business Courier
of Cincinnati. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Spangler Candy Co.
will invest approximately $400,000 to upgrade and install two candy cane production
lines in Bryan, OH. The work will be completed in the next nine months to
be ready for part of the 2012 candy cane season. The expansion includes a 22,000-sq.
ft. addition. Full
Story 
Yellow
Tail wine is the best-selling imported wine in the U.S. and the No. 2 table
wine over all, behind the Barefoot brand sold by E. & J. Gallo. However, Yellow
Tail's growth in case sales is slowing. Case sales climbed from 225,000 in the
brand's first year, 2001, to 1.2 million in 2003, 6.5 million in 2005 and 8.2
million in 2008. But sales rose only a bit in 2009, to 8.3 million, and remained
at that level last year, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full
Story (NYT Subscription Required) New Product
News: Royal Ridge Fruits LLC launched Pomegranate & Berries Dried Fruit Blend.
Full
Story ... Wallaby Yogurt Company introduced two product lines, Wallababy
Organic Whole Milk Yogurt for Babies in two varieties and Joey Organic Lowfat
Yogurt for Kids in two flavors. Full
Story ... Big Train introduced the Fit Frappe protein drink mix in
three flavors to foodservice. Full
Story Coca-Cola North America is searching for an advertising agency
to help with social-media monitoring, reported Advertising Age. The
winning agency will be responsible for formulating a consistent way of keeping
track of what consumers are saying across social media arenas about all of Coca-Cola's
brands in North America. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Foodservice News
Salt
mentions on major chain and independent restaurant menus increased by 144%
over the last five years, according to Technomic's MenuMonitor analysis. Full
Story
The University of North Texas opened an all-vegan full-service
campus cafeteria. The hall, believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S.,
does not serve any animal products, including meat, milk or eggs, reported Reuters.
Full
Story Some 35% of consumers will dine out and/or use restaurant takeout
or delivery for a picnic, cookout or outdoor event this Labor Day weekend,
according to research by the National Restaurant Association. Meanwhile, 20% ordered
restaurant takeout or delivery for an outdoor dining occasion during the summer
months; about 66% of consumers went on a summer vacation or trip during which
they visited a restaurant. Full
Story Restaurant Roundup: Krispy Kreme launched three
Krispy Kreme Signature Coffee Blends at participating U.S. and Canada locations.
Full
Story ... The National Restaurant Association's Restaurant Performance
Index stood at 99.7 in July, down from 100.6 in June and the lowest level in 11
months. Full
Story ... Noodles & Company signed a development agreement with franchise
group Hartford Noodles, LLC for several Connecticut locations over the next five
years. Full
Story ... Subway will open at least five new "green" eco-restaurants,
each designed with environmentally friendly aspects to reduce energy, water and
waste consumption. Full
Story ... Denny's introduced the "Let's Get Cheesy!" menu. Full
Story Health News
Approximately one-half of the U.S.
population consumes sugar drinks on any given day, according to a data brief
from CDC. Males consume more sugar drinks than females while teenagers and young
adults consume more sugar drinks than other age groups. Full
Story
A couple of servings of potatoes per day can lower
blood pressure as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain, depending on
how they are prepared, according to research funded by USDA and presented at an
American Chemical Society meeting, reported HealthDay. Full
Story Washington News
California's governor proposed
a package of compromise measures to protect farmworkers from grower interference.
The governor remains opposed to "card-check" legislation for farmworkers
unions, reported The Sacramento Bee. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Amazon.com
is offering to build a number of distribution centers if California lawmakers
back away, at least temporarily, from their efforts to force the company to collect
sales taxes on purchases made by customers in the state, reported The Los Angeles
Times. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Firehouse Restaurant Group Inc.
lost a trademark infringement lawsuit relating to the name and theme "firehouse."
The restaurant already filed a motion to overturn the verdict, reported Jacksonville
Business Journal. Full
Story (Free Registration Required) Global News
Ethiopia
is expanding its commodities exchange to improve its own food-distribution system.
In its first three years the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange centralized the trading
of coffee, sesame and navy beans. Trading volume in the last fiscal year more
than doubled to 504,000 metric tons. The exchange also is spurring farmers to
grow better-quality coffee, reported Bloomberg.com. Full
Story Buyers are demanding a discount for Vietnam's coffee crop starting
in October on speculation of record output, according to three people involved
in the trade. Vietnam will produce 19.6 million bags in the current season that
ends Sept. 30, according to Rabobank, reported Bloomberg Businessweek.
Full
Story Meanwhile, Kenyan coffee prices climbed 6.6% at an auction
as supplies of the beans declined and global prices rallied, according to the
Nairobi Coffee Exchange, reported Bloomberg Businessweek. Full
Story Tesco plans to sell its business in Japan as it was not
able to build a sufficiently scalable business. The company operates 129 small
stores in the Greater Tokyo area under the Tsurakame, Tesco and Tesco Express
formats. Full
Story Carrefour is seeing a slowing of growth due to a "zig-zagging
on its strategy," reported The Wall Street Journal, including
its pricing in France to a failed merger proposal of its Brazil business and canceled
plans to spin off its property-development unit. The result is that Carrefour
is retrenching in many of its biggest markets. Carrefour's French business, which
accounts for 43% of group sales, unveiled a new strategy that includes far fewer
price promotions. Instead, it plans to lower prices over the long-term. Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required) India's food price index
rose 10.1% in the year to Aug. 20, its highest in nearly six months, according
to government data, reported Reuters. Full
Story Hungary's "chips tax" entered into force. The special tax,
which targets primarily pre-packaged savory products; biscuits; and fizzy and
energy drinks, is to be paid by the Hungarian maker or the main importer of the
product, reported AFP. Full
Story Market News
Fiscal 2012 agricultural exports
are projected at $137 billion, the same as the 2011 forecast, according
to USDA. The forecast for 2012 imports is $105 billion, 11% higher than 2011.
The revised U.S. import bill for 2011 is $94.5 billion, a 20% jump from 2010.
Full
Story
Hurricane Irene affected Virginia's tomato and corn crops,
according to preliminary reports. Some 3,000 to 4,000 acres of tomatoes in Virginia's
Eastern Shore were partially flattened and swamped, noted a Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services board member, reported Reuters. Full
Story 
The
first air shipments of Argentinean blueberries should begin arriving soon.
The bulk of the crop, the first import blueberry crop of the season, is expected
to enter the U.S. through Miami, according to the Argentinean Blueberry Committee.
About 23.6 million-lbs. of blueberries were shipped to the U.S. through Aug. 27,
up from 14.8 million-lbs. last season at the same time, according to USDA, reported
The Packer Online. Full
Story California growers expect a normal pumpkin crop,
but supplies from the East Coast and Texas could be down because of extreme weather,
reported The Packer Online. Full
Story Archer Daniels Midland Company acquired five grain storage
elevators from Olsen Brothers Enterprises and, in a separate transaction,
contracted to acquire four grain storage elevators from Olsen's Mill Acquisition
Company/Ag Services of Wisconsin. ADM also assumed a lease for an elevator from
Olsen's Mill Acquisition Company. All 10 elevators are located in Wisconsin, and
have a combined storage capacity of approximately 20 million bushels. Full
Story The International Trade Commission instituted its third five-year
review to determine whether revocation of the 1994 antidumping duty order on fresh
garlic from China would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of
material injury. Full
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