IGA Coca-Cola Institute Perspective

ISMC Teaches Management Skills to Students from Around the Globe

A message to IGA Retailers from...
Paulo Goelzer, PhD
President and CEO
IGA Coca-Cola Institute

Managing seems pretty straight forward...it's not a difficult concept at all. However, to carry out the responsibility of it is much more complex. You must influence others to accomplish an objective. You may have the title of "manager," but it is your behavior that wins the respect of others.

People first follow the person, then the plan. My belief in the truth of this statement is so strong, on Monday, October 3, the IGA Coca-Cola Institute will open our International Supermarket Management Class (ISMC) with the topic of knowing and managing yourself. Seventy ISMC students will initiate the ISMC's week-long program by learning how to better manage themselves, others and their business.

Content will be delivered by 15 experts, but students will have the added bonus of learning from their retail industry peers. Thirty students (43 percent of the class) are from the United States, and 40 (57 percent) are international. This year, the ISMC's international students represent 13 different countries: Australia, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, the British Virgin Islands, Croatia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United Arab Emirates. The class will have simultaneous translations in both Spanish and Portuguese so that non-English speaking students (nine of whom speak Spanish and 17 of whom speak Portuguese) will be able to learn in the language with which they are most comfortable.

If you do not have the opportunity to attend the ISMC this year, the Institute will host another class in 2012. The 2012 ISMC is scheduled for October 8-12 in São Paulo, Brazil, where I expect many will be amazed by the country's well-developed and unique retail industry.

Thanks,

Paulo Goelzer

Retail News

Kroger continues to pass along cost increases to its customers, with management noting the 2,439-unit supermarket chain passed through nearly every penny of cost increases in order to keep CPG companies in check, according to a Citi Investments Research & Analysis report. The same report notes that private label at the chain represented approximately 27% of grocery department sales in the first quarter of 2011 and 34% of grocery sales units. Full Report

Family Dollar Stores' primary objective for fiscal 2012 is to drive traffic with an expanded selection of consumables and to drive larger baskets with more impulse purchases. Consumables increased 12% in fiscal 2011 to 69.1% of sales in the fourth quarter, compared with 67.3% a year earlier, reported Supermarket News. Full Story, Morningstar.com Transcript In other company news, Nelson Peltz's Trian Group agreed to limit ownership in Family Dollar to 9.9%, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

Costco stated that cantaloupe farmers and shippers must confront a history of food safety problems and take steps to make the fruit safe. The retailer will consider setting standards for how melons are grown and how they are cleaned and handled after they are picked, and would most likely require that suppliers test melons for pathogens before shipping them to Costco. The company's head of food safety also called on the industry to finance research into the best way to wash or clean cantaloupes to remove contaminants, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full Story (NYT Subscription Required) Purchase Today! For more information on listeria, purchase a recording of the two-part Listeria Control and Regulation webinar, presented by the Food Institute and OFW Law. The webinar addressed topics including root cause analysis; corrective preventive measures when Lm is discovered; and how to respond to the government when an agency requests a recall or threatens enforcement actions as a result of Lm positives. Click here to purchase or for more information.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market doubled its gluten-free range with the addition of over 50 products including cereals, oatmeal, baking mixes, grab-and-go snacks, pretzels, cookies, crackers, soups, pastas and condiments. Full Story

Some 40.2% of consumers plan to buy less candy this year for Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2011 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey. Total Halloween spending is expected to reach $6.86 billion. The average consumer will spend $72.31 on decorations, costumes and candy, up from $66.28 last year. Full Story

Groupon launched its online retail arm Groupon Goods for its American subscribers, looking to compete with companies such as Amazon, reported Reuters. Full Story

Media company The McClatchy Company completed the rollout of dealsaver, its proprietary daily deals service, to all McClatchy markets. In Miami, for instance, the local dealsaver program will soon be offering multiple deals each day, and McClatchy is planning an online mall in all of its markets to provide a variety of discounted offerings in conjunction with its Find n Save online marketplace. Full Story

New Store News: Sheetz opened a location in Mansfield, PA. Full Story ... Walmart will open a location in West Linn, OR, reported OregonLive.com. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Executives on the Move: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. appointed David Cheesewright as EVP, president and CEO of a new regional management team. The executive will lead Walmart's retail operations in Canada, the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa, and will oversee business development in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada. Meanwhile, Shelley Broader was named president and CEO of Walmart Canada. Full Story ... Hormel Foods Corp. made several executive changes, including appointing Glenn Leitch as group VP at Hormel and president of Jennie-O Turkey Store Inc. Full Story Meanwhile, the company also named Maureen Lilly VP of Hormel Foods International Corp. for the Americas. Full Story

Wal-Mart agreed to end its long-standing refusal to sell lottery tickets in its U.S. stores after reaching a deal with the Florida Lottery. Starting on Oct. 5, the retailer will embark on a pilot program at 27 Walmart neighborhood markets across Central, Southwest and South Florida. The first Walmart stores expected to begin selling lottery tickets are located in Orlando, but other locations will begin selling tickets by the middle of the month, reported Miami Herald. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Manufacturer News

With half of the Fortune top 20 companies growing via new categories in 2010, creating new categories is a superior growth vehicle, noted The Harvard Business Review. A case in point is the innovation of K-cups, which helped boost coffee sales to $47 billion in 2010, from $28 billion in the late 1980s. Full Story

Gluten-free sales are forecast at $1.31 billion in the U.S. and $2.67 billion worldwide in 2011, according to Euromonitor International. Sales more than doubled since 2005 and are expected to hit $1.68 billion in the U.S. and $3.38 billion globally in 2015, reported Reuters. Full Story

Fair Trade USA introduced an innovation strategy entitled Fair Trade for All which aims to double the impact of Fair Trade Certified coffee by 2015. Effective Jan. 1, Fair Trade USA will lower fees for all roasters; make the first 20,000-lbs. free; and reward those who source 95% or more of their coffee as Fair Trade Certified with the deepest savings. Full Story

Sealed Air Corp. introduced Cryovac SM570U Hot Needle Perf Shrink Film. The micro-perforated film has been used in Europe for years but is new to the U.S. The film's permeability claims to optimize the respiration process for fruits and vegetables, helping to keep products fresher, reported The Packer Online. Full Story

Verlasso launched its premium salmon with FreshDirect. Full Story

New Wave Enviro Products Inc. acquired the assets of Litter Free Lunch, LLC. Litter Free Lunch, LLC consists of a line of snack bags and sandwich bags; reusable stainless steel and BPA-free plastic bottles; and stainless steel food containers. Full Story

Foodservice News

Darden Restaurants will lower prices at Olive Garden in a bid to counter falling sales. Long considered the top performer of Darden's portfolio, Olive Garden has seen sales falter for almost a year. Sales at established Olive Garden restaurants declined 2.9% in the first quarter, reported Orlando Sentinel. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Quiznos formed a relationship with Meijer that calls for Quiznos restaurants to open inside Meijer locations in Michigan. The first new Quiznos restaurant will be located in an Ann Arbor, MI Meijer store with a plan to look at further expansion to more Meijer supercenters. Full Story

Washington News

More illnesses and possibly deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks, according to federal health officials. The outbreak caused at least 72 illnesses and up to 16 deaths in 18 states through Sept. 28, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the U.S. in more than a decade. CDC director Thomas Frieden and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg indicated that illnesses are expected into October because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer, reported The Associated Press. Full Story, Media Transcript

Trident Seafoods Corp. agreed to pay a $2.5 million civil penalty and invest millions in seafood processing waste controls to settle alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The agreement requires Trident to invest an estimated $30 million to $40 million, and potentially more, in source control and waste pile remediation measures. The source control measures include building a fishmeal plant in Naknek, AK and reduce the amount of seafood processing waste discharged from the Akutan, Cordova, St. Paul and Ketchikan, AK facilities. Full Story

USDA formed five major agricultural research projects aimed at developing regional, renewable energy markets, generating rural jobs and decreasing America's dependence on foreign oil. Altogether, the five-year program will deliver more than $136 million in research and development grants to public and private sector partners in 22 states. Full Story

Andrew Williamson Fresh Produce initiated a voluntary recall of organic grape tomatoes sold under the Limited Edition and Fresh & Easy labels due to possible Salmonella contamination. Full Story

FDA's Office of Regulatory Affairs, Southwest Regional Office will hold the public Food Defense Workshop, in cosponsorship with Oklahoma State University's (OSU) Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center, on Nov. 2 on the OSU campus in Stillwater, OK. The workshop is intended to provide information about food defense as it relates to food facilities such as farms, manufacturers, processors, distributors, retailers and restaurants. Full Notice

Global News

Maple Leaf Foods opened a 385,000-sq. ft. commercial bakery in Hamilton, Ontario, which produces numerous fresh bakery products. It is designed to obtain certification under the LEED New Construction program. Full Story

Private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners formally began the sale process of biscuit and snack food company Griffin's Foods by sending out information memorandums about the business to prospective buyers, according to a person familiar with the situation. The sale could be worth up to $773.7 million and the firm hopes to close a deal by the end of the year. In New Zealand, the group has 50% market share in the biscuit market, reported The Wall Street Journal. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

As the global foodservice industry and consumer confidence sagged in the second quarter, so did foodservice traffic in most countries around the world, according to The NPD Group. Traffic was down or flat in most countries with the exception of China. Full Story

Market News

C.H. Robinson Worldwide, Inc. subsidiary C.H. Robinson Company, Inc. acquired melon category leader Timco Worldwide, Inc. Timco markets conventional and organic melons under the Melon Up! and Irish Eyes labels. Full Story

The 2011 corn harvest is 15% complete, one percentage point below the five-year average, but lower than last year's harvest by 11 points, according to USDA's Crop Progress Report. Full Report

Faced with slowing demand, ethanol producers are stepping up production of corn oil, reported The Wall Street Journal. The major players are adding additional equipment to their plants, which as of yet is not food-grade product, but intended for use in animal feed and biodiesel. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

The quality of Peruvian sweet onions shipping in the U.S. for the remainder of 2011 should be outstanding, shippers stated. Some farms began shipping Peruvian sweets in late July, earlier than normal, and more are expected to be shipped this year than last, about 30% more. The produce is expected to ship through February, with great yield and quality, reported The Packer Online. Full Story

Chilean canned peach production forecasts for 2011 will be similar to last year's output as the weather was favorable during this winter, noted FAS. An estimated 10,500 hectares of peaches for canning are planted in Chile, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. There are an estimated 1,697 producers of peaches for canning and four processing industries. FAS Report

The predicted La Nina forecast sets a favorable tone for farmers of winter grain crops such as wheat, oats and rye. The Southern states will experience warmer than normal winter temperatures with fewer chill hours this winter, reported Southeast Farm Press. Full Story

Effects of the BP oil spill on the Louisiana killifish could indicate trouble for fish populations, as researchers found biological changes that may cause future problems with development and reproduction, according to a study from Louisiana State University. The study found the same kind of cellular responses in killifish that were observed in herring, salmon and other animals that later had large population losses as a result of the Exxon Valdez spill, and it will take several years before it will be known whether the population of the fish declines, reducing an important food for other fish, reported The Bradenton Herald. Full Story

NASS will release its Agricultural Prices report Sept. 29 at 3 p.m. (EST). Full Report