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Industry
News
Measures taken to fuel Starbucks' rapid
expansion have led to a "watering down" of its iconic
brand, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz warned
executives in a memo. Schultz, Starbucks' founder, wrote
on Feb. 14, that automatic espresso machines, bagged
coffee and "cookie cutter" store designs have led to
a sterility at the chain that has invited competition
from fast-food companies and others, reported CNNMoney.
Full
Story
7-Eleven's corporate owned stores in Colorado pulled
SPIKE Shooters, a new energy drink, from its shelves
due to concerns about side effects experienced by
teen drinkers. An 8.4-oz. can of Spike contains three
times the caffeine of a cup of coffee and several herbal
stimulants. It is not recommended for anyone under 18,
and cans are covered with warning labels, according
to Fox 12 Oregon. Full
Story
Save Mart Supermarkets completed the acquisition
of Albertson's LLC Northern California Division,
which includes 130 Albertson's stores in Northern California
and Northern Nevada, the Roseville and Vacaville distribution
centers, as well as the division office in Dublin, CA.
Save Mart's purchase will grow the chain to 254 retail
stores. Full
Story
Coca-Cola Co. is poised to make an offer for Brazilian
tea bottler Matte Leao as the company continues
to expand its local presence in non-carbonated soft
drinks, according to a report in local business daily
Valor Economico. Coca-Cola has been aggressive in its
expansion into the non-carbonated beverage market in
Brazil, purchasing two juice makers in the past 18 months,
reported The Associated Press. Full
Story
 Bridgeman
Foods Inc. sold 15 Wendy's restaurant properties to
GE Capital Solutions Franchise Finance for $11.3
million. The majority of the locations are located in
the Milwaukee, WI, area, reported The Business Journal
of Milwaukee. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Latest
sales & earnings for food related companies
(Updated Daily)
Sonic Corp. plans to open 25 to 35 restaurants in
Central Ohio. Although the planned restaurants would
amount to a fraction of the 97 McDonald's and 78 Wendy's
restaurants in the region, reaching its development
target would put the chain on par with Burger King's
31 restaurants and surpass the 20 stores run by White
Castle System Inc., reported Columbus Business First.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Sales
of Wrigley's chewing gum brands such as Doublemint and
Big Red are sagging, and some analysts say there
are not enough new ideas in the pipeline to fuel growth.
Meanwhile, Cadbury Schweppes PLC is riding high on the
most successful new gum launch in the last five years:
Stride, which has already captured 3% of the U.S. market
since its June debut, reported Crain's Chicago Business.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Cadbury Schweppes PLC and MasterCard Inc. are testing
750 beverage vending machines that accept credit cards
in the Dallas area, New York and Chicago. Some of the
machines installed in January have seen sales increases
of 5% to 35% without any change in prices, according
to Cadbury's U.S. beverages subsidiary, reported TwinCities.com.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Operator of three Wisconsin area Sentry Foods stores,
BKT Enterprises, purchased two Jewel-Osco stores
from Supervalu, and will reopen them under the Sentry
banner this spring, reported The Business Journal.
Full
Story
Dunkley International Inc. plans to extend its global
presence into Mexico, Argentina and other countries
soon. Privately owned Dunkley is interviewing people
in Mexico and Argentina to sell its food-processing
and industrial machines. The company has been in the
global market for 15 years and has been selling its
products to countries such as Turkey, Poland, Yugoslavia
and Chile. It has also been exporting to China for about
a year and a half, reported The Kalamazoo Gazette.
Full
Story
 The
Girl Scouts are removing most of the trans fat in all
varieties of their cookies. The first "zero trans"
Girl Scout cookies were introduced in the fall of 2005,
including a reformulated version of the top-selling
Thin Mint. The remaining varieties had most trans fats
eliminated by last October. This year, about half of
all Girl Scout troops are also offering a sugar-free
cookie called the Little Brownie, reported USA Today.
Full
Story
Quick-casual restaurant, Heidi's Brooklyn
Deli, plans to open up to 30 stores over the next five
to 10 years, with up to 60 stores within 15 to 20
years. The company, which currently has about 150 locations
nationwide, offers more than 20 sandwiches, as well
as soups and salads, reported Boston Business Journal.
Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Countryside Foods, LLC acquired all the operating
assets of I&K Distributors, Inc., a leading regional
specialty food distributor with locations in Indiana,
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and West Virginia, reported
the Delphos Herald. Countryside Foods, LLC was
recently formed by Ramex, Inc. and Oak Forest Ventures,
LLC for the purpose of acquiring certain operating assets
of I&K Distributors, Inc. Full
Story
Krispy Kreme Doughnuts,
Inc. launched a glazed doughnut made with 100% whole
wheat. Full
Story
Jersey City, NJ-based Gourmet Organic 800-sq. ft.
market is profiled by The New York Times on the
Web. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Visitors spend
more than half a billion dollars a year at winery tasting
rooms in California. However, many of California's
big wine companies, like E.J. Gallo, do not operate
tasting rooms, because they are so good at getting their
products into grocery stores, reported The Modesto
Bee. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
 Wine-focused
investment products are starting to appear, amid
booming interest in alternative investments. Their
goal is to cash in on soaring interest among consumers
and collectors, not to mention prices that are increasing
for fancy vintages, reported The Wall Street Journal.
Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required)
Specialty tea chain, TeaGschwendner, numbers more
than 130 outlets worldwide, but only three are in the
U.S., reported The Chicago Sun Times. The
free-standing shop in Algonquin, IL combines a snug
eating area with table service for some 30 diners and
a modest retail space featuring teapots, colorful china
cups, strainers and other accessories, as well as a
commercial-size samovar. Full
Story
International News
Canada-based Alimentation Couche-Tard, is testing
out future food offerings - including gourmet salads,
fresh fruit, hot meals and sushi - at Mac's convenience
stores in Western Canada. Fresh food now makes up 11%
of Couche-Tard's sales, and the company intends to boost
that figure to 15% over the next three years, reported
Financial Post. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Kuwait's health ministry confirmed outbreaks of
the H5N1 strain of bird flu at a zoo and a farm
in the south of the country, the first in two years,
reported Reuters. Full
Story
 China
is projected to need 4.8 million metric tons of food
additives by 2010. China has over 1,500 food
additive producers turning out 1,600 types of products.
The annual output reaches 3.25 million metric tons,
which are worth around 3.5 billion yuan. The global
market for food additives has reached $20 billion, with
an annual growth rate between 2.5% to 4%, according
to China Daily. Full
Story
The Wall Street Journal examines how Kouta
Matsuda, chief executive of Tully's Coffee Japan Co.,
built up the company in Japan. The chain now has
about 300 retail outlets across the country and is one
of the most recognizable rivals to Starbucks Coffee
Japan Ltd., which operated 665 outlets as of the end
of last year. Full
Story (WSJ Subscription Required)
Health News
A
diet rich in black soybeans could help control weight,
prevent diabetes and lower fat and cholesterol levels,
according to a Korean study. Experts say soy protein
may have an effect on fat metabolism in the liver and
fatty tissue, keeping new fatty acids and cholesterol
from forming together. This metabolic effect may explain
the traditional Asian use of black soy to treat diabetes,
reported HealthScout.com. Full
Story
Washington News
FDA
posted Q&A regarding the Peter Pan and Great Value
brand peanut butter Salmonella Tennessee recall.
Full
Story, FDA
Q&A
Kraft Foods Inc. expanded its recall to all packages
of Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast strips and
cuts nationwide. Full
Story
Castle Produce recalled
cantaloupes in California due to potential health
concerns. Full
Story
Americas Kitchen recalled
32-oz. packages of "Wellsley Farms" Green Bean Casserole
because they have the potential to be contaminated with
Listeria monocytogenes. Full
Story
Market News
In the past six months, the rush to produce more
corn-based ethanol has doubled the grain's value, increasing
costs for foods that include corn as an ingredient
or rely on it as animal feed. However, food industry
leaders remain concerned about the longterm growth in
the ethanol industry, forecast to rise from about 5
billion gallons, to 11 billion gallons when new plants
are completed, reported OregonLive.com. Full
Story
The acreage outlook for the U.S. dry edible bean
crop is uncertain, with early acreage expectations
appearing much more fluid than in the recent past. This
uncertainty over 2007 dry bean acreage stems from the
broad price strength for most competing field crops,
according to USDA's Vegetables and Melons Outlook
report. View
Report
 USDA's
Trout Production report released 3:00 p.m. (ET),
Feb. 26. View
Report
Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service amended the foreign quarantine and user fee
regulations by removing the exemptions from inspection
for imported fruits and vegetables grown in Canada.
Full
Notice
Food Safety and Inspection
Service proposed to add Chile to the list of countries
eligible to export poultry and poultry products
to the U.S. Full
Notice
National
Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) prohibited directed
fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels 60-ft. length
overall and longer using hook-and-line gear in the
Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. Full
Notice
NMFS announced that North
Carolina transferred 3,914-lbs. of commercial summer
flounder quota to New Jersey from its 2007 quota.
Full
Notice
NMFS permanently removed
the seven-day delay in effectiveness when closing the
Hawaii-based shallow-set longline fishery as a result
of reaching interaction limits for sea turtles. Full
Notice
NMFS announced that the
Pacific Fishery Management Council submitted Amendment
12 to the Coastal Pelagic Species Fishery Management
Plan for Secretary of Commerce review. Full
Notice
NMFS proposed management
measures to reduce overfishing of the eastern tropical
Pacific Ocean tuna stocks in 2007. Full
Notice
NMFS prepared an Environmental
Assessment in accordance with the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 on the immediate Federal actions
required to implement the Convention on the Conservation
and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the
Western and Central Pacific Ocean. Full
Notice
NMFS amended the regulations
governing how fishing net mesh size is measured
in the Northeast. Full
Notice
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