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Industry
News
McDonald's Corp. may add smoothies, iced coffee
and other specialty coffees to its U.S. restaurants,
according to a company executive. Additionally, the
chain will roll out the cinnamon melt - a warm, pull-apart
sweet roll with cinnamon glaze - in 11,000 U.S. locations
by summer, according to Associated Press. Full
Story
Better-for-you food marketing is continuing
in 2007, with T.G.I. Friday's unveiling the first
national program in the casual dining business that
offers a variety of menu items with smaller portions
- and lower prices - all day, reported USA Today.
Also, Subway will announce plans for Fresh Fit meals
that substitute apples or raisins for chips and 1% milk
or water for soft drinks with a sub. Full
Story
The outlook for the restaurant industry softened
somewhat in January, as the National Restaurant
Association's index of restaurant activity registered
its largest decline in 17 months. The index stood at
100.6 in January 2007, down 1.1% from its December 2006,
level. Full
Story
In addition to increasing
fuel costs, restaurant operators across the U.S.
are now facing added margin pressure from wage increases.
Many are taking a harder look at raising their menu
prices, but with an eye towards three key issues: who
else is implementing increases, for which menu items,
and which regions should be targeted?, according to
Technomic Information Services. Full
Story
 For
the 13th straight year, Publix Super Markets is the
highest-ranking grocery store for customer satisfaction,
according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index's
fourth quarter 2006 report. In second place, was The
Kroger Co., followed by Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. in third.
Full
Story, Rankings
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sees no need to split
itself into multiple companies, despite its growing
global size and suggestions from some financial analysts
that it sell units such as Sam's Club warehouses in
the U.S., and foreign retail chains, to generate cash,
according to remarks made by the company at a Bear Stearns
consumer conference, reported Associated Press.
Full
Story
Costco Wholesale Corp. told its product buyers
that it wants to eventually buy only eggs from cage-free
hens and those buyers have been spreading the word
among its egg suppliers, reported The Oregonian.
However, there is not enough cage-free egg production
to supply Costco now, and it is impossible to know when
that situation will change, said Craig Wilson, assistant
vice president of food safety and quality assurance.
Full
Story
Latest
sales & earnings for food related companies
(Updated Daily)
Procter
& Gamble signed an agreement with Dunkin' Brands Inc.
to sell Dunkin' Donuts packaged coffee to grocery
and club stores, mass merchandisers and other consumer
retail channels in the U.S. Full
Story
A number of food companies received
Kosher certification for certain products from the Orthodox
Union recently, including: J.M. Smucker, Orville,
OH and John B. Sanfilippo & Son, Inc., Elk Grove, IL.
Full
List
Global Beverage Solutions, Inc. completed the acquisition
of beverage distributor XStream Beverage Network of
Maryland, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of XStream
Beverage Network, Inc. Full
Story
Champps Entertainment, Inc. is continuing to pursue
a sale of Kinderhook Industries, LLC and has received
indications of interest from a number of potential purchasers.
The letter of intent Champps entered into last month
with Kinderhook Industries, LLC to sell substantially
all of its assets to an investment entity to be sponsored
by Kinderhook expired. Full
Story
Goldsboro,
NC-based Wooten Oil Co. is selling its 12 company-operated
Kwik Mart convenience stores, including two sites
less than two years old. Wooten Oil is a petroleum
marketing, distribution and convenience store company,
reported CSP Daily News. Full
Story
7-Eleven Inc. closed two White Hen convenience store
locations in Forest Park, IL due to low sales volume,
just seven months after 7-Eleven purchased the 200-store
White Hen Pantry chain, reported Forest Park Review.
Full
Story
Deli sales now represent as much as a quarter
of total sales at many higher-end and specialty stores,
such as PCC Natural Markets, reported The Seattle
Times. Total deli sales in supermarkets grew from
$16.3 billion in 2000 to $21.1 billion in 2005, according
to the Food Marketing Institute. Full
Story
 Philadelphia-based
deli meat producer, Dietz & Watson Inc., is opening
a distribution center in Delanco, NJ. The company
had been renting cold-storage facilities for several
years, which made it hard to consolidate orders for
supermarket chains and other customers, reported The
Philadelphia Inquirer. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Montvale, NJ-based The Great
Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. is engaged
in negotiations for an acquisition of Pathmark Stores
Inc. No final agreement has been reached. Full
Story
Greyston Bakery's new line of gourmet brownies is
being sold online at www.greystonbakery.com. Profits
from the sale of these brownies support the Yonkers,
NY-based Greyston Foundation whose social mission is
to provide jobs to the chronically unemployed, childcare
to an under-served community, housing to the homeless,
and healthcare to people in need. Full
Story
"We need more specialty outlets, not fewer.
We need to champion the cause of good food more widely.
And once we have achieved that, we need to club together
to demand a same regime of government regulation so
we can actually afford to eat it," according to Los
Angeles City Beat which opines on the merger of
Whole Foods and Wild Oats Markets. Full
Story
San Francisco-based lifestyle-centered food company,
ahh! Gourmet, unveiled ahh! Express Healthful Gourmet
Kits. These at-home cooking kits include specialty
Asian-inspired sauces and spices pre-packaged for ease
and convenience and includes all natural, preservative-free
ingredients. Full
Story
 Passaic,
NJ-based health food store, A-1 Nutrition, boasts
a freezer filled for the vegetarian/vegan crowd, including
non-dairy mayonnaise and tofu egg salad and a bevy of
Gluten-free products. The retailer, profiled by The
Record, caters to the healthy and the sick; cancer
patients, diabetics, people who want to lose weight,
people with digestive problems - even people with parasites.
Full
Story
International News
PepsiCo, Inc. and The Pepsi Bottling Group, Inc.
formed a joint venture called PR Beverages Limited,
which consists of PepsiCo's concentrate and PBG's bottling
businesses in Russia. Full
Story
UK-based Marks & Spencer Group PLC decided not to
make a takeover offer for supermarket chain J. Sainsbury
PLC at this time. However, the chain did not rule
out a future bid, reported Forbes. Full
Story
Hershey Co. will acquire a 51% stake in India's
Godrej Beverages & Foods Ltd. for $54 million, reported
Reuters. Full
Story
Health News
Under fire
for unhealthy school lunches, well-stocked vending machines
and phys ed cuts, the nation's schools may actually
do a better job than parents in keeping children fit
and trim. A study found that five and six-year-olds
gained more weight over the summer than during the school
year, according to Tri-City Herald. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
An inspection of more than 138 wrapped
loaves of bread in the UK revealed that salt content
was above the recommended levels, according to Consensus
Action on Salt and Health, reported BBC. Full
Story
Washington News
Eleven
lawsuits were filed against Yum Brands Inc. and its
Taco Bell Corp. subsidiary for the E. coli outbreak
in November and December 2006. In its annual report,
Yum claims the stores named in at least five of the
lawsuits are not company-owned, and therefore, believes
it is not liable for any losses at those locations,
reported Business First of Louisville. Full
Story
In the event of a merger between A&P and
Pathmark, the United Food and Commercial Workers
Union expects all current labor contracts will be honored,
according to a statement by Joseph T. Hansen, International
President of the UFCW. The UFCW represents 54,000 A&P
employees nationwide and nearly 29,000 Pathmark workers.
Full
Story
 The
franchisor and operator of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits,
AFC Enterprises, Inc., filed suit against Church's
Chicken and a former Popeyes franchise group in
connection with Church's recent purchase of 10 Popeyes'
franchised restaurants in the Rio Grande Valley, TX
and subsequent conversion of most of the units to the
Church's Chicken brand. In the suit, AFC claims Church's
induced and colluded with Popeyes' former franchise
group, CVI Company, Ltd. and its principals, to breach
their binding franchise, development and guaranty agreements
with Popeyes and sell their franchised restaurants to
Church's for cash with the intent to harm Popeyes. Full
Story
The National Farmers Union urged Congress to enact
legislation this year that would tell consumers the
geographic origin of meat, fruit and other food.
Without mandatory country of origin labeling, "consumers
continue to be denied the ability to differentiate between
U.S. and imported food," the National Farmers Union
and a band of over 200 farm and rural groups said in
a letter to lawmakers, reported Reuters. Full
Story
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board appealed a
court decision that halted takeout beer sales at a Sheetz
Inc. convenience store in Altoona, PA. The store
resumed beer sales for takeout at a restaurant that
is separated by a partition from the adjoining convenience
store, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer. Full
Story (Free Registration Required)
Carolina Culinary
Foods voluntarily expanded its Feb. 18 recall of fully
cooked Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich chicken breast cuts and
strips that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Full
Story
Market News
California border inspectors rejected nine additional
loads of Mexican avocados that had "armored scale,"
an insect not found in California. The shipments came
into the U.S. through Arizona and were inspected at
the Arizona-California border, reported California
Farm Bureau Federation.
A gap in onion supplies could affect consumer prices
until California's harvest begins in mid-April.
Produce wholesalers blame light production in the Pacific
Northwest and a rain reduced crop in Texas. Market watchers
say onions may be in relatively short supply for the
next six weeks, with available supplies coming mainly
from storage in the Northwest, reported California
Farm Bureau Federation.
.jpg) Growers
in California are successfully farming abalone,
ten years after the ban on commercially harvesting wild
abalone went into effect. California now has 15 abalone
farms, including Monterey Abalone Co., reported The
San Francisco Chronicle. Full
Story
NMFS prohibited directed
fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than
60-ft. length overall using jig or hook-and-line gear
in the Bogoslof Pacific cod exemption area of the Bering
Sea and Aleutian Islands management area. Full
Notice
NMFS proposed to establish
an inspection program for modified pound net leaders
in the Virginia waters of the mainstem Chesapeake Bay.
Full
Notice
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