Stagnito's Daily Brief

Sara Lee Corp. has put its Sara Lee and Hillshire Farm brands up for review as part of a plan to consolidate creative duties for its North American Food & Beverage unit, reported Crain's Chicago Business. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Wild Oats Markets could possibly open another 450 stores in the U.S. in addition to the 112 stores the company currently operates, according to the company's recent saturation analysis study, reported Forbes.com. Full Story

Choice Food Group acquired Vietti Foods Co., a 108-year-old Nashville, TN-based manufacturer of chili, spaghetti and other canned foods, according to The Tennessean. Full Story

Latina Niagara Importing Co. Inc. is scouting locations in Batavia, NY for its next supermarket and expects to see an operation open within two months. It will be the company's fourth supermarket and the third to be opened in six months in the new Latina Foodland Fresh Market division, according to Business First of Buffalo. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Brown-Forman Corporation reached agreement with Charles Jacquin et Cie to purchase the Chambord Liqueur brand and all related assets for $255 million dollars in cash. Full Story

CBRL Group, Inc. plans to undertake a comprehensive plan of strategic initiatives for restructuring the company. The plan includes divestiture of the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Logan's Roadhouse, Inc. CBRL Group operates 536 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store restaurants and gift shops and 133 company-operated and 24 franchised Logan's Roadhouse restaurants. Full Story

Master Restaurant Developers, with backing from Hispania Capital Partners, signed an agreement with Brinker International, Inc. to purchase two corporate-owned restaurants and develop 14 new ones in South Florida. Development will include 10 On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina restaurants over the next six years, and the construction of four new Chili's Grill & Bar locations. Full Story

Rockelle Corporation entered into a contract with the owner of Stewart's Original Root Beer Restaurants to begin their franchise expansion inside an unnamed retail chain. Full Story

The National Restaurant Association Education Foundation will launch its new Fourth Edition ServSafe product line on Apr. 3. The new edition includes tools to help managers and operators implement critical food safety practices in their operation, reported ID Access. Full Story

QSR Magazine profiles Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers, and how the chain has rebuilt its business after Hurricane Katrina. Full Story

Thies Distributing is expanding into Stuart, FL, with a 120,000-sq. ft. warehouse facility at Stuart Commerce Center, reported Palm Beach Post. Full Story

Parents are often careful to buy organic foods but some are concerned with what their chidren's sandwiches are wrapped in, opting for wax paper which some contend is safer than plastic wrap, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

Target Corp. won a key endorsement for a 184,000-sq. ft SuperTarget in St. Paul, MN, reported TwinCities.com. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The DenverPost.com takes a look at the popularity of the hot dog. Full Story

As rival brewers in the U.S. continue to struggle, The Wall Street Journal examines how Femsa, maker of Tecate, Dos Equis and Sol beer, has experienced growing sales. Full Story (WSJ Subscription Required)

The Chicago Tribune profiles Potbelly Sandwich Works, the fastest growing sandwich chain in the U.S., which posted revenues of $64 million in 2004, up 78% from the year before, according to Technomic. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

The food industry is too complacent about the threat of a direct terrorist attack on the U.S. food supply.

Agree Disagree

Weekly Poll
Sponsored By:

View Results

Submit a Question

In response to a recent Stagnito Daily Brief survey, 59% of respondents agreed with the statement, "Foreign management of U.S. port facilities is a serious security threat," while 41% disagreed.

Bigg's supermarket chain is reopening its newly reformatted Skytop Pavilion store, in Cincinnati, OH. The new format includes extended selections, an emphasis on organics and prepared foods, and a new name: Bigg's Fresh, reported Cincinnati Business Courier. Full Story

Little Caesars is back in Columbia, NC after nearly six years. Rather than doing pizza deliveries or offering an extended, sit-down menu, the new restaurant focuses on keeping a constant supply of hot, fresh items for drive-through and walk-in customers, reported TheState.com. Full Story

St. James Winery will start selling its products in Arkansas, the sixth state in which St. James products are available, reported STLToday.com. Full Story

South Korea's agriculture ministry is likely to push back by a few weeks its planned date to resume imports of U.S. beef because of a delay in an inspection tour of U.S. beef facilities. Full Story

Israel detected its first cases of H5N1 bird flu, saying the virus had killed thousands of turkeys and chicken on two farms. Full Story

Cargill will increase refining capacity for customized oil blends and other value-added fats by more than 100,000 metric tons per year by investing in its food-oil refinery in Hamburg, Germany, reported NutraIngredients.com. Full Story

Japan's first case of mad cow disease in cattle raised to provide meat was confirmed in a 14-year-old cow in the southern prefecture of Nagasaki, according the country's Health Ministry, reported CBS News. Full Story

Foster's Group is believed to be negotiating to sell some of its breweries in a bid to boost its underperforming Foster's Brewing International unit, reported Sydney Morning Herald. Full Story

Google is attempting a significant push into the European retail industry with plans to launch a service aimed at giving traditional bricks-and-mortar retailers a base from which to market and sell their goods online. The U.S.- based search engine company plans to develop Google Base, a product still in testing, into an online retail platform. The service would give retailers access to the hundreds of millions of Google users, according to MSN Money. Full Story

An innovative test to detect Salmonella in ready-to-eat meats has been developed by Agricultural Research Service scientists. The preliminary test, still being evaluated by agency researchers, relies on PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technology to detect food-contaminating microbes on a molecular level. Full Story

The Illinois State Board of Education voted to ban schools from offering junk food during the school day for pupils through eighth grade, reported USA Today. Full Story

The Senate Agriculture Committee approved a bill that would give a state responsibility for the ''registration, labeling, sale, storage and planting of seeds.'' It would also bar local governments and the state from adopting regulations that exceed federal requirements. A similar bill is pending in a House committee, reported The New York Times on the Web. Full Story (Free Registration Required)

CNN.com examines how Ballantine Produce is using RFID technology to differentiate its fruit from competitors and to correct problems from thousands of miles away. Full Story

NMFS re-established the TAC for Pacific cod at 194,000 metric tons in 2006 and 148,000 metric tons in 2007 in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area. Full Notice