Beginning this spring, New Mexicans who receive federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits can save money when they buy New Mexico-grown fresh fruits and vegetables at several Lowe’s grocery stores in New Mexico. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, assists one in five people in the state. Double Up Food Bucks, a program of the New […]
Category: Suppliers
SpartanNash Sales Increases Benefit From Holiday Shift
SpartanNash said Wednesday that business gains and the timing of the New Year holiday resulted in fourth quarter sales growing to $1.83 billion from $1.77 billion a year ago. Net sales for the food distribution segment increased to $838.6 million from $773.7 million in the same quarter a year ago. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company said the gains […]
Blue Bell Gets New President As Kruse Retires
Blue Bell Creameries’ Ricky Dickson has been promoted to president of the Brenham, Texas-based company as longtime leader Paul Kruse retires. While Kruse is retiring as president and chairman, he will remain on the company’s board. Kruse began working at Blue Bell in 1986 and was elected CEO and president of the company in 2004. […]
KeHE’s Summer Selling Show Marks Record Attendance, ‘Best Of’ Awards Presented
The 2017 KeHE Summer Selling Show, held earlier this month in New Orleans, hosted more than 3,700 industry professionals—a nearly 35 percent increase from the year prior. Retailers, vendors and brokers were able to get a look at the latest natural and organic, specialty and fresh products for the summer season. “This increased attendance is […]
Tyson Foods Shakes Up Leadership Team, Unveils New Logo
Tyson Foods is making some changes—revealing a new senior leadership team, executives who the company says will “propel” it forward and accelerate growth, and unveiling a new corporate logo. The new appointments come as the company announces the departure of Donnie King, president, North American Operations; Sara Lilygren, EVP, Corporate Affairs; and Gary Cooper, chief […]
Shoppers Show Increasing Preference For Digital Coupons
Analysis by Inmar Inc. of 2016 coupon activity reveals an ongoing “promotional transposition,” with paperless, digital coupons beginning to overtake traditional paper coupons in popularity. Inmar’s analysis shows that, among the more than 2.2 billion coupons redeemed by shoppers last year, the share of redemption captured by offers that shoppers load directly to their retailer […]
Mondelēz International Launches One Of The First Sponsored SmartLabel Apps
Mondelēz International has launched one of the first sponsored SmartLabel apps, making in-store, on-the-spot access to detailed product information for many of its U.S. snacking products possible from smartphones. More than 1,100 products across the U.S. snack product portfolio—biscuits, crackers, cookies, chocolate, gum and candy—now are searchable through the new “SmartLabel Sponsored by Mondelēz International” […]
IGA Announces Its New Cause Marketing Partner
by Lorrie Griffith/editor-in-chief IGA USA revealed its new cause marketing partner at its 2017 Global Rally, Feb. 10-12 in Las Vegas. The new partner is Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, an organization that is summed up best by its tagline, according to President and CEO Marcia Lee Taylor: Where families find answers. The organization offers support […]
Product Of The Year USA 2017 Winners Announced
Product of the Year, the world’s largest consumer-voted award for product innovation, has announced the winners of its 2017 Product of the Year Awards. A national representative survey of 40,000 consumers conducted by Kantar TNS, a global leader in consumer research, helps determine the Product of the Year winners each year so that Americans can best […]
Buy Alabama’s Best Expands Retail Campaign From Two To Four Months
The 2017 Buy Alabama’s Best Retail Campaign Launch Awards Luncheon recently was held at The Club in Birmingham. The group is made up of the Alabama Grocers Association, the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries and the Alabama Food Manufacturers and Producers Association. The purpose of the Buy Alabama’s Best Campaign is to identify and […]
Kellogg Co. Doing Away With DSD Model For U.S. Snacks Biz, Will Close DCs
Kellogg Co. will begin to exit its Direct Store Delivery (DSD) network in the second quarter, transitioning the DSD-distributed portion of the company’s U.S. Snacks business to the warehouse model already used by Pringles and the rest of the company’s North American business. Kellogg says the new model will be “transformational for Kellogg, reducing complexity […]
MGA Recognizes Six Minnesota Companies For Efforts To Fight Hunger
The Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) has revealed the Silver Plate Award winners of its 2016 Bag Hunger Campaign contest. The contest is part of a state-wide campaign coordinated annually by the MGA that engages Minnesotans in the fight to bag hunger in their neighborhoods. The 2016 Bag Hunger Campaign donated $15,000 to Second Harvest Heartland with an […]
NPD Group Says ‘Millions’ Will Increase Their Virtual Shopping This Year
The internet is quickly becoming the virtual grocery store for many U.S. consumers with 52 million currently grocery shopping online, finds a new study from The NPD Group, a Chicago-based global information company. According to the report, 20 million consumers who are current, lapsed or new to online grocery shopping plan to increase their virtual […]
J.M. Smucker Co. Plans Manufacturing Facility For Its Uncrustables Sandwiches In Colorado
The J.M. Smucker Co. plans to build an additional Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwiches manufacturing facility in Longmont, Colorado, near Denver. Construction will start this spring with production expected to begin in 2019. The new facility will help meet growing demand for Smucker’s Uncrustables sandwiches, which are pre-made frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that consumers simply […]
Online Food Shopping Forecasted To Reach ‘Digital Maturity’ In The U.S. Within Next Decade
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Nielsen on Monday released a preview of their “Digitally Engaged Food Shopper” analysis. The unveiling came at the FMI Midwinter Executive Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. The introductory set of insights from this joint, multi-year initiative offers a comprehensive look into the behaviors, motivations and expectations of the digitally engaged food shopper. […]
Animal Welfare Certification Rolls Out New Food Label Logo
Farm certifier A Greener World (AGW) has released a new logo for its third-party certification, Animal Welfare Approved. One of AGW’s growing family of food labels, Animal Welfare Approved was launched in 2006 as a market-based solution to growing consumer demand for high-welfare, environmentally sustainable meat, eggs and dairy products. In late 2016, AGW says it learned […]
Majority Of Industry Commends Trump’s Pick For Top Ag Post
President Donald J. Trump’s nomination of former Georgia Gov. George Ervin “Sonny” Perdue III for Agriculture Secretary is being commended by the majority of the food industry groups and officials. Perdue will oversee a department of about 100,000 employees and about $140 billion across various programs. He also will have a significant role in the […]
Big Red, Kroger And Weber Kicked Up Summer Sales
Austin, Texas-based beverage company Big Red reports that its “100 Days of BBQ” summer retail promotion and marketing campaign in Kroger stores in Louisville, Kentucky—with help from Weber—generated a 15.7 percent sales increase in dollars. The goal? A 10 percent increase. Big Red hosted Weber Mobile Grill Academy classes at the Kroger stores as part of […]
Sanderson Farms Opens New Facility In St. Pauls, North Carolina
Sanderson Farms, the third largest poultry producer in the U.S., this month opened a new $155 million processing plant and wastewater treatment facility in St. Pauls, North Carolina. The 180,000-s.f. plant accompanies an existing 65,000-s.f. hatchery located in Lumberton, as well as a feed mill in Kinston, making it the company’s 11th fully integrated poultry […]
USDA Overhauls Food Date Labeling For Meat And Dairy
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service provided guidance recently that encourages manufacturers and retailers of eggs, meat and dairy products to use one universal “Best If Used By” date label on their products in order to avoid the confusion caused by the roughly 50 different versions of labels now being […]
