Smithfield Foods has entered into a merger agreement to acquire Nathan’s Famous Inc. for $102 per share in cash, representing an enterprise value of about $450 million. The transaction will secure Smithfield’s rights to the all-beef hot dog brand into perpetuity. The company has held an exclusive license from Nathan’s Famous since March 2014 to […]
Category: National
Posted inGrocery Research, National, News
Report: Traditional Grocers Losing Shoppers As Fragmentation Accelerates
Traditional grocers are losing their most valuable shoppers in a shift that appears permanent, according to new data from AlixPartners released Jan. 21. Fewer than half of consumers in the survey — 49 percent — say they spent most of their grocery budget at traditional grocers like Kroger, Albertsons, H-E-B and Wegmans in 2025, down […]
Posted inExecutive News, Marketing News, National, News
Expana Appoints Harris As CEO, Succeeding Wicks
Expana has appointed Julie Harris as CEO effective Jan. 26, succeeding Spencer Wicks, who will retire Jan. 23 after more than seven years leading the agrifood-focused price reporting agency and market intelligence provider. Harris joins Expana from IWSR, the beverage-alcohol data and insight provider, where she served as CEO and led the company through major […]
Posted inCenter Store, National, News
B&G Foods Wins Del Monte Broth Brands For $110M In Bankruptcy Auction
B&G Foods has agreed to acquire Del Monte Foods’ broth and stock business, including the College Inn and Kitchen Basics brands, for about $110 million in cash following a competitive bankruptcy auction. The transaction emerged from Del Monte Foods Corporation II’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, where B&G Foods prevailed as the winning bidder for the […]
Posted inMarketing News, National, News
Acosta Group Forms Alliance With CommerceIQ
Acosta Group’s Connected Commerce team has formed an alliance with CommerceIQ, integrating the artificial intelligence-driven retail platform into its agency services to provide automated decision-making capabilities for consumer brands. The alliance positions Acosta Group Connected Commerce as one of the industry’s first AI-driven agency teams, combining omnichannel execution expertise with CommerceIQ’s automation platform that analyzes […]
Posted inPrivate Label Brands, Association News, National, News
U.S. Private Label Sales Hit Record $282.8B In 2025
U.S. store brand sales reached a record $282.8 billion in 2025, climbing 3.3 percent compared to 1.2 percent growth for national brands, according to year-end Circana Unify+ data released Jan. 20 by the Private Label Manufacturers Association (PLMA). The $9 billion increase marks store brands’ continued momentum in capturing market share across all retail channels. […]
Posted inIndependent Store News, Merchandising News, National, News
ROFDA Rolls Out National Merchandising Program
Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates has launched Aggregated National Merchandising Scale Events, a new capability designed to provide manufacturers with coordinated access to the independent grocery channel through ROFDA’s nine member wholesalers. Beginning this year, ROFDA will execute three coordinated, national-scale merchandising programs across key seasonal windows during summer and fall. The programs will […]
Posted inGuest Contributors, National, News
Crossroads: Where Life And Business Meet
This is the first installment of a new ongoing column in The Shelby Report. We’re calling it Crossroads, in recognition of the intersection between life and business, where all of us – especially independent grocers– truly live. Each month, this column will highlight a moment where life and business collide and attempt to offer insight […]