Easy Pickin's creating avenue for Jamaican produce
With farmers struggling to find a market for their produce in high and low times the Dawson Trading Company Limited is developing its Easy Pickin's brand as one solution to manage the influx of fresh produce during the year.
Source: jamaicaobserver.com
Regional grocers will face tougher fight online against Walmart, report says
Regional grocers who operate their own e-commerce sites and/or mobile apps will likely face a tougher fight online against Walmart going forward, digital grocery solution provider Mercatus revealed in its new report entitled Pricing’s Potential Roles for Improving Online Grocery Performance for Regional Grocers.
Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
US: Chipotle partners with Vebu to test Autocado prototype, a robotic solution to guacamole prep
Chipotle Mexican Grill announced Autocado, an avocado processing cobotic prototype that cuts, cores, and peels avocados before they are hand mashed to create the restaurant's famous guacamole. The prototype, developed in collaboration with Vebu, is currently being tested at the Chipotle Cultivate Center in Irvine, California.
Source: prnewswire.com
US: Lidl expands in Virginia
Lidl US will open its newest store in Virginia’s Fairfax County on July 26. The store will be located at 9001 White Spruce Way in Lorton and is part of Liberty, the mixed-use community that is transforming the historic Lorton Reformatory into a vibrant urban village. The discount grocer invested millions of dollars in the site where it is creating more than 45 new jobs.
Source: progressivegrocer.com
US: National Convenience Distributors announces acquisition of Colonial Wholesale Distributing, Inc.
National Convenience Distributors (“NCD”), the 4th largest wholesale distributor to the convenience industry, announced the acquisition of Colonial Wholesale Distributing, Inc., one of the Southeast region's largest full-line wholesale distributors to the convenience and grocery store industries. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Source: businesswire.com
New Zealand's food sector still facing complex challenges - pace of cost increases moderating, but a long road to tame record inflation
“The food sector is still facing complex challenges as a result of record inflation, but the pace and intensity of rising costs that our growers, manufacturers, and retailers have been seeing is starting to show some signs of easing,” says Foodstuffs NZ Managing Director, Chris Quin. Green vegetables like broccoli were in strong supply in June and offered good value. Through June, mandarins were down 2.3% pa, cucumbers were down 15.8% pa, and white button mushrooms were down 2.2% pa. New season avocado is also dropping in price as supply picks up.
Source: foodstuffs.co.nz
UK: The Co-operative Group appoints Debbie White as new Chair Designate
Following a rigorous search process, The Co-operative Group (Co-op) has announced that Debbie White will become its new Chair when Allan Leighton steps down from the role in February 2024.
Source: co-operative.coop
SPAR Italy partner Maiora reopens INTERSPAR Hypermarket in Cilento
In the town of Castelnuovo Cilento (Salerno), the newly revamped INTERSPAR Hypermarket in Via Fiera, inside the Cilento Shopping Park, reopened its doors. The fruit & vegetable and butcher shop inside the store are modernised, as well as a fish department with ready meals and fish specialties.
Source: spar-international.com
Carrefour agrees to buy Cora and Match assets in France from Louis Delhaize
Carrefour has agreed to buy the Cora and Match assets in France from Belgian retailer Louis Delhaize Group in the French supermarket chain's first major acquisition in its home market in over 20 years, it said. The transaction gives the assets an enterprise value of 1.05bln euros ($1.2bln), and includes the purchase of the real estate of 55 hypermarkets and 77 supermarkets, the company said in a statement.
Source: reuters.com
Waste-busting businesses find ways to save surplus Australian fruit from being dumped
Sick of seeing delicious berries being dumped for failing to meet supermarket specifications, Allison and Stuart McGruddy took the plunge. They became part of the solution for the 7.6mln tonnes of food wasted in Australia every year at an estimated cost of $36.6bln. On a mission to find a home for every berry produced on their family's farm, the McGruddy's founded My Berries in 2013.
Source: abc.net.au
Netherlands: Lidl expands food waste prevention campaign to all storesLidl Netherlands has introduced its Verspil Mij Niet groente- en fruittas ('Don't Waste Me' fruit and vegetables) bags to all 440 outlets in the country. The bag offers fresh fruit and vegetables that can no longer be sold but are suitable for consumption, the company added.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Discount retailer Pepco's sales growth slows
European discount retailer Pepco Group reported a slowdown in underlying sales growth in its latest quarter, saying it faced a challenging trading environment in April and May, particularly in Central Europe. The Warsaw-listed group, which owns the Pepco, Poundland and Dealz brands, did, however, maintain its financial guidance for the full 2022-23 year. Total group revenue increased 12.5% on a constant currency basis to 1.37bln euros ($1.53bln), boosted by 159 new store openings.
Source: reuters.com
New Zealand: Cabinet agrees to keep supermarket break-up option in back pocket
The Cabinet has agreed to keep a break-up of supermarket groups Countdown and Foodstuffs “in reserve” while it monitors the impact of its existing reforms of the grocery sector.
Source: stuff.co.nz
Magnit extends buyback offer to shares held through Euroclear
Retailer Magnit said it was extending a buyback offer to shareholders holding stakes through the clearing house Euroclear, a move that could open the door for more foreign investors to extract capital from Russia.
Source: reuters.com
France: Casino says new deadline for rescue bids set for July 14
Cash-strapped French retailer Casino said a new deadline for rival bidders to present their rescue offers for the group had been set for July 14 as it reported a further drop in sales in the second quarter.
Source: reuters.com
Groupe Casino sees sales fall 6.6% in France in second quarterGroupe Casino has said that sales in France in the second quarter fell by 6.6%, after a 4.6% decline in the first three months of the year. Core earnings were expected to record a loss of between €165mln and €175mln for the first half, compared with a profit of €191mln in the same period of 2022, due to lower sales and lower prices at its hypermarkets and supermarkets.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Amazon contests ‘very large’ qualification
Following Zalando, Amazon has also lodged a legal objection against its classification as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) in Europe. “Amazon does not fit this description under the DSA”, the company states.
Source: ecommercenews.eu