US: The Giant Co. to open 1st store in Benner Township, Pennsylvania, later this month
Carlisle, Pennsylvania-based The Giant Co. will open its first store in Benner Township on December 16, expanding its home state footprint. The new, ground-up, 50,000-square-foot store will be located at 2699 Benner Pike in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, the Ahold Delhaize banner announced.
Source: winsightgrocerybusiness.com
US: Full Harvest acquires FarmersWeb
Full Harvest, the business-to-business produce marketplace specializing in surplus and imperfect produce, announced the acquisition of FarmersWeb, a farm sales and inventory management SaaS provider. Adding FarmersWeb's proven software capabilities to its technology pipeline, Full Harvest now has the ability to speed the delivery of advanced features for its produce suppliers and buyers - driving a more efficient, sustainable produce supply chain.
Source: prnewswire.com
Longo's marks World Pear Day with 'Pear-a-thon' livestream
Longo’s celebrated World Pear Day with a 12-hour global livestream of cooking demos. Chefs from around the world participated in the “Pear-a-thon”, which ran from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on culinary tech platform Kittch.
Source: canadiangrocer.com
Farm, consumer groups urge U.S. to block Kroger's planned $25bln buy of Albertsons
Advocacy groups, including the Open Markets Institute and National Farmers Union, asked U.S. antitrust enforcers to stop Kroger Co's planned $25bln purchase of rival grocery giant Albertsons Companies Inc. In a letter to Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, the groups argued that the deal would raise prices in some parts of the United States and hurt some grocery store and warehouse workers.
Source: reuters.com
US: Dollar General Corporation reports third quarter 2022 results
Dollar General Corporation reported financial results for its fiscal year 2022 third quarter (13 weeks) ended October 28, 2022: Net sales increased 11.1% to $9.5bln. Same-store sales increased 6.8%. Operating profit increased 10.5% to $735.5mln. Diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) increased 12.0% to $2.33. Year-to-date cash flows from operations of $1.2bln. Board of Directors declares quarterly cash dividend of $0.55 per share.
Source: businesswire.com
US: Publix Lakeland Division vice president to retire; new vice president announced
After 45 years of dedicated service, Publix Super Markets Lakeland Division vice president Sam Pero has announced his decision to retire at the end of this year. With Pero’s retirement, Publix is pleased to announce the promotion of Marsha Singh to Lakeland Division vice president.
Source: businesswire.com
UK: Morrisons owner paves way for departure of veteran CEO Potts
Clayton Dubilier & Rice is working with the headhunters Egon Zehnder to identify an eventual successor to Morrisons' long-serving CEO, David Potts, Sky News learns.
Source: news.sky.com
Australia: Wholesaler’s stark inflation warning ahead of Christmas
Australia’s largest wholesale food distributor has sounded the alarm about rising inflation, warning food costs jumped by 8.8% in November alone. Metcash, which supplies products to supermarkets including IGA and Foodland, has revealed the stark price increases while announcing its financial results on the ASX. The wholesaler reported an 8.2% rise in sales in the first half of the 2022/2023 financial year as net profits fell by 2.4% - which the company attributes to rising costs.
Source: news.com.au
SPAR China partner opens flagship store in bustling business district
SPAR China partner Jiajiayue, headquartered in Shandong, debuted a new flagship store during the grand opening of Wuyue Plaza in Bincheng, Binzhou city. The SPAR regional operator is a strategic alliance brand partner of Wuyue Plaza. The store offers a full assortment, including fresh vegetables and fruits, live fish and seafood, cold fresh meat, and freshly cooked food to go.
Source: spar-international.com
Kenya: Social commerce startup Kapu, by ex-Jumia executive, comes out of stealth with $8mln funding
Kapu, a social commerce startup, coming out of stealth, today having raised $8mln seed funding. They are hoping to help lessen the burden of buying food for Kenyan consumers, many of whom are grappling with the sky-rocketing food prices. The startup is now expanding its network of local agents that consumers can place orders with. It will soon support WhatsApp orders too. By sourcing directly from manufacturers and producers, Kapu enables group bulk-buying of groceries and claims to help consumers save up 30% of the spend on fresh produce and packaged consumer goods.
Source: techcrunch.com
Belgium: This is how Aldi aims to seduce urban shoppers
Aldi opened its 23rd Brussels store, but it still was a special opening: with only 600 sqm, the new store near the University site in Ixelles is only half as big as a regular Aldi. However, this is not a classic City concept: despite the store’s reduced size, it offers the whole Aldi assortment of 1,600 references. In doing so, the German chain adapts itself to the urban consumer behaviour of shopping more often, but for smaller quantities.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Court: Sligro bid best option for Metro
The Commercial Tribunal of Antwerp agrees with the trade unions’ statement that Dutch wholesaler Sligro has put forward the best bid for the Belgian branch of Metro. A competing bid by current CEO Vincent Nolf is deemed to be too far below the actual value of the stores involved. A decision will follow by Wednesday at the latest. The court considered the four bids for Makro Cash & Carry Belgium: the candidates were given the opportunity to defend their case, in the presence of the trade unions and hundreds of employees. Nolf received some particularly critical questions about his plan for a management buyout, Belgian business newspaper De Tijd reports.
Source: retaildetail.eu
Delhaize Serbia hosts National Food Festival
Delhaize Serbia (DS) hosted the “National Food Festival” at the Belgrade Fair to highlight some of its local partners, and to discuss the latest developments in the retail market. Delhaize Serbia, part of Ahold Delhaize (AD), is the largest retail chain in Serbia, hosting over 450 stores across the country, providing employment to over ten thousand people and serving more than 1.2mln Serbian consumers every month.
Source: agroberichtenbuitenland.nl