US: Kroger dishes on ways to save during the Holidays
The Kroger Co., America's grocer, shared how it is helping shoppers save as they prepare for the holidays, including affordable meal ideas while families enjoy time together. For families looking for easy, affordable meals during winter break, Kroger is suggesting options to feed a family of four at an average cost of approximately $10 per meal, including favorites such as: a traditional breakfast, including a dozen Kroger eggs, Kroger sausage patties, fresh fruit and toast. Grilled cheese, the perfect lunch prepared with Kroger American cheese slices, tomato soup and a side of fresh baby carrots. Spaghetti and meatballs, featuring Private Selection spaghetti noodles, Prego pasta sauce and Kroger meatballs alongside a fresh Kroger Caesar chopped salad kit. Chicken and veggies, a quick and easy meal serving Home Chef's rotisserie chicken, russet potatoes and your family's favorite Kroger frozen veggies. Pizza night with Home Chef's Ready to Heat pizza served alongside a fresh Kroger Mediterranean-style chopped salad kit.
Source: prnewswire.com
Walmart puts pricey blockchain food tracking platform on ice
Walmart announced in 2018 the Walmart Food Traceability Initiative, a food tracking partnership and logistics platform powered by IBM’s blockchain technology alongside 10 other category leaders, including Nestlé, Dole Food, Driscoll’s, Golden State Foods, Kroger, McCormick, McLane, Tyson Foods and Unilever. Walmart’s numerous suppliers, however, weren’t so thrilled. As reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), many small and medium-sized suppliers, mostly farmers unused to next-generation technologies, struggled with the onboarding process. In the four years since the program’s launch, only a single additional item has been added to the produce-tracking platform. That said, it takes just a few seconds to trace the produce included on Walmart’s blockchain platform back to their sources, compared to the dayslong process tracking items previously entailed.
Source: pymnts.com
Freshii to be acquired by Foodtastic Inc.
Freshii Inc. announced that it has entered into an arrangement agreement pursuant to which Foodtastic Inc. will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Freshii for $2.30 per share in cash, representing total consideration of approximately $74.4mln on a fully diluted basis. The consideration represents a 148% premium to the 20-day volume-weighted average price per share for the period ending on December 16, 2022, and a 142% premium to the closing price on December 16, 2022.
Source: globenewswire.com
Italian hypermarkets shrinking to counter falling sales
Italian large-scale retailers are downsizing their hypermarkets, as sales increasingly shift towards discounters and the online channel. Regional cooperative Coop Lombardia is doing just that with its 14 hypermarkets, in which space will be reduced to less than 5,000 square metres. Speaking to daily Il Sole 24 Ore, the president of Coop Lombardia, Daniele Ferré, pointed out that hypermarkets have lost 12% of sales in value and market share to discount stores and the online channel.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Lidl brings food waste 'rescue bags' to Switzerland
After successful implementation in other countries, Lidl has now introduced its 'rette mich' bags in stores across Switzerland in an attempt to fight food waste. The packs are sold at reduced prices and filled with fruit and vegetables that do not meet the visual specification requirements set by the retailer, but are still perfectly fit for consumption. The so called 'rescue bags' are sold at a unit price of CHF 5.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Jumbo scales back City concept
Jumbo developed the City formula specifically for city locations with high traffic: the shops sell an on-the-go range with more freshly prepared products and meals, in cooperation with restaurant chain La Place. However, as that fresh range is increasingly finding its way into ‘ordinary’ Jumbo supermarkets, the distinction between Jumbo and Jumbo City is blurring. Therefore, the supermarket chain has decided to quietly convert thirteen of the eighteen Jumbo City branches to regular Jumbo supermarkets. There now are only five Jumbo City branches left, Levensmiddelenkrant reports: four in busy locations in the Netherlands (two in Amsterdam, one each in Eindhoven and Nijmegen) and one in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
Source: retaildetail.eu
UK: Tesco is giving away free Christmas vegetables in stores
Tesco is offering free carrots for Rudolph this Christmas to help children feed Santa Claus' reindeer. Shoppers can pick up the magical reindeer's favourite snack for free from December 20 until Christmas Eve.
Source: mirror.co.uk
UK: EatPlanted products to be stocked in butchery section of Morrisons
Eatplanted, operating as Planted in mainland Europe, announced it has secured its first major listing with a national retailer. Three Eatplanted products will roll out on 26th December and will be stocked in the butchery section of Morrisons, the fifth largest supermarket chain in the UK. The products launching into Morrisons under a two for £5 promotion are: eatplanted.chicken Original 160g; eatplanted.kebab Original 160g; eatplanted.pulled BBQ 160g. The products are based on a combination of proteins from peas, sunflowers and oats which, according to Eatplanted, contains all essential amino acids.
Source: vegconomist.com
“Daily” supermarket chain is to open 50 new branches in Georgian regions by the end of 2023
The Georgian supermarket chain Daily, which is represented mainly in Western Georgia, plans to open 50 new branches by the end of 2023 with the support of the Bank of Georgia and the EBRD. Under the partnership agreement signed recently by the Daily with the Bank of Georgia and the EBRD, the total cost of the project is more than 11mlnGEL ($4.1mln), which will be fully used to open new stores, the Bank of Georgia said.
Source: east-fruit.com
Y Combinator-backed Indonesian startup Bakool bags seed funding
Y Combinator-backed Radius rebrands Bakool, an Indonesia-based buying platform for fresh produce, has raised an undisclosed seed round, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Goodwater, Insignia Ventures, Global Brain, former minister of Indonesia Mari Elka Pangestu, and others.
Source: technode.global
UK: Zapp partners with Deliveroo for delivery across central London
Zapp has partnered with fellow rapid grocery delivery service Deliveroo, allowing customers across central London to shop Zapp’s catalogue directly via Deliveroo’s app.
Source: chargedretail.co.uk
UK: Tesco shoppers can get Christmas veg for 19p and 63% off last minute giftsTesco are offering their Clubcard members essential Christmas items for pennies this year with some of the usual vegetables costing less than 20p: broccoli, 19p down from 72p; sprouts, 19p down from 95p; parsnips, 19p down from 62p; potatoes, 19p down from 95p; carrots, 19p down from 45p.
Source: lancs.live