Meet the Founder: Inside Mercato’s goal to make healthy food and local business accessible to everyone
Bobby Brannigan’s original goal for his company Mercato was straightforward: build a tech platform to help mom-and-pop grocers like his own family get online and compete with the Walmarts and Fresh Directs of the grocery delivery world. Several years and one pandemic later, and Mercato’s vision has expanded considerably. Independent grocers across 48 states in the US use the company’s delivery logistics platform, and CEO Brannigan says the company is now profitable.
Source: agfundernews.com
US: Shoreline Equity Partners announces the sale of Mr. Greens to Sterling Investment Partners
Shoreline Equity Partners (“Shoreline"), a purpose-driven, lower middle market private equity firm based in Jacksonville, Florida, has completed the sale of its portfolio company, Florida Veg Investments, LLC (“Mr. Greens” or the “Company”), to Sterling Investment Partners (“Sterling”).
Source: businesswire.com
SPAR enters Latin America, opening in Paraguay
SPAR has announced the brand’s entry into Latin American with the opening of its first store in Paraguay, operated by the Amiria Group, who was granted a license to operate the brand in this market. The locally owned and operated business runs stores under the Los Jardines and Food Production Centre Innal brands. The first SPAR Supermarket opened on 5 May 2023 in the city of Luque, with a festive ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the occasion. Within this SPAR Supermarket, customers can find a great selection of products, including a strong focus on fresh produce with the fruit and vegetable section visible from the entrance.
Source: spar-international.com
US: Natural Grocers® announces the closure of two Dallas-Fort Worth area stores
Natural Grocers® announces plans to close two stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on June 27, 2023. The two North Texas stores, Fort Worth-North, located at 5230 North Tarrant Parkway and Coppell, located at 120 S. Denton Tap Road, Suite 300, will begin store-wide closing sales on May 15, 2023, with discounts of 25% off everything in the stores. All sales will be final.
Source: prnewswire.com
Oman: New e-platform delivers 1kg to 1 tonne veggies, fruits to doorstep
To support Omani farmers and provide fruits and vegetables at competitive prices to costumers at their doorsteps, a local e-commerce platform - wholesale-souq.com - is changing how retail as well as wholesale consumers buy perishable goods. Speaking to Muscat Daily, its founder Majid Sultan al Abri said: “The platform was set up in September 2022 and deals in wholesale and retail trading of vegetables and fruits”.
Source: muscatdaily.com
Dino Polska sees Q1 LFL sales up by more than a quarter
Dino Polska has reported like-for-like sales growth of 27.2% in the first quarter of its financial year. The Polish retailer attributed this growth to its product offering and presence in convenient locations. Revenue for the period amounted to PLN5.54bln (€1.21bln), up 43.8% from PLN3.85bln (€840mln) in the first quarter of 2022.
Source: esmmagazine.com
Top 5 supermarket retail chains in Denmark
Here's an overview of the top five supermarket retail chains in Denmark, according to their most recently-available full-year turnover. All data is supplied by Retail-Index (www.retail-index.com) 1. Salling Group turnover: €8.94bln (2022); 2. Coop turnover: €3.76bln (2021); 3. Reitangruppen turnover: €3.4bln (2021); 4. Dagrofa turnover: €2.4bln (2021); 5. Lidl turnover: €530mln (2021).
Source: esmmagazine.com
Pricepally opens a world class grocery fulfilment centre in Nigeria, set to serve over 2,000 customers per day
Fast-growing Nigerian online grocery shopping startup Pricepally moves to a new world-class modular facility center in Lagos to optimize the shopping experience for Nigerians. The new facility center in Lagos is equipped with a modern cold chain system, ensuring that all fresh products are stored and transported at the optimal temperature to maintain their quality and freshness.
Source: techcabal.com
Ugly no more: EU revising fruit and standards to cut waste
They are too small, have an unusual shape or the skin has a colour defect. Many people are conditioned to think that fruit and vegetables that do not meet the high aesthetic values are less desirable, or that they even taste inferior. How many people know that these standards have actually been set and included in legislation approved by the European Union?
Source: brusselstimes.com
Spain: Eroski reports lower net profit for 2022, sales rise
Cooperative Eroski achieved a net profit of €63.9mln in 2022 (-39% year-on-year) and an operating profit of €204.0mln (+10%), the company said in a statement. Gross sales for the year increased over 7% to €5.5bln, boosted by higher pricing due to inflation (12%).
Source: esmmagazine.com
UAE: Now, delivery app can find recipes, pick ingredients from online shop in an instant
Starting Monday, select customers of delivery app Talabat will be able to use AI to make shopping easier. Using generative artificial intelligence (AI), subscribers of app’s pro version will be able to use the new shopping assistant to search for recipes and identify available ingredients at the time of grocery shopping. The ChatGPT-powered AI grocery shopping assistant makes Talabat the first everyday delivery app to introduce it in the MENA region.
Source: khaleejtimes.com
Italy: Coop Alleanza 3.0 aims for profitability with €760mln investment
Consumer cooperative Coop Alleanza 3.0 plans to invest €760mln over the next five years in order to achieve continued growth. The initiative is expected to boost its revenues from €5.6bln in 2022 to €6.3bln in 2027. It hopes to break even in 2024, and turn a €70mln profit by the end of the period.
Source: esmmagazine.com
UK: Heck cuts range in latest blow to vegan sales
Yorkshire sausage-maker Heck has cut its range of vegan products in a move that underlines a fall in consumer enthusiasm in the sector. Heck’s decision to cut its vegan range from 10 products to just two - chipolatas and burgers - comes a few months after sales of vegan products fell £37mln in the year to September 2022, according to NIQ (Nielsen IQ) figures.
Source: talkingretail.com
Holland: Distribution center strikes cost Albert Heijn some €45mln
Strikes at five Albert Heijn distribution centers cost the supermarket chain about 34 to 45mln euros in turnover, data agency Hiiper calculated for broadcaster NOS.
Source: nltimes.nl