PITTSBURGH, PA - Giant Eagle went on a hiring spree in Pittsburgh, PA, looking to fill 400 spots last weekend at several locations.
Last Saturday, August 27th, the retailer hosted hiring events at five different locations in the region, looking to fill a number of spots in various departments, including specialty positions as needed, according to a report by news source WTAE.
Positions included:
- Grocery and Produce Clerks
- Cashiers
- Meat Cutters
- Cake Decorators
- Pharmacy Techs
Candidates who participated were able to have on-site interviews and possible same-day job offers, with the company offering sign-on bonuses for specialty positions.
This is the second major hiring event Giant Eagle has hosted this summer, having held Ohio events to fill over 300 positions just last June. The company also alluded to further strategic moves last week, when CEO Laura Karet publically discussed a consistent need for reinvention in an increasingly competitive market.
The company stated when looking for new employees that it offers competitive wages, paid time off, and more while looking for members who enjoy performing a variety of tasks in a fast-paced work environment, and are passionate about delivering exceptional customer service.
AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you in touch with all the latest in growth and reinvention on the buy-side and beyond.
TIJUANA, MEXICO - Produce packaging company Embalajes Agricolas Sambramex has upped the access to its services via the launch of its new, user-friendly website earlier this month.
“We are excited about the launch of our new website, which provides customers with detailed information about our products and highlights the value-added services that we have provided to our customers since our inception,” Juana Ramirez, Sales Manager for Sambramex, commented in a press release.
She continued, “The new site also shows how we have expanded our product line over the years in order to proactively provide berry and tomato growers with a full range of clamshell sizes to meet their packaging needs.”
The company noted that the new website, sambramex.com.mx, now enables it to present these packaging solutions and services for customers in an easy-to-navigate, custom WordPress format. Users can quickly find the packaging they need for the specific commodities that they grow.
Sambramex has endeavored to offer innovative packaging solutions to growers throughout Mexico since 2009, providing growers with value-added services including product design, inventory management, mechanical labeling and padding, and regular delivery routes throughout central Mexico.
The launch also coincided with notable Mexico-based show, Aneberries, which took place just days after the website’s debut.
“Aneberries has always been an excellent show for Sambramex because we value the time that we can spend with our customers and other members of the berry industry before the season starts," Juana tells me of the event. "The conference provides important insights for berry growers who come together, not as competitors, but as partners who are working together toward a common goal of increased sales and berry exports. Sambramex is proud to sponsor the conference and support Aneberries each year, because it is our goal to partner with our customers to also help them grow by providing them with integrated packaging solutions and efficient customer service.”
An event that looks to facilitate exports, ensure food safety, as well as encourage, promote, and defend trade and opening new markets for Mexico's fresh berries, Sambramex is one of the original supporters of Aneberries since its inception in 2009.
You can learn more about the company and see the website for yourself by clicking here.
NEW YORK, NY - Ten candidates spanning the U.S. have become the inaugural students to receive the James Beard Foundation’s (JBF) National Scholarships.
“We are proud that our Foundation’s newest scholarship program is committed to awarding $20,000 in financial aid to ten extraordinary scholars each year,” said Kris Moon, Vice President of the James Beard Foundation, according to a press release. “A desire to pursue a career in the culinary arts is no longer limited to cooking in the kitchen. Just as the types of careers available in the culinary arts have evolved, so too is the Foundation’s scholarship program.”
Moon added that the National Scholars Program supports a diverse group of students exploring virtually every educational discipline, including history, anthropology, economics, management, or the sciences—as viewed through the lens of food.
Included in the recipient’s was Davis, CA’s own Holland Dougherty, a student at the University of California, Davis, where she is completing her PhD in agriculture, specializing in animal studies.
The foundation emphasized a focus on diversity, ensuring that every region of the U.S. was considered when naming those who demonstrated potential for leadership roles in culinary arts, food studies, agriculture, hospitality management, and related fields. To see the inspiration behind the program for yourself, watch the video below.
Administered by nonprofit organization Scholarship Management Services division of Scholarship America, the program is part of the larger James Beard Foundation Scholarship Program, which is awarding more than $750,000 in financial aid available in 2016, the largest annual total in the Foundation’s history.
To learn more about the program and see past winners, click here.
Congratulations to all recipients of this notable award.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - As competition in the retail sector continues to mount, Target has been quietly working in the background to cultivate new technological innovations that would put itself ahead of the game. This summer, Target has begun hosting a tech-focused incubator in its Minneapolis headquarters, fostering ten teams of startups in the 8,000-square-foot space. This comes in the same year that the company announced it plans to spend more than $2 billion starting in 2017 on tech and supply-chain improvements.
According to a report from Engadget, Target has been pursuing both the aforementioned incubator it founded in partnership with Techstars, as well as a food innovation-focused "Food + Future coLab” in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab and Ideo. Target has already begun testing a concept from the labs at one of its Boston stores, which allows people to scan fruits and vegetables to identify their nutritional value and to pay for the item based on its freshness.
The teams will go through 14 weeks of both programming and mentorship from executives like Brian Cornell himself, Target’s Chairman and CEO. The company says 50 percent of these startup teams have female Co-Founders and two are international, from Canada and Hong Kong respectively.
Teams participating in Target's accelerator include DIY craft company MakersKit, educational interactive game company MakerBloks, and DIY wedding flower arrangement startup ItsByU.
The company is also currently hiring staffers for a tech project codenamed “Goldfish,” Engadget says, that will be located in Target's Sunnyvale, California, online and mobile data analytics office. The job posting for the project merely reads, "We're a brand new team, intent on changing the way people shop." The source names Amazon and Paypal alum West Stringfellow, also Target’s newly hired VP of Innovation, as Goldfish’s Founder.
"We're looking first and foremost to help these startups," Stringfellow explained to Engadget. "If there's a symbiotic opportunity, great. If not, that's OK, too. We'll be learning from their discipline, focus, excitement and passion, and a second-order effect will be us taking some of that and applying it to our products and teams and practices."
Walmart, who earlier this month bought e-commerce startup Jet.com for $3 million, has more tech startups in its crosshairs as well. The company has a San Francisco Bay Area outpost called WalmartLabs, which focuses on digital products and services like Walmart Pay.
"We've got several new things in the works I can't announce," Walmart's Chief Technology Officer Jeremy King told Engadget. "But let's just say you'll see us make it even more compelling to use your phone in the store."
Bottom line—a wave innovation is on its way. By partnering with startups, these retailers are digging to previously untapped tech ideas, which could potentially change the face of grocery shopping in even the next for years. I, for one, couldn’t be more excited to see what comes next.
BROOKLYN, NY – A shipment of specialty vegetables recently seized in New York had more than just a unique flavor profile to offer consumers, as authorities uncovered almost $4 million worth of heroin and cocaine hidden amongst malangas.
The drug-packed root veggies were no match for the Border Patrol’s K9 officers, as the suspect selection of specialty taros were uncovered during a routine inspection at the Red Hook Terminal.
As the true nature of the shipment was unveiled, authorities exposed 970 packages, or 121 lbs., of heroin with an estimated street value of more than $3.5 million. As an added and nefarious treat to the already suspect shipment, authorities also seized 58 packs of eight lbs. of cocaine, which was estimated to be worth more than $135,000.
“This is a significant seizure,” said Robert Perez, head of New York Field Operations.
Officers stated that this bust was the third biggest the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s New York office has yet seen, according to the New York Daily News. The intercepted haul was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, no arrests have yet been made.
The collection of malangas, and its less than veggie-like travel partners, were shipped from Ecuador with an intended landing target of Miami.
As the criminal underside continues its persistant efforts, which fruits and veggies will secure the next starring role in a produce drug bust? AndNowUKnow will continue to have your breaking news as it unfolds.
PHOENIX, AZ – As the produce item continues to make waves on a national level, consumers now seem to be picking up on the escalating pichuberry trend in several industry segments across the board. As Michael Popescu, CEO at the company Pichuberry®, recently told me, this trending usage of the fruit was recently embodied in the appearance of pichuberries on the Food Network show, Chopped Junior.
“The pichuberry’s feature on Chopped Junior was accomplished organically,” Michael tells me of berry’s national feature, which the company learned about after episode’s airing. “This TV spotlight for pichuberries speaks to the true testament of the taste and nutritional versatility of the pichuberry. That we didn’t have to spearhead or endorse its use as a cooking element for young chefs in order to be recognized.”
Michael says that he’s especially pleased with the pichuberry and its ties to Chopped Junior in regards to one of the foundations his company initially began with; as a kid’s nutrition initiative.
“This kid-centric focus began years ago for us with market research and surveys,” Michael divulges. “Through that research we found that the pichuberry was very well received by kids when comparing to other healthy food alternatives. The fruit’s flavor profile allows for positive engagement in kids’ diets.”
It was that first campaign which drove Michael and the company’s efforts to bring the produce item to market on a mainstream level. Since the company launched and expanded the pichuberry’s availablility to the retail market, Michael says that the company still holds guidelines for the berry which have seen it making unprompted national TV appearances to a wider audience.
“In our minds, a superfood needs to appeal to the market in addition to having nutritional qualities. What’s the point of having a powerful fruit if it cannot be enjoyed in its natural fresh form, as well as having versatility in consumer use,” Michael says.
Pichuberry® is also proud to have engaged with the USDA Fresh Fruits & Vegetable Program (FFVP), placing the nutritional powerhouse qualities of the fruit even further into the easily accessed hands of young eaters by providing it to various public school districts across the nation.
“We want to continue to establish organic relationships to further extend the impact of our kid-focused campaigns. Kids respond to the pichuberry name, fruit, and flavor profile,” Michael adds. “It should be in every kids’ lunchbox for its taste, versatility, and health benefits.”
Those health benefits include the following (for 3.5 oz. sample size):
- 39 percent of Vitamin D
- 37 percent of Vitamin A
- 18 percent Vitamin C
- 1.7 grams of protein
- Low glycemic index of 25
- Rich in antioxidants and phytonutrients that have been shown to suppress carcinogens
This fruit provides similar levels of vitamin D as mushrooms, and serves as a wonderful substitute for kids’ lunchboxes.
Michael says that retailers can tap in on the fast-growing recognition of the versatile and healthy berry, by promoting its health benefits to consumers. Pichuberry® is also offering a 3 oz. lunch box fruit cup to retailers, allowing its partners to easily market to kids and parents alike.
So what’s up next for the berry-minded company?
Expanding the pichuberry even further into the market, and opening up additional manufacturing possibilities. Whether that’s through Pichuberry®’s current plans to extend into the beverage industry through a frozen puree, or add to its retail applications with the dried fruit, Michael says that company’s ultimate goal is making the berry accessible to everyone, including other manufacturers that are looking for new ways to innovate.
As the company continues to grow, and the pichuberry makes more guest appearance for its sweet and tangy taste, AndNowUKnow will have the latest in celebrity-level debuts.
SANTA PAULA, CA – As the company continues to take strides towards the release of its 2016 Q3 results on September 8, Limoneira Company has released an uplifting update on its recent avocado harvest.
Limoneira stated in a press release that for the fiscal year ending on October 31, 2016, the company sold around 11.0 million pounds of avocados at $0.95 per pound. This number has exceeded the upper end of Limoneira’s previous fiscal guidance range for 2016.
Additionally, Limoneira expects to continue to sell between 2.7 million and 3.0 million cartons of fresh lemons throughout the fiscal year, at an average price of around $23 per carton.
As the 2016 fiscal year proceeds, the company expects the following details to be reflected in its upcoming financials:
- GAAP operating income: approximately $8.6 million to around $9.1 million, including around $3.4 million gain on sale of stock in Calavo Growers, Inc.
- EBITDA: range of $18.9 million to $19.4 million
- Earnings per diluted share: range of $0.45 to $0.50
The company also indicated that the fiscal year’s EBITDA and earnings per diluted share are expected to be in the range of $16.7 million to $17.2 million, and $0.33 to $0.38, respectively. These projections exclude $1.2 million of transaction costs obtained in connection with the Limoneira/Lewis joint venture, and the gain on sale of Calavo Growers Inc. stock.
As Limoneira moves ever-closer to its 2016 Q3 financials, and end of year reportings, AndNowUKnow will continue to report on the latest in company and industry avocado sales and trends.
CINCINNATI, OH - Kroger continues to eye growth in more than just size and capacity, now having made a move to garner more consumer loyalty as well.
The retailer has announced that it is cutting prices on upwards of a thousand popular items, spanning 120 stores, according to a Business Insider report.
This is the latest in a strategic move for a bigger footprint in the market for Kroger, which now spans its reach across 35 states and employs about 431,000 employees.
The company is also in the midst of an enormous hiring spree, with a set goal to hire 14,000 people to boost customer service at its 2,800 stores before the year is out. Now, it seems, another piece it is putting into place for upping that service is lower prices.
With the large moves it has made in the areas of large size and lower prices, some analysts are comparing Kroger’s increasing competitive worth against retail giant Walmart, famous for its low price offerings.
"Kroger has been able to come close enough to Walmart’s pricing structure to remain competitive, outperforming any of its industry peers," wrote David Merrefield, Principal of retail consulting group DRM Initiatives, Inc.
While a detailed list has not yet been unveiled of what popular items will receive a price break, including what may fall in the realm of fresh produce, Kroger has also boosted its focus on organic foods in its offerings.
AndNowUKnow will continue to report as the chain, and others in the retail circuit, look to broaden their reach and make grocery more accessible to consumers.
ZAANDAM, THE NETHERLANDS - With the Ahold Delhaize merger finally solidified, the newly combined company has hit the ground running. In the freshly released Q2 2016 financial report, Ahold and Delhaize, which will begin reporting joint financial statements in Q3, both reported better than expected earnings results, giving a small boost to stop pricing.
"We have started our new chapter as Ahold Delhaize with good momentum, with these two strong sets of pre-merger results,” explained Dick Boer, CEO of Ahold Delhaize. “Building on our solid financial foundation, common values, and great local brands, we are driving ahead with full energy to deliver even more for customers and communities, associates, and shareholders. We look forward to continuing to shape Ahold Delhaize, with a strong commitment to delivering great food, value, and innovations for customers across our 11 markets, both in stores and online.”
For the quarter, Ahold reported an 8 percent increase in operating profit in the second quarter, rising to around $400.35 million (€355 million). Reuters analysts had projected Ahold’s income at $380.06 (€337 million). Operating profits at Delhaize also rose, jumping 12.1 percent to reach around $278.55 (€247 million) on a constant currency basis.
These growing profit rates were due in part to a better than expected performance in the U.S., which has been dealing with the ramifications of deflation for several quarters. According to the Financial Times, the U.S. accounts for two-thirds of the company’s total sales, and saw even further rising volumes in Q2. Sales for Ahold’s U.S. business rose 1.2 percent.
Globally, sales at Ahold increased 3.6 percent, while sales at Delhaize rose 4.3 percent. Share prices for AD, the combined company, were up less than one percent to reach $24.50 (€21.72), according to the company’s website.
As we previously reported, 86 U.S. locations will be divested as part of the approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. Proceeds from these divestments are estimated to be $174 million, resulting in no significant divestment gain or loss. According to a press release, these 86 stores represented $1.4 billion of net sales and $88 million of underlying operating income in 2015.
DALLAS, TX – Prepping for a series of avocado-centric events and holidays to push the avocado even further towards the center of consumer’s dishes, Avocados from Mexico (AFM) is geared up to launch three promotional campaigns this fall.
“We are thrilled to offer consumers our biggest promotion to-date as they get ready to celebrate football season, Hispanic Heritage Month, National Guac Day and more,” said Alvaro Luque, President of Avocados From Mexico. “As an industry leader, AFM always aims to create new reasons to come together and build on traditions for the future.”
The three campaigns will run during the months of September and October, according to a recent press release. AFM is planning to engage consumer’s love for avocados with in-store displays, customer incentives, and partnerships with other brands.
AFM’s first campaign, “For the Love of Guac,” will run during the month of September to add the creaminess of the avocado to holidays such as Hispanic Hertiage Month, Labor Day, and National Guacamole Day (Sept. 16). The promotion will also feature a Buy One Get One (BOGO) avocado deal, and partnership with Tobasco®.
The company stated that its “Guactember” month of promotional activity for “For the Love of Guac” will consist of the following campaign details:
- Distribution of over 2 million BOGO coupons via Catalina in-store coupons, Coupons.com, full-page FSI ad in the Sept. 18 SmartSource Sunday Newspaper
- Printable BOGO coupons from LoveOfGuac.com
- In-store radio advertising
- Guac Center pallet bins to showcase all guacamole ingredients
- Consumer participation in creating a Pinterest guacamole board
“September is full of occasions perfect for avocado consumption and by offering our retailers a convenient and hassle-free way to run a Guac Month promotion, we can keep avocados top of mind during these key consumption windows,” said Maggie Bezart-Hall, Vice President of Trade Marketing at AFM.
The company will further honor the avocado-filled month of September by adding some spice to the guacamole celebration with its partnership with Tabasco® and “Fiestas Patrias” campaign to honor the Hispanic community.
This spicy campaign will run from September into early October with the following merchandising opportunities to further elevate planned purchases surrounding family events:
- $1-off coupon when purchasing one Tabasco® sauce and two Avocados from Mexico
- In-store merchandising
- POS materials
- Chance to win prizes when consumers tweet an image celebrating Hispanic heritage
- Free special recipe at avocadosfrommexico.com/miherencia when sharing virtual Tabasco® bottle
- In-store radio
- Retail specific programming
From there, retailers can easily jump into the next promotional campaign, “Tastiest Tailgate,” which utilizes some of the same mediums as the other promotions. Running from October 1 through October 31, the campaign partners AFM with RO*TEL® to promote the Rockin’ Guac recipe, and target consumers who want easy and fresh options during football season. The promotion will consist of the following:
- Free can of RO*TEL® with purchase of three Avocados from Mexico
- Innovative merchandising
- In-store radio
- Retail specific programming
AFM will also host a consumer sweepstakes for “Tastiest Tailgate” which will include AFM visitng various college football tailgate events with a branded vehicle and plent of samples.
As the fall holidays approach, and consumers declare their love for fresh veggies to round out their celebratory offerings, AndNowUKnow will have the latest in innovative offerings.