LOS ANGELES, CA - Coming out of its third quarter for fiscal year 2016, Unified Grocers reported just under the bar in sales, but an overall positive outlook after phasing out Haggen Pacific Southwest.
“I’m pleased about our performance to date in 2016,” Bob Ling, President and Chief Executive Officer of Unified Grocers, commented in the financial report. “The goal for this year was to get on track as we wound down the Haggen Pacific Southwest business, and the year-to-date results show we’re doing that. With borrowing availability under our revolving loan agreement of $127 million we have the liquidity we need to execute the strategies we have in place to further improve our operations and grow sales.”
Details from the quarter included:
- Gross billings for the 39 weeks ended July 2, 2016 of $2.914 billion, compared to $2.996 billion for the same period last year.
- Operating income of $5.2 million for the 2016 period compared to $2.1 million in the same period last year.
- Gross billings for the 13 weeks ended July 2, 2016 (the “2016 quarter”) of $974 million compared to $1.070 billion for the same period last year.
“We are particularly pleased that we were able to maintain a similar operating income performance to last year’s third quarter in light of the loss of sales from the Haggen Pacific Southwest business,” Ling continued. The retailer attributed the majority of its decline in sales to the loss of business from Haggen’s Pacific Southwest division, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September of 2015.
Now, Unified looks to focus on expense control and warehouse efficiencies, remaining positive that it will phase out those losses.
“Looking at the bigger picture, there are many success stories around the organization,” Ling added. “Our Market Centre division continues to find new ways to help our members differentiate themselves in the fast-growing specialty and natural business. We have also successfully transitioned our Southern California dairy business through a preferred supplier arrangement with Dean Foods, and our Members now have access to a wider range of general merchandise and health, beauty, and wellness products through our membership in Topco.”
As for what’s to come, Ling expressed excitement for all the new products the company will be showcasing to customers and members at its annual Expo, which kicked off today, August 17th.
“Unified’s annual Expo is the largest, best-attended grocery trade show in the western U.S. and I’m confident that this year’s event will be valuable for all participants,” the President and CEO concluded.
The Expo takes place in Long Beach, CA, at the Long Beach Convention Center until 5:00 p.m. today, and resumes for one more day tomorrow, from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
CINCINNATTI, OH - Networking, golf, and a cause worth fighting for will join together once again at the Tip Murphy Legacy Golf Tournament. Coming up Monday August 29, 2016, the United Fresh Start Foundation will host the event at Cincinnati’s beautiful Oasis Golf Club, to honor Tip’s service to the produce industry as well as support the United Fresh Start Foundation's Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools initiative. The deadline to register is tomorrow, August 18.
"I’m looking forward to attending this year’s Tip Murphy Legacy Golf Tournament, supporting the United Fresh Start Foundation, and bringing salad bars to more schools," Greg Corrigan, Senior Director of Produce and Floral for Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, shares. "I have seen the impact of this beneficial program in schools in the California communities we serve. When children choose their fruits and veggies from the salad bars, it encourages trial of new produce and reinforces the nutrition messages. At Raley’s, we have seen that when you increase children’s access to fresh produce, they are more likely to make better choices long-term."
By supporting this event, industry members can help make fresh produce the “want to” choice for kids nationwide, increasing their access to fresh produce at school. Over the past two years, the Tip Murphy Legacy Golf Tournament has supported salad bars for 10 schools, with this year's event slated to add to that total.
"We appreciate the opportunity to once again work with the Tip Murphy Advisory Committee to host this event. This great summertime event always helps us place a few additional salad bars, right before 'back to school' season, as well as supports the Foundation's other programs and activities," according to Andrew Marshall, United Fresh Produce Association’s Director of Foundation Programs and Partnerships. "The United Fresh Start Foundation and Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools partners will have placed salad bars in 4,800 schools by the start of the 2016-17 school year, benefitting 3 million children nationwide."
With that fantastic accomplishment in mind, we ask, have you registered yet? Registration for the 2016 Tip Murphy Legacy Golf Tournament is still open until tomorrow, August 18. Registration includes your tournament fee, lunch, 18 holes with cart, awards reception with raffle and auction prizes, and contest holes including closest-to-the-pin and longest drive. Attendees can register as an individual or foursome.
You can register here, or you can contact Andrew Marshall for more details, (202) 303-3407.
GRANITE BAY, CA – There’s a new Joe in town. More specifically, the Joe Family of Companies is welcoming Joe Food Safety to its repertoire of recruiting and job marketing divisions. Utilizing the same expertise which helped Joe Produce become a go-to for produce recruiting, the organization is now expanding its offer to food safety companies.
“Customer service, focus, deep understanding, and making the experience easy is our formula with Joe Produce, and we are now extending those same elements to food safety,” stated Rex Lawrence, Founder and President of Joe Produce, according to a press release.
Joe Food Safety will provide companies with crafted food safety job descriptions along with listings on websites, newsletters, social media, and other outlets. To kick off the Grand Opening of this new division, Joe Food Safety is currently marketing jobs for free.
“We are hyper-focused on food safety, with ‘an inch wide and a mile deep’ mentality. If companies have any jobs in food safety or quality, all we need is their job description and logo, and we will take care of the rest. And it’s free right now!” expressed Lawrence.
Contact the Joe Food Safety team for a free ad by emailing [email protected], or calling (855)JOE-4JOBS.
Later in the year, Joe Food Safety will offer its marketing services at a reasonable price for a full campaign. At $349, employers will receive the complete “Joe Pro” package for 90 days. Resumes received through Joe Food Safety are directly sent to the employer.
Joe Food Safety already hosts a notable selection of industry names such as Dole, SCS Global, Grimmway Farms, Sanitation Specialists, Blue Ribbon Frozen Foods, Taylor Farms, Robinson Fresh, and more.
DINWIDDIE COUNTY, VA - Aldi has announced plans to build a divisional headquarters and a 500,000-square-foot distribution center in Virginia’s Richmond-area Dinwiddie County. The project will reportedly cost around $57 million and employ 400.
“The access to qualified and capable employees and transportation options first attracted us to this location, but it was the integrity and positive attitude of the Dinwiddie County leaders that truly won us over,” shared Aldi CEO, Jason Hart, in a statement.
Aldi is not the first retailer who has set its eyes on the Richmond, Virgina area. Lidl, also based in Germany, announced last year that it will put its American headquarters in Arlington County and open a distribution center in Spotsylvania County. Retailers Amazon.com, Supervalu, Walmart, and Food Lion all currently have distribution centers nearby, with Harris Teeter announcing plans to build one soon.
As reported by the Richmond-Times Dispatch, Aldi currently has 32 stores in Virginia, with plans to open up to 60 more in the next five years.
Construction is expected to begin in 2017 on the first phase of the center that is expected to employ 400 people, with Tammie J. Collins, Dinwiddie's Deputy County Administrator for Planning and Community Development commenting that Aldi has plans to open before that year is out.
How else will Virginia’s thriving retail distribution hub develop in the coming months? AndNowUKnow will keep bringing you all the latest updates.
DAVIS, CA - Despite the fact that I still feel a measure of guilt any time I want to use water, and driving down roads I can still expect to see “we are in a drought” signs flashing concerns for conservation, El Niño looks to have done us a solid.
Latest reports are showing significant reprieves thanks to the rains California received this year, cutting losses greatly in comparison to 2015.
"This year we still have a drought but it's not nearly as bad as 2014 or 2015 for agriculture," said Jay Lund, Director of UC Davis’ Center for Watershed Sciences and an author of the latest drought analysis, according to CNBC.
Though we are still definitely in a drought for the fifth year running, the numbers back-to-back show marked improvement:
- About 78,800 acres of farmland projected to be idled this year, compared with an estimated 540,000 acres of fallowed land in 2015.
- Water shortages in 2016 projected to cost the ag industry a total of $550 million in direct costs, according to UC Davis researchers, compared to an estimated $1.8 billion in direct costs in 2015.
- Total impact of losses, including from businesses supporting farming and the loss of household this year are forecast to top $600 million and 4,700 jobs statewide, compared to last year’s roughly $2.7 billion and 21,000 jobs lost statewide.
- Recent numbers show 59 percent of California in a drought (as of Thursday, August 11) as opposed to 88 percent last year at this time.
Costs for water, too, should see some improvement, according to Lund. "Water costs are coming down from the highs farmers paid a year ago," he commented. The report noted that pre-drought, farmers paid about $120 per acre-foot of water, but during the dryspell the cost has been as high as 1,000 per acre-foot or more.
The analysis stated that almost all fallowed land due to drought this year is projected to be on the west side of the San Joaquin Basin, "which relies heavily on water imports."
While this is all an improvement, especially coming to the end of the West Coast’s summer season, Lund’s report comes with a word of caution.
"The state isn't out of the woods as a lack of rain in 2017 could put California back in bad shape," he said, according to the report.
With 59 percent of California still in a drought, AndNowUKnow won’t be hanging our rain-dancing shoes just yet.
ROSEMONT, IL - “We are hoping to support our customers while meeting the demands of the changing demographics. People don’t change their values from when they eat at home to when they eat out, so it really is about bringing foodservice to the forefront of current trends,” Stacie Sopinka, Vice President of Product Development and Innovation at US Foods, tells me as we discuss the launch of Serve Good.
In an effort to help independent restaurateurs meet this changing consumer demand, the Serve Good line of products offers 21 responsibly sourced items – including produce – that also contribute to waste reduction the benefits of versatility and time and labor savings in the kitchen. According to US Foods more consumers are seeking food that is sustainably produced and sourced. In addition, less than 1/3 of consumers feel that restaurants offer enough clean, sustainable menu options.
Enter the new Serve Good line. This line offers a range of items from produce pickings like Cross Valley Farms® Chopped Broccoli Leaves, one of the latest superfood discoveries, to the company’s Cross Valley Farms® Organic Spring Mix. Broccoli leaves capture more goodness from one plant, minimizes water usage and yields an additional 2,640 pounds of product harvested per acre. The organic spring mix is more cost-efficient, offers superior quality, taste, and year-round availability with the additional perk that the packaging facility for this product is required to clean this spring mix with an organic solution.
Other items include Chef’s Line® All Natural Turkey Breast Roast, Harbor Banks® Barramundi, and Monarch® Eggless Spread, just to name a few.
Amanda Schmid, Sr. Product Developer tells me that the two big trends around food-sourcing, specifically in produce, are waste-reduction and waste-management. Amanda has been with US Foods for about four years, mainly working in the grocery category. Prior to that she worked for the CPG company Sarah Lee on a commercialization team working to nationally launch some of the company’s branded items.
“More and more, consumers want to know that their food is responsibly sourced and they also want to know its impact on the environment,” Amanda says. “The broccoli leaf, which used to be a throwaway part of that piece of produce, is now utilized not only for its flavor, but for its impact on waste reduction. As these new demands from the consumer continue to grow, we also launched our organic spring mix and have seen a lot of success across our customer base. Organic demand is also growing exponentially and is something that consumers are looking for when they are shopping for product. This goes hand-in-hand with the whole clean ingredient movement and trend and we want to stay ahead of the constantly evolving consumer buying behaviors.”
When I ask what it took to bringing bring the Serve Good line from vision to market, Stacie tells me, “We knew that there was an opportunity in sustainable food and sourcing with the evolving consumer food trends. We were waiting for the right point in time for us to enter with sustainable products. That happened when we had built up our innovation pipeline and had the right supplier relationships that would enable us to launch nationally. It also came down to reading the market and ensuring the market was ready.”
Stacie and Amanda both add that sustainable items are not as prevalent in restaurant foodservice yet, relative to retail, so foodservice customers need to realize the importance of sustainability to the consumer. The conversation around sustainability in college and university healthcare has been ongoing for quite some time, Stacie notes, and US Foods’ customers had been repeatedly asking for assistance in finding products, especially on a national scale, since so much was only available regionally.
“It was difficult for a large national customer to find these products,” Stacie says. “It was really the intersection of those two areas that moved this launch forward and the fact that we felt the time was right.”
While the foodservice menu is changing and consumers become more and more aware of the importance behind food sourcing, US Foods looks at this trend as an opportunity. While the line is a form of innovation, it also offers that differentiation and that authentic story that consumers crave.
WAPAKONETA, OH – Expanding on its commitment to the Ohio community, Red Sun Farms’ has recently joined the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s “Ohio Proud” program. This program was developed to promote Ohio-made and grown goods throughout the state.
“We are thrilled to be the latest organization joining the Ohio Proud family. More and more of our retail and food service partners are stressing the importance of locally grown produce. At each of our locations, we take great pride in immersing ourselves in the local community to provide the best local produce. Joining Ohio Proud was a natural step in integrating Red Sun Farms into the Ohio community and spirit,” said Harold Paivarinta, Director of Sales and Business Development for Red Sun Farms, according to a press release.
Red Sun Farms broke ground on its newest greenhouse and distribution center back in June and construction is on schedule in Wapakoneta. The company expects to start the hiring process this fall, with an anticipated 400 positions to fill, and plant its first crop in early 2017. In the future, the operation may span over 200 acres within the next 7-10 years.
Lori Panda of Ohio Proud is excited to have Red Sun Farms building a facility right in the center of the state, saying, “Ohio Proud is excited to welcome one of our newest partners, Red Sun Farms, to the program. Our mission is to promote food and agricultural product that is at least 50 percent grown, raised or processed in Ohio. Red Sun Farm’s newest greenhouse is an Ohio-based farm operation that will provide retailers in the Buckeye state fresh produce year round. Their operation will be a great asset to the agriculture industry, and we are certainly looking forward to seeing Red Sun Farms product in grocery stores with the Ohio Proud logo.”
AndNowUKnow will continue providing the latest in growth and expansion news throughout the fresh produce industry.
FALMOUTH, ME - Everyone’s favorite mini tree-shaped veggie made an appearance outside the cushy home of a supermarket shelf. A noontime truck spill on a Portland, Maine-area interstate gave way to a cascade of hundreds of pounds of broccoli last week.
Causing a several hour traffic back-up at exit 11 on I-295 to close, Lt. Erik Baker on the scene said the accident was likely caused by the driver taking too sharp and fast of a turn on the off-ramp, causing the weight of the truck to shift and tip.
Thankfully for broccoli lovers everywhere, efforts were made to salvage the crop, with workers forming an assembly from the crash to a new truck, reports local news source WCSH6. Police estimated a four hour clean up time to make sure the interstate was veggie-free, with the real time cleanup wrapping up just little before 4 PM local time.
Baker shared with reporters that the driver, Victor Brendana Jarquin, was transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland with only minor injuries—mainly superficial cuts.
Looking back, this may be the summer of produce truck drama, it seems. In just a little over the past month, ANUK has reported on two banana truck fires, a stolen truck containing 2.66 tons of tomatoes, and another truck fire involving tomatoes.
Will the produce drama continue to ensue across our unaware interstates? AndNowUKnow will continue driving you to the latest.
SHANGHAI, CHINA - One of the leading countries in manufacturing is anticipating a rapid rise in robot demand in the next couple of years.
A slimming workforce is boosting the need for automation, according to a Wall Street Journal report, with projections hitting a want for as many as 150,000 robots by 2018.
“China is saying, ‘we have to roboticize our industry in order to keep it,’” Stefan Lampa, Chairman of the Robotics Division of Kuka AG, a German automation firm and a supplier to Shanghai-based Suzhou Victory, told WSJ.
WSJ notes that it isn’t only the number of robots China wants that is shifting, but the style as well. As we in the fresh produce industry are acutely aware, the demand for automation with precision and flexibility is growing, and China is much the same.
Contributing factors to the rising wave include a slimming workforce and a rise in hourly wages.
Suzhou Victory Precision Manufacture Co.’s Chairman, Yugen Gao, told the news source that a slimming workforce is a byproduct of the country’s one-child policy, began to formally phase out in 2015 after more than 35 years in place.
Additionally, China’s labor costs per hour, including benefits, has more than doubled percentage-wise in the last 15 years, according to WSJ.
Now, as of 2013, International Federation of Robotics reports that China’s is one of the world’s largest markets for industrial robots as automation costs become less of a concern. Last year, the country’s manufacturers bought almost a quarter of the global sales of robots at 67,000.
“We have to consider investing in robots so that the company can survive longer,” Gao said to WSJ, which noted that his company signed on with Kuka for 160 jointed-arm robots this year.
As you may have read in our sister publication, The Snack Magazine, Kuka’s North American arm is designed to be light, fast, and powerful, already being incorporated into the automation side of fresh produce.
Now it looks like that reach has more room to extend as manufacturing markets continue to seek efficient technologies. AndNowUKnow will continue to report on this and other high-tech developments that could have a hand–mechanized or otherwise–in the future of our industry.
CARPINTERIA, CA - Being heartless might not be a marketable quality in humans, but when it comes to romaine, Hollandia Produce would be glad to tell you the many benefits.
Hollandia Produce launched its Heartless Living Baby Romaine lettuce in June. The new variety- born of a desire for dark, nutrient dense greens in romaine- received accolades via its nomination for the Best New Vegetable Product at United Fresh. When we checked in to see how the program is going, the company reports that consumers are loving the romaines freshness and flavor.
“Live Gourmet Heartless Living Baby Romaine is my favorite product in our line-up. It’s crisp but tender leaves are so sweet, and since the plant is young I can put some turkey in the leaf and roll it up for a quick protein snack,” said Brian Cook, Vice President of Sales at Hollandia.
The product is sized to accommodate one entree salad or two side salads. The supple leaves also work well for lettuce wraps. Each bite packs a crisp crunch along with higher values of vitamins A, C, K and even some protein, the company reports.
The product is an improved version of a family favorite. According to Hollandia, the advantages of the living lettuce product line are that keeping roots intact boasts longer shelf life, increased freshness, less waste, crunchier texture, richer color, and a sweeter flavor.
The Heartless Living Baby Romaine is grown year-round in greenhouses from Oxnard, CA, and available in single count and two packs in micro-perforated flow bags, designed to minimize waste. As with all Hollandia products, the Live Gourmet Heartless Living Baby Romaine is non-GMO verified.
For increased sales, Hollandia advises retailers to merchandise all living products together in the store, since consumers will shop the category for its taste, freshness, and long shelf life. If needed, the product can be placed in with the wet veg when a pusher system is in place, or with other ready to eat salads.