SANTA CLARA, CA - RedLine Solutions, provider of whole chain traceability solutions for growers, packers, and shippers, has welcomed Adrian Down as its new Marketing Director.
Down worked most recently as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, as well as General Manager, for VIPColor Technologies USA Inc. He has both worked and lived in multiple countries, including the USA, Germany and the UK, and recently received an MBA in Marketing from the Keller School of Management, bringing a versatile range of experience and knowledge in barcode and product labeling systems.
“RedLine Solutions’ continued growth and leadership position as a supplier of powerful software solutions for the fresh produce market, is based on team members who share our culture of business ethics, innovation and service,” Todd Baggett, CEO of RedLine Solutions, said in a press release. “We are excited to have someone of Adrian’s caliber leading our marketing efforts. We are confident that Adrian will play a key role in elevating awareness of RedLine Solutions to Grower Shippers and the value our systems and services can provide their organizations.”
RedLine Solutions has integrated both barcode and wireless technologies to help increase productivity in the field, packing shed, and coolers for more than ten years.
DELANO, CA - Sunlight International is promoting its highly successful Harvest Hobgoblin program for the popular fall season.
Harvest Hobgoblin for Halloween will offer red, green, and black seedless table grapes in Sunlight’s grab-and-go colander-style bags. Featuring graphics playing off the Halloween theme, the bags offer an eye-catching, colorful display to entice consumers.
Speaking on the current season, George Galloway, Sales for Sunlight International, tells me that grapes of all colors are looking top-notch with high brix, good sizing, and great flavor.
“We are excited to be promoting our Halloween program this year,” said Galloway. “Over the course of the season, we have been able to maintain the consistency and flavor consumers are looking for when they turn to Sunlight. Quality and volume have been strong, and production is keeping pace with demand.”
Sunlight has been continuing to grow in the Central California area, with supplies currently being harvested in Delano and Maricopa.
Harvest Hobgoblin offers POS materials on request, such as display cards, posters, and display bins.
Harvest Hobgoblin for Halloween will be getting underway this September in time for Halloween promotions. The programs will last through October.
KINGSVILLE, ON - Red Sun Farms is boosting its consumer engagement efforts with a new campaign aimed at rewarding loyal retail partners and followers.
From now through January 3, 2016, loyal Red Sun Farms customers are invited to “Like” the company’s Facebook page and enter for a chance to win a $100 grocery gift card, according to Red Sun Farms. Each week, one lucky consumer will be selected to win a $100 grocery gift card.
"We felt that hosting a weekly Grocery Gift Card Giveaway was a great way to reward our loyal retail partners and their customers," Sabrina Pokomandy, Marketing & Public Relations Manager, tells me. "Engagement on our social media channels has been wonderful, consumers love to interact with us by sharing their recipes, participating in our Twitter parties, and overall they take a keen interest in interacting with the team at Red Sun Farms. The Giveaway provides us with the opportunity to further interact with them and encourage the purchase of fresh and healthy produce."
After following Red Sun Farms’ Facebook page, the entry form, found below, asks consumers to fill out their name, email, where they buy groceries, as well as which Red Sun Farms products they purchase, to enter the sweepstakes.
The sweepstakes entry period begins every Monday at 12:00 am and ends every Sunday at 11:59 pm. Winners will be notified per email, and consumers are limited to one entry per person per week.
The official rules can be found by clicking here.
Good luck to all who enter!
UNITED KINGDOM - Could the stoops of London soon be decorated with the bright green bags of AmazonFresh?
The chain has taken over a warehouse located in Weybridge, Surrey, according to The Guardian, that was previously leased by Tesco and could potentially serve as a Fresh facility. While this will mark Amazon’s 15th site in the UK, it would be the first for its grocery delivery service.
The location has definitely been leased by Amazon and could serve as its first Fresh location to that market, but the company itself declined to confirm that this is, in fact, the plan. When asked to comment, according to the report, the chain referred to these particular details as “rumor and speculation.”
The online retailer just launched its Prime Now, which promises one hour delivery for over 20,000 items, in London at the end of June, showing a key focus on the international market.
As we previously reported, Britain is already seeing a shift on the grocery retail circuit as chains that promote lower prices like Aldi and Lidl continue to grow in popularity. This launch, The Guardian reported, could apply more pressure to the already fragmented market.
“Amazon Fresh has the potential to revolutionise grocery shopping in Britain,” Graham Ruddick, Senior Business Reporter for The Guardian, writes. “In California, shoppers use it to buy food from local shops and restaurants, while a wireless device called Amazon Dash monitors when users run out of household essentials and orders replacements.”
While the warehouse facility itself is 300,000 square feet, a size similar to its other AmazonFresh facilities, all that the chain confirmed was that it will employ 20 people directly at the site in Brooklands business park, as well as four independent delivery companies that will hire 140 drivers to work from the station.
AndNowUKnow will keep you up to date on this story as it develops.
WHITE PLAINS, NY - Yesterday in a White Plains, NY court, U.S. District Judge Robert Drain gave A&P approval to auction off 118 stores and liquidate 25 locations, as well as approving its $100 million bankruptcy loan.
According to Law 360, Judge Drain ruled on the final approval of the bankruptcy and the liquidation of 25 stores, which have already started their going out of business sales. The judge also warned of the possibility of collusion in the auctions as well.
"Given the number of potential bidders and in some cases, their close relationship with each other, parties should be sensitive to the prospect of collusion," Judge Drain said, according to reports from New York news source Lohud. "You're well-advised to raise those concerns.”
Judge Drain warned A&P that he has been involved in other cases in which competitors talked to one another prior to submitting a bid, saying this led to instances of price-fixing. To avoid collusion, Drain will require the winning bidders to pledge in writing they did not communicate with other bidders without prior approval.
A bid deadline has been set for September 11 for the 118 stores that Acme Markets, Stop & Shop and Key Foods have already expressed interest in. In the Lower Hudson Valley of New York, 18 are slated to become Acme's, while another two appear to be headed toward Stop & Shop and Key Foods. But those sales are not final, and A&P is still soliciting bids. If no better bids are received, a sale hearing is scheduled for September 21, Lohud reports.
"We're encouraging parties to get in bids as soon as possible," A&P Lawyer Ray Schrock said.
Lawyer Bradford Sandler, who represents the creditors' committee, added that the best possible outcome for A&P's bankruptcy case will be for its locations to continue operating, and for its workers to have jobs under a new ownership.
A&P’s lawyers have agreed to consider these factors in deciding the "highest and best offer" for A&P stores, but of course there is no guarantee the winning bidder will be a supermarket operator familiar with unionization.
BAKERSFIELD, CA - Sun World International, LLC has announced the appointment of four leading grape producer-exporters to grow and market its proprietary seedless grapes from vineyards throughout South America.
Included in the appointments are Exser out of Chile, Agrivale out of Brazil, and Ecosac and Agricola Chapi out of Peru. These four companies will join Sun World’s twelve existing grape marketer licensees that currently operate from Chile, Peru, and Brazil.
“Supermarkets, importers and wholesalers around the world have encouraged Sun World to broaden its South American supply base. These four new licensees, each leading grape producer-exporters, are a terrific addition to our global marketer network,” Executive Vice President David Marguleas said.
More information about Sun World’s newest marketers includes:
- EXSER
- Founded in 1990 by Andres Ureta and is managed today by Andres, his brother Pablo Ureta, and by Andres’ sons Christian and Matias. It sources grapes from its own vineyards and from others throughout Chile’s major growing regions.
- ECOSAC
- Founded in 2000 as ECOACUICOLA and today operates as part of the Costa del Sol Group. Under the direction of Commercial Director Gerd Burmeste and Grape General Manager Paulo Durate, it produces grapes in Peru’s Piura region.
- Agricola Chapi S.A.
- Founded in 1997 by a group of entrepreneurs including Augusto and Alvaro Baertl and operated today by an experienced management team, farms more than 3,000 hectares. It sources grapes from its own vineyards and from joint-ventures throughout Peru’s growing regions.
- Agrivale
- Located in Petrolina, Brazil, was established in 1996 and today—under the direction of its President Graco Farias—operates one of Brazil’s largest table grape farming and export operations.
According to a press release, along with growing many of Sun World’s new seedless grape varieties, each of the four new licensees has also been granted a license to distribute fruit from new varieties developed by Sun World and to use Sun World’s brands. These brands include MIDNIGHT BEAUTY®, SCARLOTTA SEEDLESS®, AUTUMNCRISP®, ADORA SEEDLESS® and SABLE SEEDLESS® in the marketplace. Sun World's fruit licensing program involves more than 1,500 producers and marketing companies in most of the world's major fruit-growing regions.
These four new licensees will join more than forty other Sun world grape marketers around the world. Sun World Licensing Manager Carolina Uquillas, who oversees all South American licensing activity, joined the company in January 2014 and is leading the effort to expand Sun World’s footprint in Chile, Brazil and Peru.
Currently, Sun World’s variety development work focuses on a full range of fresh grapes, the company says, with extraordinary characteristics such as enhanced flavor, distinctive taste, larger berries, and clusters, earlier and later ripening times and availability, and increased productivity. Sun World also develops new plums, peaches, apricots and nectarines for licensed growers.
Since its inception in the mid-1970s, the company's Variety Development Center has released countless varieties with improved flavor, size, color, shelf-life and extended seasonality. In addition to production on its own California properties, Sun World and/or its licensees grow these proprietary varieties in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, South America, Israel and South Africa.
LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA - Transportation Broker Kerry Bowman has been promoted to Business Development Specialist at the Allen Lund Company’s Portland office.
Having begun his career with Allen Lund as a Broker in January 2001, Bowman has a long-standing successful track record working with a broad range of customers, shippers, and carriers.
Steve Hull, Manager of the Portland office, said he was excited for Bowman to receive the promotion.
“Over the past 15 years, he has worked with a wide variety of customers, shippers, and carriers, and has demonstrated a great ability to bring all parties together to maximize results,” he said.
David Lund, Vice President of Sales and Branch Operations, congratulated Bowman on the promotion.
“Kerry’s work experience has helped the Portland office to grow, and over the years his impeccable customer service has expanded,” said Lund. “His high level of service shows in his customer’s dedication to the company, and will help him to thrive in his new position.”
When asked about his promotion, Bowman said that he has enjoyed being a part of the ALC family for so long, and that the Northwest has tremendous growth potential. He added that he was very excited to grow the business for the Portland office.
WEST COAST - Watch out El Niño, there’s another weather pattern threatening your sweet whispers of rain being brought to the West Coast this winter.
Parked just off the Oregon and California coastal range, a weather pattern nicknamed “The Blob” has partnered with a high-pressured ridge of air that is deflecting storm patterns and could be causing the record drought, according to KPCC.
Below is a breakdown of each pattern respectively.
The Blob:
- Stretches 2,000 miles down the coast and more than 1,000 miles out from the West Coast.
- First noticed in 2014
- 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above average.
- Stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Mexico.
El Niño 2015:
- About six times the size of the continental United States.
- Watched by scientists since December of 2014.
- 2 to 3 degrees Celsius above average.
- Located along a stretch of the Pacific Ocean near the Equator.
University of Washington meteorologist Nick Bond nicknamed the weather pattern that was more-than-likely a result of high pressure meeting the coast's resilient ridge “the Blob” during an interview last year.
Bond told KPCC that it blocked the strong winds that usually cool the ocean over the winter, as well as rain clouds, causing less heat to leave the Pacific. "Also the weaker winds meant less stirring of the upper part of the ocean and kind of mixing up of colder water from below."
While the two bring complete opposite promises for the winter, with The Blob creating a shield from storms and El Niño normally bringing a heavier winter rain than usual, it seems that the scientific side views El Niño as the heavyweight to The Blob’s rookie status.
Stanford researcher Daniel Swain told KPCC that El Niño will likely shake up the climate patterns that have kept The Blob and the ridge it has worked with in place since it appeared about a year ago.
The “wild card” scenario, according to Swain, is that The Blob holds strong enough that only Southern California see the majority of the strong El Niño rainfall.
"If indeed this ridge and this warm water mass persist, that could have an opposing effect of the wetting effect of a strong El Niño event," he said, according to the report, adding that he still believes El Niño will be the more powerful system and could even nullify The Blob’s trapped pattern.
Another possibility on the table is the combination of the two, resulting in The Blob’s warm water adding to the moisture El Niño could bring over the western states.
“You’d expect this kind of boost from exceptionally warm ocean to the strength of the storms and the amount of rainfall that comes out of them," Nate Mantua, Professor of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, said in the report, adding that this would add fuel to the rain clouds as they pass over the pacific towards land mass.
Though the science appears to lean towards either a wet winter or a super soak, it is too soon to be certain who will win. AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you up to date on weather patterns across the industry as they develop.
LADERA RANCH, CA - With melons out of California looking better than ever and Mexico production right around the corner, Dulcinea has a lot to smile about this summer.
The company plans to harvest everything from Tuscan Cantaloupes, PureHeart Mini Watermelons, and its newest product Sunny Gold Yellow Mini Watermelons until around September 14th, with Mexico production and Dulcinea’s PureHeart Mini Watermelons starting around September 26th.
“Production out of California has been a great yielding crop with good quality,” Steve Dabich, Dulcinea’s Vice President of Sales tells me. “Dulcinea has had a much better season than we could have hoped for. Yields have been up in our growing areas and consumer demand for Dulcinea melons has been up as well.”
In fact, projected volumes for Dulcinea have reached 15% more compared to last year following the successful California season, making it a great time for marketers to push different promotions on the category.
“At Dulcinea our mission is simple: We listen to you,” Dabich says. “We only grow what you want with the flavor you want. That's what makes us different. Dulcinea will continue to be the innovator, and continue trialing different varieties of melons until we find the perfect genetic to produce the best tasting melon possible. 'Fruit of Legendary Perfection' will continue to be our goal.”
One notable win for this season has been the company’s newest product in its portfolio: Dulcinea’s Sunny Gold Yellow Mini Watermelons with bright yellow flesh and sweet flavor. Stay tuned as we continue to follow Dulcinea’s melon season and what’s to come next for the company in Mexico.
BOULDER, CO - Natural food grocer Lucky’s Market has announced new stores in both Florida and Missouri will be opening this year.
First, in its second foray into the St. Louis area, Lucky’s Market has plans to open the 155 employee location this August 19th, with a “bacon cutting ceremony.”
This location in the Rock Hill shopping center was originally announced in 2013, but the opening was delayed while the shopping center's developer, Webster Groves-based Novus Development Co., sought a funding agreement with Rock Hill that includes a community improvement district.
Later this year, Lucky’s Market will open another 32,000 square-foot store in Coral Springs, South Florida, making it the first in the area.
"We are thrilled to open another store in Florida to help bring more affordable quality, local, organic and traditionally crafted foods to the Coral Springs area," Bo Sharon, who founded Lucky’s Market in 2003 with his wife, Trish told the South Florida Business Journal. "We look forward to being an integral part of the Coral Springs community.”
Lucky’s Market currently is a 13-unit grocer that sells local natural, organic and gluten-free foods. It has one Florida store already in business, and others in Kentucky, Iowa, Kentucky, Wyoming, Missouri, Indiana, Michigan and Colorado.