OAK BROOK, IL - McDonald's and Sun Pacific, the maker of the iconic Cutie oranges, are entering the final stages of an agreement which would makes Cuties the latest fresh addition to McDonald's line of Happy Meal lunches.
Earlier this year AndNowUKnow covered how McDonald's was testing Cuties in its restaurants in Austin, Texas.
That test campaign must have been a hit because the Bakersfield Californian reports that McDonald's is now intending to roll out Cuties in Happy Meals nationwide from November through March.
"I think it's great on so many levels," said Julie Lucido, CEO and Art Director of Marketing Plus. "The Cuties people have to be excited."
When McDonald's introduced apple slices into its Happy Meals in 2012, it sold 850 million bags, according to the Californian. While neither McDonald's or Sun Pacific have released numbers on what a Cuties partnership could mean for sales, the sheer brand awareness and market share of McDonald's could mean big things for Sun Pacific's future profits.
In addition, the Bakersfield Californian shared that a McDonald's partnership could raise the possibility of an expansion for Sun Pacific's growing operations, making Cuties a year-round offering for consumers.
Customers will also have the option of buying a Cutie a-la-carte as an additon to any McDonald's meal.
It's good to see McDonald's offering its customers more fresh selections. A Cutie and burger sound like a fine match to me.
VENTURA, CA – LINKFRESH is launching its new LINKFRESH ERP suite on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
This latest release enhances productivity and efficiency for food supply chain users with four new LINKFRESH User Role Centers, LINKFRESH RapidStart, LINKFRESH Business Intelligence, LINKFRESH Farming Module, enhancements to the LINKFRESH Mobility suite and integrated LINKFRESH Help Screens, according to a press release. The new product is officially “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics.”
The four new User Role Centers have been created for LINKFRESH Foundation, LINKFRESH Operations, LINKFRESH Logistics and LINKFRESH Integration Manager. They have been designed to help increase user productivity by offering the user real time snapshots of all data and operational information pertinent to each of these four key areas on one screen, according to a press release.
The LINKFRESH RapidStart data packages offer a series of pre-defined questionnaires specifically to help configure and set-up the specific food industry features within LINKFRESH.
Another new feature, LINKFRESH Business Intelligence, offers pre-configured dashboards and reporting scenarios for real time analytics related to a food business across Production, Inventory and Consignment Profitability, according to a press release.
The LINKFRESH Farming Module accurately records all costs and overheads associated with crop growing and harvesting. “Resources such as labor and machinery can be allocated to a “Job” and the associated costs tracked and recorded against inventory value. Job templates can be created to facilitate the rapid creation of frequently occurring tasks,” the company says in a release.
The LINKFRESH Mobility Suite has been upgraded with new features like a barcode test scan tool, debug facility, Bluetooth printing, a screen alignment tool as well as enhancements deigned to streamline deployment.
Lastly, integrated LINKFRESH Help screens have been added and are accessible from every section of the LINKFRESH solution via the Microsoft F1 help command.
Congratulations on the new product release, LINKFRESH!
CHARLOTTE, NC - The Cutrale Group, one of the leading global agribusiness and juice companies, and the Safra investment group extended a $610.5 million buyout offer to Chiquita Brands Monday morning, throwing question marks into its proposed merger with Fyffes. According to a press release, the official offer would involve a purchase of 100% of Chiquita's outstanding stock at a price of $13.00 per share in cash to stockholders.
In a letter to Chiquita executives, Cutrale and Safra spoke confidently about the strength of their offer.
"This proposal represents a highly compelling premium of 29% to the market's valuation of the proposed transaction with Fyffes plc ("Fyffes"), based on Chiquita's closing share price of $10.06 as of August 8, 2014,” the statement read. “Moreover, if we are able to proceed on a timely basis with due diligence and discussions, we will be in a position to close the Transaction before the end of the year, within the same timeframe you have indicated for the Fyffes transaction, without the execution risk and uncertainty inherent in that transaction.”
If Chiquita were to accept this offer it would mean the end of its plans to merge with its Irish rival Fyffes, plans which AndNowUKnow reported on in a previous article here. That transaction, valued at $1.07 billion, would have given ChiquitaFyffes 14% of the global banana market share.
Cutrale and Safra are confident however that their proposal more than exceeds what Chiquita would gain from a merger with Fyffes, stating “... the Chiquita board of directors, in our opinion, must and will conclude in good faith that our proposal constitutes a "Chiquita Superior Proposal" because it is clearly more favorable to the Chiquita shareholders than the proposed merger with Fyffes, taking into account all financial, regulatory, legal and other aspects of our proposal.”
Chiquita's stock boomed in the wake of the news, rising 31.11% to $13.19 during Monday morning trading (as of 9:34am on August 11th, 2014).
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any further updates on Chiquita's future merger or acquisition plans.
DENVER, CO - The future of Chipotle's stock was the subject of heated debate during Friday's trading after Longbow Research downgraded the company from “buy” to “neutral,” citing valuation concerns according to The Street. Produce leaders will want to follow this debate closely because stock pricing is a leading indicator of consumer confidence in the future of a company. Considering that Chipotle plans on purchasing over 20 million pounds of fresh produce from local growers in 2014, the produce industry certainly has a financial stake in Chipotle's future growth and success.
For more on Chipotle's connections with local growers check out our previous article here.
So what does the future hold for Chipotle's stock? On this question industry experts are divided.
At the heart of this division is the fact that Chipotle's fundamental economic numbers are actually quite strong. Chipotle's Q2 financial reports, released on July 21st, 2014, beat analyst's expectations across the board.
Revenue increased 28.6% to $1.05 billion
Comparable restaurant sales numbers were up 17.3%
Net income rose 25.5% to $110.3 million
Restaurant level operating margin fell 30 basis points to 27.3%
Diluted earnings pers share grew 24.1% to $3.50.
Chipotle is thriving right now and this is what Mike Murphy, founder of Rosecliff Capital and CEO of Columbus Advisory Group, looked at when he stood by his positive valuation of Chipotle going forward.
“It's priced at a high multiple yes, but they're doing everything right. You go into a Chipotle and it is packed at all times...they're seeing strong growth,” he said. “Tough to buy it up here at these levels, but I am a frequent customer.”
Investment analysts at The Street agreed, giving Chipotle a “Buy” rating with a stock score of A-.
“We rate CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC (CMG) a BUY,” their statement read. “This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and good cash flow from operations.”
Others however point at the sheer price of Chipotle's stock which, as of the end of Friday's trading session, was trading at $669.70 as a sign that the company's fundamentals, even while robust, are simply not strong enough to support a valuation of that magnitude long term. Joshua Brown, CEO and co-founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management, championed this point of view in his own analysis.
“Even the best companies...have a stumble at some point,” he said. “If Chipotle has a stumble the pain could be disproportionate with what the actual stumble is just because of how over-owned the stock is amongst the type of people that invest in these types of companies. So I think that it's a reasonable point to make that the upside versus downside if something goes wrong is terribly skewed towards losses rather than gains from here.”
Chipotle's forward-looking guidance looks strong however. According to its Q2 financial release, the booming chain plans on expanding operations by another 180-195 restaurants with comparable stores sales increases in the 'mid-teens.' While I appreciate the concerns of Brown and his associates, it is hard for me to not see this debate as an example of punishing a company for doing too well. Chipotle's fundamentals are strong, as are its forward-looking estimates. That is more than enough to make me optimistic about the company's outlook going forward.
As of the end of Friday's trading Chipotle's stock was down 0.32% to $669.70 per share. This morning trading was up 1.29% to 678.37 per share (as of 9:53am August 11th).
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any future updates on Chipotle and its trading numbers.
TEWSBURY, MA - Market Basket's Board of Directors has made an offer to ousted former President and CEO Arthur T. Demoulas which would allow him and his entire former management team to rejoin the company. According to an official statement presented by the Board, the offer would not return Demoulas to his former role within the company; that position would remain with Market Basket's new co-CEO's Felicia Thornton and Jim Gooch. It would, however, place him in a position to help return Market Basket's normal business operations which have been so far halted by fervent protests by employees since his firing.
“Our goal is to move forward, while making sure associates and customers are taken care of,” the Directors explained in their statement. “Any delay to reaching agreement on this path forward simply harms associates, customers and the Company. It is time to move on.”
According to the statement, Arthur T. Demoulas has not yet responded to the proposal, but they are confident that a compromise can be reached.
“There is no reason to not meet in the middle,” the Directors said. “Mr. Demoulas gets his management team back in place, associates can get back to doing their job, customers can get back to shopping and the company gets the breathing room needed to create an orderly and productive way forward.”
This latest news comes against the backdrop of increasing pressure on Market Basket to make peace with Arthur T. Demoulas and the countless protestors supporting him. Boston.com covered how even Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has thrown his hat into the ring, releasing an official statement in which he pledge to do what he could to help settle the dispute.
“By any measure, the disruption caused by your recent change in CEO has gotten out of hand, and I am writing to urge you to find a prompt resolution,” Patrick wrote. “Your failure to resolve this matter is not only hurting the company’s brand and business, but also many innocent and relatively powerless workers whose livelihoods depend on you.”
Market Basket's Directors acknowledged the Governor's statement in their release, saying that they welcome the Governor's assistance in this matter and look forward to his support in “stabilizing the business for the benefit of all associates, customers, vendors and communities.”
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for any further updates on Market Basket and Arthur T. Demoulas' future with the company.
BERKELEY, CA - Grocery Outlet has attracted several private-equity suitors in potential billion-dollar sale, according to sources close to the Wall Street Journal.
WSJ reports that Bain Capital, Hellman & Friedman LLC and Roark Capital Group are all showing interest in the discount supermarket chain as it enters its second round of bidding in a sale process. Reportedly, suitors with first-round bids less than $1.1 billion were not brought back to the second round.
People familiar to the matter say that no corporate bidders currently involved in the process, and Grocery Outlet could sell for as much as $1.2 billion.
We previously reported that Grocery Outlet might be eyeing a sale. For that information, check out our previous article by clicking here.
Grocery Outlet offers a full line of grocery items, including fresh produce, frozen, deli and refrigerated, fresh meat, general merchandise, health and beauty, and beer and wine. There are currently more than 200 independently operated Grocery Outlet stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow as we keep an eye out for any potential buyers.
WENATCHEE, WA – Stemilt has announced the release of a new Rushing Rivers label for its pear products, a name which highlights the company's ties with the two most world renowned locations for pear cultivation: the Wenatchee River Valley and Entiat River Valley in Washington State.
As a recent research study by SHS, FoodThink, revealed, 65% of modern consumers want to know more about where their food comes from. Stemilt hopes to respond to this desire with its new label and if you ask me, I think they've done so nicely.
“Consumers are looking for transparency when it comes to food and fruit, and our pears have a special story to tell,” Stemilt Marketing Director Roger Pepperl explained. “Our pear locales – the Wenatchee and Entiat River Valleys – are to pears what California’s Napa Valley is to wine. Telling consumers this story and delivering a premium eating experience through Rushing Rivers pears is a great way to build sales and repeat purchases around pears this season.”
“Pears are right at home in these two valleys,” Pepperl continued. “The hillsides protect our trees from the heat of the summer, keeping delicate pears cool and comfortable. Clean air draws down from the mountains through the orchards to keep air flowing through each tree, which results in cleaner fruit.”
The two Valley's have been the home of Stemilt and its long time partners, the Peshastin HI-UP Growers, for decades. After being harvested, Stemilt and HI-UP's pear crops are taken to state-of-the-art pear facilities in the region for processing.
“We grow, pack, and ship pears right in these famous pear districts. Stemilt and HI-UP’s strong alignment on pears gives us great packing flexibility and allows us to deliver fresh, flavorful pears to stores most months of the year,” said Pepperl.
According to a press release, HI-UP's two packing lines are located in Peshastin, WA while Stemilt’s Miller Street facility can be found in Wenatchee, WA. Stemilt's facility features two updated packing lines and ThermalTech Tarpless® ripening rooms for delivering ready-to-eat pears.
Stemilt encourages its retail partners to share the Rushing Rivers story with their shoppers. According to a press release, Rushing Rivers cartons can be used to build attractive displays which complement well with Stemilt supported promotions.
To raise awareness for their new label, Stemilt has created a page on its website devoted to Rushing River Pears as well as a video trailer that you can check out below:
According to a press release, Stemilt will also be promoting Rushing River Pears through social media and on its blog, The Stem.
CORAL SPRINGS, FL – Dave’s Specialty Imports is planning to have a substantial increase in volumes this year, particularly with blueberries.
Leslie Simmons, Dave’s Specialty Imports Marketing Manager, tells AndNowUKnow, “We will be visiting with our South American growers in the coming weeks to coordinate a successful strategy – ensuring this increase in supply finds the right place in the market.”
Currently Dave’s is seeing Michigan & British Columbia blueberries reaching the peak of flavor earlier than last year. Leslie tells us the BC fruit may finish a little sooner than in years past and the company expects a very smooth transition into its South American fruit.
Aside from Michigan and British Columbia crops, Dave’s is currently harvesting organic blueberries from Mexico with Guatemalan blackberries making arrivals into Miami.
At the start of the season, cold weather seemed to affect crops, but there haven’t been any major issues in supply. “Since the subsequent weather has generally been good, and supplies are adequate pricing has averaged about the same if not a little lower than last year,” Leslie said.
Daves' is planning to increase overall blueberry volume this fall by increasing its growing territory in Peru, Argentina and Chile. Leslie tells us, “The Peruvian product is expected to start in September with a peak in October, and it should help us avoid any major gap as BC finishes up and we move to Argentina. We are also increasing our supply this year of Mexican raspberries and strawberries.”
The company currently has blueberries available in all pack sizes and with the increased volume expected this fall Dave's plans on being able to pack customized orders to fit all its retail partners' needs.
Bosch Packaging Technology has debuted the SVC 4020, its first machine in its new hygienic and flexible vertical packaging machine platform.
“We designed the SVC vertical packaging platform to be uniquely customizable,” said Robert van Mol, Product Manager, Bosch Packaging Technology. “It can be tailored to meet the needs of numerous industries, as well as meet diverse hygienic levels. The SVC gives our customers a versatile and flexible solution to maximize business opportunities.”
The SVC 4020’s streamlined design simplifies production. Its electric cabinet has been incorporated within the machine frame to reduce the number and length of cords and cables. Quick and tool-less format changeovers also reduce downtime.
The machine allows for versatility from product to package. Its platform technology accommodates multiple bag styles, including pillow, side gusseted, stand-up, corner seal and doy, with various reclose and easy opening features in different sizes up to 400 millimeters. Products can range from nuts to confectionery products, mixed salads, cheese, frozen food and many other products, according to a press release.
The SVC was designed to simplify cleaning and offer a wide range of hygienic features to meet specific customer requirements with several wet and dry cleaning options. Total Preventative Maintenance has been incorporated in the basic design philosophy, so producers are reassured that their production will continuously run at its highest efficiency.
DUBLIN, CA - California is getting some much appreciated help from local tech companies to combat the state’s ongoing drought. A new innovative service from start-up TerrAvion provides thermal-based imagery that shows which farming areas are getting too much or too little water.
For $30 per acre, or less for farms with more than 300 acres, TerrAvion offers customers 30 sets of color, infrared, NDVI, and thermal imagery delivered overnight each week during the growing season. The company’s manned aircraft takes photographs as it flies over the fields and transmits the overhead images to the company’s OverView web portal, which growers can then view via computer or mobile device.
TerrAvion says its proprietary OverView technology can help growers show buyers, managers, or scouts everything they’re farming and compare it to what was seen last week, and the weeks before. By seeing which areas are in need the most, growers can also reduce water and energy use and farm larger areas with less effort.
Demand is picking up for the start-up as growers start learning about the service’s extensive advantages. Cornell Wright, TerrAvion Co-Founder, tells CNBC, “We see a lot of interest from growers because of the drought. It definitely helps them find irrigation leaks and manage water more effectively.”
TerrAvion serves clients, particularly grape growers, who are farming for quality. For example, Coppola Winery, one of the company’s first customers, says the technology has “changed everything” for the company. Lise Asimont, Coppola Winery Director of Grower Relations, tells CNBC, “After having that technology, we’ve been able to fine-tune it so finely, that now we have so much more confidence and comfort in how we irrigate.”
CNBC reports that with a $500 billion market for water products and services, it’s not much of a surprise that TerrAvion is being backed by Y Combinator, a firm that provides seed funding for start-ups.
With so much potential to tap into a multi-billion dollar market, it’s likely we’ll see other start-ups, especially out of California’s Silicon Valley, to help tackle the drought. I’m looking forward to seeing what other services tech companies will provide to help growers across the state.