NEW ENGLAND - Five UFCW local chapters throughout the Northeast are currently negotiating contracts with Stop & Shop. This week, one chapter, Local 1445, voted unanimously to approve a labor strike.
This Friday, the retailer issued the following updates on the status of negotiation.
“We are working hard to reach strong new contracts that ensure that Stop & Shop continues to be a great place to work...” the retailer noted. “Stop & Shop has committed up to $2 billion to upgrade our stores over the next several years to better serve our customers and communities as we also lower prices and expand opportunities for our associates.”
Stop & Shop continued: “The current three-year contracts with UFCW locals in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island expire on February 23. However, contract negotiations may extend beyond the expiration date. We are proud of our relationship with our associates and optimistic that we will be able to reach a new agreement. We are continuing to negotiate in good faith and remain committed to reaching a resolution as quickly as possible.”
The following day, the UFCW Local 1445 held a meeting and a strike authorization vote.
“Today, February 24, at Lombardo's in Randolph, Local 1445 held a meeting for Stop & Shop members. Almost a thousand members attended and all voted unanimously TO STRIKE!” Local 1445 announced on its website.
In total, the UFCW represents more than 8,000 Stop & Shop employees throughout Massachusetts. The labor union’s last contracts with Stop & Shop expired Saturday night, according to a report from local news source South Coast Today.
Though the union has voted to authorize a strike, no timetable has yet been set for the strike itself, which would still have to be authorized by a union committee.
Following news of the Local 1445’s vote, Stop & Shop issued a statement noting its commitment to reaching a mutually amicable resolution and noting, “We are proud of our relationship with our associates and optimistic that we will be able to reach a new agreement.”
“We understand that the members of one of the five union locals have voted to authorize a strike, although this does not necessarily mean the union actually will initiate a strike...” the company stated. “Full-time Stop & Shop associates are among the highest paid food retail workers in the region, and we are working hard to reach strong new contracts that will continue to provide Stop & Shop associates with competitive wages and affordable health care for eligible associates...”
For more on Stop & Shop and the UFCW’s negotiations, check in with AndNowUKnow for updates.
YAKIMA, WA - What’s the most delicious way to avoid a pinch this Saint Patrick’s Day? If you ask Domex Superfresh Growers, the company would tell you to grab a Granny Smith apple, of course! The long-beloved apple variety adds a festive pop of color that will catch consumers’ eyes and wallets through front-of-store displays. Whether organic or conventional, bulk or bagged, Superfresh Growers have Granny Smith merchandising tips for you.
“Granny Smith has been steadily holding fourth place for the past few years,” said Communications Manager Catherine Gipe-Stewart, noting that this year, IRI data charts Granny Smith apple dollars up 2.6 percent. “As retailers focus more on core varieties, it has begun to rise to third place. With Granny Smith trending, use the bright green of the apples to convert to ‘green’ at the cash register.”
According to a press release, Granny Smith is the single-most talked about apple in digital media and is popular with both millennials and the hispanic community. As a produce staple, Granny Smiths are popular in pies, for juicing, and even right out-of-hand. Gipe-Stewart suggested creating large bulk displays near the cash register and front-of-store to draw attention to the bright green color of Granny Smith apples and boost sales.
Looking for additional help in merchandising Granny Smith in-store? The Superfresh Growers marketing team is offering a digital content kit complete with recipes, photos, social media graphics, and other fun ways to engage with consumers. New this year is a recipe for Granny Smith Apple “Cookies”—we won’t tell if you don’t share with your consumers!
LOS ANGELES, CA - Kiwiberries look like kiwis—only they’re smaller, fuzz-less, and arguably one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen. Not only are they impossibly adorable, they deserve to be seen by consumers! Thank goodness then for Giumarra Wenatchee, which announced its fourth season of marketing New Zealand-grown kiwiberries in partnership with Seeka.
“As the exotic category continues to be of high interest to consumers, we are pleased to offer flavorful, fun-to-eat kiwiberries in convenient clamshell packaging,” said Jason Bushong, Division Manager of Giumarra Wenatchee, in a recent press release. “Kiwiberries have the same tangy-sweet flavor and nutritional benefits of traditional green kiwifruit, including being an excellent source of vitamin C and a good source of fiber.”
The press release noted that the fruit will be available for shipment to U.S. customers from now through the end of March. Kiwiberries are bite-sized with smooth skin and can be eaten out of hand without peeling. It is available packaged in 4.4 oz and 18 oz clamshells for easy “grab-and-go” merchandising.
“Kiwiberries make an excellent addition to our exotic lineup, as consumers continue to gravitate to small-sized fruits for a variety of uses, including snacking,” stated Gary Caloroso, Regional Business Development Director for the Giumarra Companies.
Stick around with us here at AndNowUKnow for the latest in miniature produce!
CARLISLE, PA - Following a purchase agreement announced by GIANT Food Stores in November 2018, the Federal Trade Commission has approved the acquisition of five corporately-owned Shop ‘n Save locations from SUPERVALU INC., the newly acquired subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI). The stores will undergo a one-week conversion, opening again as MARTIN’S Food Markets on April 5, 2019.
“Our team is really excited to bring MARTIN’S Food Markets to these vibrant communities,” said Nicholas Bertram, President, GIANT Food Stores. “We put our customers at the heart of everything we do, and with the addition of these locations, our new neighbors can count on farm fresh produce and quality products their families will love.”
According to the press release, the following stores are part of the sale:
- 22401 Jefferson Boulevard, Smithsburg, MD
- 500 North Antrim Way, Greencastle, PA
- 409 North McNeil Road, Berryville, VA
- 147 Roaring Lion Drive, Hedgesville, WV
- 1317 Old Courthouse Square, Martinsburg, WV
The stores will close temporarily on March 27 at 6 pm, for extensive remodels to convert the existing locations into MARTIN’S Food Markets. Upon the reopening on April 5 at 8 am, shoppers will be treated to low prices on an expanded variety and assortment of local products, including a farm fresh produce department featuring more than 300 items. MARTIN’S BonusCard will also be available to customers, giving them access to weekly promotions and sales, coupons, and gas rewards. The MARTIN’S stores also offer shoppers a convenient mobile app that provides ready access to personalized digital coupons, mobile shopping lists, and more.
The acquisition is in line with a series of strategic investments that the company has made recently to its store fleet and family of brands in Pennsylvania. The first GIANT Heirloom Market opened this year in Philadelphia, with plans for three more locations to open in 2019. The company’s new GIANT DIRECT e-commerce hub was opened this year in the city of Lancaster, and more new stores are set to open in the East Stroudsburg and Walnutport communities later this year.
Keep reading AndNowUKnow for more grocery news.
WEST DES MOINES, IA - Hy-Vee is bulking up its pharmacies across Minnesota. The retailer has acquired all Weber & Judd pharmacies—a chain that has served the Rochester, Minnesota-area since 1862. All locations will be renamed Hy-Vee HealthMarket Rx.
“Weber & Judd has been an exemplary provider of pharmacy care for more than 150 years. Combining Weber & Judd with our Hy-Vee Pharmacy family is a perfect match because we both pride ourselves on providing an excellent experience to our customers,” said Randy Edeker, Hy-Vee’s Chairman of the Board, CEO, and President. “We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to provide this same personalized care for the Weber & Judd family of patients and communities.”
In a press release, the retailer noted that it anticipates Weber & Judd employees to continue working at their respective locations as Hy-Vee employees.
As part of the acquisition, all patient files will transfer to the new Hy-Vee pharmacies, and shoppers will have access to the retailer’s mobile app, which offers easy prescription management services and message notifications, free prescription delivery, automated refill ordering, immunization services, free blood pressure checks, private medication consultations, and registered dieticians. Weber & Judd pharmacy patients will receive a letter from their new Hy-Vee pharmacy with additional details.
To learn when each Weber & Judd location will reopen, click here.
For more details on grocery shakeups, acquisitions, and expansions changing the retail landscape, stay tuned to AndNowUKnow.
HEATHROW, FL - Greenhouse grower Village Farms continued its commitment to giving back by sponsoring and participating in the annual “Cars for the Cure” fundraiser. The event is a car show benefiting the American Lung Association and features an array of distinctive and unforgettable cars from across the globe.
“Village Farms was proud to be a sponsor and support Cars for the Cure in its fifteenth year,” said Helen Aquino, Director of Brand Marketing and Communications, in a press release. “Participating in an event like this for such a good cause was especially rewarding. We truly enjoyed getting out in our community to promote health and wellness and we loved hearing time and time again how much people enjoy the Garden Fresh Flavor® of our tomatoes!”
Throughout the day-long, family-friendly festival, a team of Village Farms volunteers gave away almost 2,000 pounds of the company’s Heavenly Villagio Marzano® tomatoes to a crowd of participants, attendees, and more volunteers. Even the Transformer Bumblebee was on hand to delight kids and create buzz about eating healthy.
A worthy cause, the American Lung Association is the oldest voluntary health organization in the U.S. and works to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. Village Farms will definitely be getting some karma points for this!
Keep reading AndNowUKnow to stay up-to-date on the industry’s charitable endeavors.
CHICAGO, IL - How do you determine shoppers’ favorite grocery stores? Is it by price? Is it by convenience? Is it by quality? I could go on, but a recent study by dunnhumby suggests that all these factors and more must be taken into account to accurately rank consumers’ favorite retailers. What sounds like a no-brainer is a unique and exhaustive study measuring customer preference by a Retailer Price Index (RPI). It looks like the code for favorite grocery store has been cracked!
The RPI rankings are the result of a statistical model that predicts how retailer execution on various consumer needs impact emotional bonds and financial success. Data for the statistical model was gathered from publicly available financial data and a customized, online survey of around 7,000 households. The statistical model addressed financial measures of size (grocery market share), efficiency (grocery sales per square foot), and recent growth (grocery sales growth), as well as emotional measures of trust, intensity of attachment, satisfactions, and recommendation. These measured criteria create a different way to look at retail preference.According to the study, “The main differentiator between our approach and other approaches to rank retailers is that our ranking results from a combination of financial success, emotional bond, and performance on preference drivers. Other lists typically produce simple ranks of retailers on just one of these dimensions. The result of using only one of these dimensions is that the industry has conflicting accounts of which retailer is ‘best,’ and those lists often don’t associate what retailers do (preference drivers) with resulting emotional connections and financial performance.”
The study focuses on determining how shoppers prioritize needs, coming up with several “pillars” of emotional bond and financial performance. These pillars include: perceived prices (lower than the competition); quality (right items, clean store, etc.); digital access (simple and easy ways to shop online); operations (out-of-stocks and pricing consistency); convenience (location, one-stop-shop-ability); discounts and rewards; and speed (get in and out quickly)
Taking all factors into account, dunnhumby came up with the following rankings for top grocer:
- Trader Joe’s
- Costco
- Amazon
- H-E-B
- Wegmans
- Market Basket
- Sam’s Club
- Sprouts Farmers Markets
- WinCo Foods
- Walmart
- Aldi
- Peapod
- The Fresh Market
For more news about important retail studies, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
GLENNVILLE, GA - Vidalia onion season may be months away, but many in the produce community are already beginning to plot out programs and hotly anticipate the some of the sweetest, mildest onions around. How is the market for sweet onions shaping up as we round into the homestretch of winter? To answer that, I turned to Bland Farms’ President and Owner Delbert Bland, who told me that the sweet onion market is making for a strong spring and summer season.
“The onion market is getting pretty good right now,” Delbert explained. “The onion market out of Mexico is going to be in the low-20s right now. In turn, Texas has not got a huge crop; they’re down in acreage, and supply is going to be somewhat limited. Vidalia is down in acreage, and all indications, right now, suggest it’s going to be a pretty strong market through the spring and the beginning of the summer.”
While Vidalias are a ways away, Bland Farms is currently transitioning from its Peruvian import season to its Mexico operations—supplying out of both countries for the next few weeks until the company transitions completely into Mexico during the second half of March.
Delbert also noted that, due to a shortage in Mexico, demand for sweet onions in the U.S. will most likely continue to outpace supply, and the company is in a unique position growing out of the Tampico, Tamaulipas, area.
“Sizing and quality is good at this point, but supplies are limited down there. The only volume you’re going to see coming out of there is out of the Tampico area; that’s where we grow our crop at,” Delbert explained. “Overall there’s still a shortage of onions in Mexico, so a lot of the onions that would normally be coming across to the States are staying in-country, where consumption of onions per household is tremendous compared to the U.S. market. When they’re in short supply that’s a big deal.”
Vidalia fans will have to wait until the middle of April till Georgia begins shipping, but Delbert told me, though acreage is down, the quality of the crop looks to be good.
“Usually a very strong Texas and Mexico deal sets the pace for Vidalia to be pretty good,” Delbert added.
For more fresh produce news, keep reading AndNowUKnow.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - In the name of the retail game, you have to set your eyes on the prize, and SpartanNash is doing just that. The retailer reported in its Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results that over the next year or two it will be doubling down on long-term strategic growth—including acquiring new businesses.
“As we look forward over the next couple of years, we believe the landscape will continue to provide us with growth opportunities through acquisition, new customers, and expanded programs with existing customers,” said David Staples, President and Chief Executive Officer, in a recent press release. “That said, we still expect the operating environment to remain challenging during fiscal 2019. Our top five objectives for fiscal 2019 are: achieve mid-single digit sales growth; drive adjusted operating earnings and adjusted EBITDA growth over the prior year; realize $15 million of savings over the next 24 months from Project One Team, strengthen our management team, systems, and supply chain operations to further position the company for future growth; and reduce our debt levels and financial leverage ratios to facilitate achieving our strategic objectives.”
SpartanNash has been making several moves toward its goals over the past fiscal year. The retailer freed itself up for additional growth through acquisition by amending its current credit facility. Further, SpartanNash hired both a new Chief Merchandising and Marketing Officer, Lori Raya, and a new Chief Information Officer, Arif Dar. In December, the retailer executed ‘Project One Team,’ a company-wide initiative to drive growth while increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
“We are excited to see this initiative empowering our associates at all levels to drive sustainable improvements in our business as we take full advantage of the growth opportunities we expect to see over the next one to two years,” Staples said of Project One Team, though he did concede that the program is still very early in its deployment.
When looking at the rest of SpartanNash’s report for the fourth quarter and full year 2019, financial results seem to be mixed. Consolidated net sales for the fourth quarter increased $11.3 million, or 0.6%, to $1.90 billion from $1.89 billion in 2017’s Q4. Consolidated net sales for the fiscal year increased $100.8 million, or 1.3%, to $8.06 billion from $7.96 billion in 2017. However, SpartanNash did fall short of Wall Street’s expectations for both Q4 and Fiscal Year 2018.
To see a more in-depth look at SpartanNash’s most recent financial results, view the company’s press release here.
And for more on retail affecting fresh produce, AndNowUKnow will continue to report.
SALINAS, CA - TMD Creative has been making produce look pretty darn good, and now its been awarded for its efforts! Several award competitions have honored the international marketing and design firm for its work with fresh food and ag companies, including Ocean Mist Farms, Taylor Farms, the California Agriculture Leadership Foundation, Del Rey Avocado, Berry People, and Olinday Farms.
“We are incredibly proud to be one of the few firms in the country to represent the agriculture community and showcase their hard work in providing quality products that feed the world,” stated Nick Pasculli, President and CEO, in a recent press release. “TMD has always been rooted in agriculture and always will be.”
The following marketing, digital, and communication award competitions recgonized TMD for excellence:
Marcom Awards
- Berry People - Packaging
- Del Rey Avocado - Website
Davey Awards
- Berry People - Packaging
- Del Rey Avocado - Website
Summit International Awards
- Olinday Farms - Logo Design & Website
VMA Showcase Award
- Cal Ag Leadership Foundation - 2017-17 Annual Report
Vega Digital Awards
- Del Rey Avocado - “Fair Trade” Video
- Ocean Mist Farms - “Cut to Cool” Video
- Taylor Farms - E-Blast Campaign
- Organic Produce Summit - Collateral
“From day one, TMD has been integral in establishing a strategy for the launch of Olinday Farms, allowing me to focus my time on developing relationships with my own customers,” said Marc Metzer, President of Olinday Farms. “From our company name and logo design to retail packaging and video production, the TMD team has brought nothing but positive attention to Olinday Farms and the values we stand for."
Thank you to TMD Creative for continuing to make ag look so darn good!