LAKELAND, FL - Publix is closing out the third quarter of its fiscal 2017 on a strong note, with boosted sales and stock price. Part of the impact, according President and CEO Todd Jones, is from Hurricane Irma, which hit the company’s Florida home earlier this fall.
“We have faced many hurricanes in our past, but none with the size and impact of Hurricane Irma,” said Jones in the financial release. “I could not be more proud of our associates for their passionate service to our customers before and after the hurricane.”
In addition to a 6.2% increase from the same time last year’s quarterly sales, from $8 billion to $8.5 billion, comparable-store sales for the third quarter of 2017 increased 4.3%.
Highlights from the statement included:
- Net earnings for the third quarter of 2017 were $474.9 million, an increase of 12.8% compared to $421.1 million in 2016
- Earnings per share for the third quarter increased to $0.63 for 2017, up from $0.55 per share in 2016
- Net earnings for the first nine months of 2017 were $1.53 billion, a 3% increase over $1.48 billion in 2016
- Publix’s sales for the first nine months of 2017 were $25.6 billion, a 3% increase from last year’s $24.9 billion
Comparable-store sales for the first nine months of 2017 increased 1.2%, according to the release, which it estimates the impact of Hurricane Irma resulted in a 1% percent jump for the first nine months of 2017.
Likewise, the company attributes 3.1% of its sales increase to Irma, as well as the profit on the incremental sales having more than offset inventory losses “due to power outages and other additional expenses.”
While Publix is not publically traded, the retailer noted its stock price increased from $36.05 per share to $36.85 per share as of its financial report’s release yesterday, Nov. 1.
The amounts listed in the report are based on unaudited reports that will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. For the latest in retail and other news that could influence fresh produce, keep checking in with AndNowUKnow.
MONTEREY, CA – The first ever Organic Grower Summit (OGS), a joint production between California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and Organic Produce Network (OPN), has finalized its keynote speakers, rounding out the line-up with Sun Basket COO Don Barnett.
“Our mission at Sun Basket is to make healthy cooking easy and delicious by delivering Northern California’s healthy food culture to the rest of America,” Barnett said, in a recent press release. “We’re re-imagining the food supply chain with state-of-the-art technology that allows amazing food from the best organic farms to reach a wider American audience. To be able to share information and network with organic growers at OGS benefits all of us in the world of organic food.”
With over 25 years of fresh produce experience, including acting as Co-Founder/Partner and CFO of NewStar Fresh Foods, Organicgirl Produce, and Pessagno Winery, Barnett has been confirmed as the final keynote presenter and will represent Sun Basket, a leading nationwide delivery service that provides recipes and pre-portioned organic ingredients for home-cooked meals, at this year’s OGS.
“We are thrilled Don is able to talk to OGS attendees about the growing direct-to-consumer marketplace and the challenges and opportunities for those producing organic fresh products,” said Tonya Antle, Co-Founder of OPN. “Sun Basket has made a tremendous commitment to the organic and sustainable space and is positioned to be a leader in this category."
The inaugural OGS will bring together organic growers, producers, and processors for two days of education, information, and networking opportunities with organic production supply chain and service providers in Monterey, CA. Held on December 13-14, the event includes a series of educational sessions, keynote presentations, meal functions, and a sold-out trade show floor exhibiting over 75 service providers and supply chain companies, sponsored by Western Growers. Among participating exhibitors are leaders in the fields of seed, packaging, soil amendments, and food safety, who will be connecting with organic field production staff, supply chain managers, pest management advisors, and food safety experts.
The education-rich program of OGS includes six different sessions covering an array of subjects from technology to soil optimization and will feature some of the industry’s leading experts. Among the scheduled educational sessions are: “Issues Facing Organic Farmers Today,” “Clean and Renewable Technology,” and “Tools for Plant and Soil Health.” Additionally, a Grower Roundtable titled “From Wall Street to Main Street, Organic Means Good Business” is slated as a keynote presentation and features Scott LaRue of Piper Jaffray as moderator, and Bill Reiman of Gladstone Land Corp, founder of Mission Ranches Stan Pura, and President of Grimmway Farms Jeff Huckaby.
Participating grower attendees also will have an opportunity to meet with a team of Costco buyers as part of a special "Meet the Organic Farmer" session. This unique session provides certified organic farmers and grower representatives the opportunity to meet one-on-one with Costco organic produce, dairy, meat, and wine buyers to discuss operations and products.
“Costco is committed to meeting directly with organic farmers, who are truly on the front lines of bringing top quality organic products to market,” said Heather Shavey, Assistant Vice President for Costco. “We appreciate the work OPN has done in putting together this unique opportunity to meet face to face with those responsible for actually growing organic products. Our buying team is looking forward to learning more about organic production, hearing about new product innovations, and building new supplier opportunities to meet the growing demand for organics for our shoppers.”
Additionally, OGS is finalizing an educational outreach program for PCA, PRC, and qualified applicators to kick off the event. Attendees are eligible for two hours of approved continuing education credit and can learn about new requirements for pesticide use near schools and worker protection standards.
For a complete schedule of events and more information, visit organicgrowersummit.com. For more produce industry news, stay up-to-date with AndNowUKnow.
CASTROVILLE, CA - As consumers enter the busiest season where kitchen convenience is most crucial, Ocean Mist® Farms is looking to enhance the ease of its popular Season & Steam® product line with a new campaign.
The company is launching ‘Tis the Season to Steam Sweepstakes, a 7-week consumer promotion. Starting November 13th and running through December 31st, this sweepstakes will be providing recipe inspiration, preparation tips, and cookbook resources.
Featuring the Season & Steam ready-to-use, award-winning packaging, its unique convenience might be lost in its powerful presentation, Senior Director of Marketing Diana McClean observed.
“We recognize that some of our products may be intimidating to people who are unfamiliar with these vegetables,” Diana said in a recent press release. “The Season & Steam product line features many different options and encourages people to try them with a more approachable preparation method.”
Everyone loves a good serving of steamed vegetables, but the preparation can sometimes bite into already jam-packed schedules. Ocean Mist is setting out to eliminate this issue with the popular product line, which gives users the option to pre-season the vegetables, reseal the zip lock, and steam in the microwave–all in the same bag!
With this no muss, no fuss meal option for your customers, they can enjoy Season & Steam’s vegetables, including:
- Whole artichokes
- Sweet baby broccoli
- Whole, halved, and shredded Brussels sprouts
As a reward for the promotion, consumers can take home a prize pack, including Ocean Mist products, a Williams Sonoma® vegetable steamer, and more.
With the holidays right around the corner, Ocean Mists’ new launch is focused on making dinner preparations for your shoppers easier, healthier, and more joyful throughout the season.
Stay tuned into AndNowUKnow for more fresh produce news!
CULIACÁN, MX - Floriza en Los Parajes organic produce, marketed by Bridges Produce under the Aztlan Organic label, is ending October with a bang, taking home its first Fair Trade USA certification. Located in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico, Floriza en Los Parajes has 52 acres of shade houses, where it grows organic bell peppers, eggplant, and cucumbers, as well as Anaheim, jalapeño, poblano, and serrano chili peppers. Come mid-November, these organic commodities will be available to be sold under the Fair Trade label.
“The mission of Bridges Produce is to ensure that every stakeholder in our food system is not only protected, but also thrives—the consumer, the retailer, the farm, the farmworker, and the environment,” said Ben Johnson, President at Bridges Produce. “Fair Trade certification is a great way to formalize this commitment to the farm workers and to empower consumers to vote with their dollars.”
Bridges Produce has been marketing Floriza en Los Parajes’ organic produce since 2012, according to a press release, and with this new distinction, is adding bell peppers and chili peppers to it’s growing list of Fair Trade offerings. In addition to Floriza, Bridges also markets Hermosillo based Rico Farms’ organic hard squash, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, and melons, which have been Fair Trade USA certified since 2013, as well as what the company says are the only Fair Trade USA certified apples and pears in the USA. Grown by Lago Verde in Argentina, these apples and pears are available from March through June.
For the multi-generational family farm of Floriza en Los Parajes, Fair Trade USA certification came naturally, having always been dedicated to its rural community and to a compassionate business model.
“We have benefited from the support of our workers through many crises, and have tried to help them whenever we can. We hope that being Fair Trade certified will allow us to help them even further,” said Fernando González Peña, Floriza en Los Parajes' Assistant Manager and Director of Food Safety, adding that he is excited to see what personal growth will come from the Fair Trade program. “The fact that the workers have to work together to administer funds for the general good is a very interesting proposition that will hopefully have a positive impact on their political awareness, social relationships, and personal economies.”
To learn more about Floriza en Los Parajes and all its Fair Trade offerings, contact Bridges Produce at [email protected], or by phone at 503-235-7333, and see all of what Bridges has to offer at www.bridgesproduce.com.
BENTONVILLE, AR – 'Tis officially the season, and all through the land, Walmart is stirring with festive holiday plans. Whether for an avid online shopper or in-store purist, there’s something for all consumers looking for lowered prices and triple the online selections this year.
According to a Reuter’s report, Walmart’s Chief Merchandising Officer Steve Bratspies said that for the third consecutive year the retailer would focus efforts offering the lowest prices and discounts in order to meet customer expectations with consistent pricing steals.
“We are buying as much inventory as we think we can handle and sell…we think we are in a really strong position,” Bratspies said after noting the retailer would offer “thousands of rollbacks” across products.
With 60 million online offerings and free two-day shipping, the internet isn’t the only place shoppers can feel warm holiday feelings.
Looking to improve the shopping experience, the retailer will be expanding the role of its employees, who helped customers find short register lines last year, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report. Walmart will also be hosting more than 20,000 in-store events for little elves to try out and test if top-selling items are ready for Santa’s sleigh.
Will Walmart’s plans differentiate it from rivals and bring home that holiday cash? AndNowUKnow will continue to report with the holidays’ arrival.
MORGAN HILL, CA - With over twenty years of industry experience to offer, Justin Davis has been named as Sakata Seed America’s new Senior Manager, Vegetable Sales and Marketing.
Moving up from his most recent role with the company as its Production Manager, where he led the expansion of seed supply to support the growth of Sakata’s global business, Davis expressed excitement for this next step in his career.
“Accepting this new role is such an extraordinary honor,” said Davis, who originally started with Sakata as an intern when he was 19. “I am looking forward to working with our senior leadership, our customers, industry partners, and the entire Sakata team to continue to build on our progressive strengths. This is an exciting time for our industry and I am excited to have an opportunity to play a significant role in Sakata’s contribution to the future of seed and agriculture.”
Besides having held various positions at Sakata, the company said in a press release that a key attribute Davis brings is his deep respect and dedication to the brand. This announcement comes as Sakata continues its celebration of forty years of business in North and Central America.
“We’re excited to have Justin lead our vegetables marketing activities,” explained President and CEO, Dave Armstrong. “We continue to invest in people and to develop the company culture and infrastructure to achieve our goals and pursue our passion of providing innovative vegetable and flower genetics that better the world around us.”
As the new Senior Manager, Davis will assume responsibility for all of Sakata’s vegetables sales, product development, and marketing activities within U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Central America. He will be based out of the Sakata’s Morgan Hill office headquarter, reporting directly to Sakata Seed America’s recently-appointed Vice President, John Nelson.
Congratulations!
SALINAS, CA - With the last tendrils of summer heat waning and cooler temperatures settling in, Church Brothers is transitioning its iceberg lettuce to Yuma, Arizona despite ongoing harvest in Salinas and Huron, California. Church Brothers Farms’ Manager of Commodities, Jason Lathos, tells me we can expect an overlap between Salinas, Huron, and Yuma harvests. As a result, he expects a seamless transition as Church Brothers gears up for the Thanksgiving demand.
“The weather has been a roller coaster this year,” Jason Lathos says. “Last week it was 90 degrees, while this weekend is expected to be 60 degrees. You look at history and numbers, and you can always count on a 15-20% boost in demand for Thanksgiving. The weather might throw a wrench in it, but so far everything seems to be on schedule for a smooth transition.”
Some areas are on their last legs after starting behind schedule due to Mother Nature and cooler desert temperatures. Salinas currently has some iceberg and romaine while Church Brothers gears up to kick off harvest season in Yuma before this weekend.
“The Northeast just finished, so we may see an increase in lettuce demand from that region,” Jason shares. “I foresee lettuce and leaf still being fairly good. We’re also thinking there is going to be an increase in demand for the cold weather crops. When you identify the Thanksgiving pull, you identify celery, broccoli, and cauliflower. Even though I think there is an overlap transition coming, I’m optimistic that the cold weather crop demand is going to be pretty good through the transition.”
Church Brothers expects to move completely out of Huron and into Yuma by November 17th, and will be open for business and shipping by the 20th, just in time for a 15-20% increase in demand Jason says can typically be attributed to an active market for the Thanksgiving pull.
For more produce industry news, AndNowUKnow will continue to bring you the latest and greatest in the run up to the holidays.
PASADENA, CA - The wait is over, fan-favorite Cuties' California season has returned with plans to go through April. The brand is launching a multimedia campaign with iHeartMedia, 100 Days of Sunshine, to celebrate the arrival of its sunshine-tasting fruits.
“We grow this sweet little seedless fruit in sunny California and present it into the world during the winter season, a time when people are craving a little extra cheer,” said Howard Nager, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development Cuties grower and shipper, Sun Pacific, in a recent press release. “With 100 Days of Sunshine, we’re leveraging our unique timing in the marketplace and celebrating the happiness we bring to families across the country.”
With attention focused on parents who are toting kids all over town, Cuties’ launch with iHeartMedia’s national radio, outdoor, digital, and social networks will bring the 100 Days of Sunshine campaign to life. Coast-to-coast, parents will be able to tune into the popular iHeartRadio personalities Mario Lopez, Ryan Seacrest and Bobby Bones as they fill everyone in on the on-air and online campaigns. The celebrities will gab about their own parents and kids and then relate the sweet stories to the contests and giveaways they will be hosting.
“This year’s campaign engages our target audience across multiple touchpoints. We’re leveraging well-known influencers like Mario Lopez and Ryan Seacrest to engage our customers, and amplifying that partnerships through targeted digital ads and social posts that drive awareness, engagement and advocacy throughout the campaign,” said Nager.
A cornerstone of the campaign is iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball holiday concert tour, which will be making 12 stops across the country and featuring 40 popular musicians, such as Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Customers will be exposed customized stadium signage and jumbotron-size Cuties ads at these events.
Cuties and iHeart are launching a new contest, “Cuties Correspondent,” where Seacrest and Lopez will be inviting parents to submit videos on Facebook of their kids as they adorably explain what the term “kindness” means to them. This call for submissions shows Cuties sure knows how to tap into cuteness! Of all the videos submitted, one child will be selected to interview celebrities and artists on December 17th’s Jingle Ball red carpet in Miami, Florida. Live broadcasts at Cuties’ retail partners will be showcased and ticket raids will be hosted along the tour via local iHeart radio stations.
Sweet and family-friendly activities will be shared on Cuties’ Facebook and Instagram, as well as www.CutiesCitrus.com, so make sure to check them out! To top it all off, the brand has partnered with health, food, family, and lifestyle influencers across the country to cater to their audiences with custom activities and recipes. The campaign, which started yesterdy, November 1st, will run for 100 days. Make sure you follow along on their journey!
For more fresh produce news, stay with us at AndNowUKnow.
ITALY – Sticker shock may have gastronomes looking for less pricey fungi this season, as an unseasonably hot summer and dry fall have squashed white truffle supplies and sent prices soaring to over $3,000 a pound.
A Bloomberg report notes that the already-expensive aromatic mushrooms have more than doubled in price as of late due to a “dramatically smaller harvest this season.” And The Telegraph reports that, after “the driest autumn in decades,” supply could be reduced by as much as 90 percent.
While prices on preserved products made with truffles will reportedly not see serious fluctuation, because supply of frozen truffles is relatively stable, fresh truffle prices have skyrocketed.
“Let’s say it is a big problem,” Fortunato Nicotra, Executive Chef at New York restaurant Felidia told Bloomberg. “I cannot double my prices. But I cannot be without truffles.”
Nicotra told the news source that he is currently paying up to $3,200 for golf-ball size truffles, and larger-sized truffles could fetch several hundred dollars more. The chef also noted that truffles typically have a narrow profit margin, and the price crunch could easily make offering truffles prohibitively expensive for restaurants.
“You don’t make money with truffles—you are providing a service," Michael White, Chef and Owner of the Altamarea Group, told Bloomberg—noting that because of razor-thin margins, only three of his staffers are permitted to slice truffles. “There’s no room for error—this year, especially.”
Will a truffle crunch bring fine dining to its knees? AndNowUKnow will keep you up to date on produce—pricey and otherwise.
ORANGE COUNTY, CA – The consumers asked, and Zespri answered. With a sweeter taste and longer shelf-life, Zespri is now bringing in its category-changing SunGold Kiwifruit from Italy to meet strong consumer demand and move towards a 12-month supply.
“We’ve been reconfiguring our business structure and building our team to help our customers grow their business, and develop supply options to enable us to become a truly 12-month brand in North America,” explained Ben Hughes, General Manager of the Americas, in a press release. “Our kiwifruit from Italy allows us to extend the season past November as we aim to get closer and closer to a 12-month supply program. The New Zealand Kiwifruit season begins in May and runs through November. We are now able to supply consumers with SunGold Kiwifruit well into winter.”
The Italian SunGold Kiwifruit will be sold in Zespri’s identifiable “Cut. Scoop. Enjoy!” packaging with weight options varying from clamshells, bags, loose bulk, and displays, and featuring clean, simple imagery and messaging that highlights Zespri Kiwifruit’s freshness and taste.
“The SunGold Kiwifruit from Italy will be seamless in its delivery to consumers,” said Hughes. “They just need to look for the Zespri brand and packaging of SunGold. Our Italian SunGold growers achieve the same exceptional taste standards as our New Zealand growers, which ensures great consistency and quality for our customers and consumers.”
With a core team in Italy that works directly with the growers including dedicated technical and grower services teams to oversee growing practices, Zespri is obtaining fruit from Italy in order to meet its growth strategy to grow the kiwifruit category in North America and achieve a year-round supply. Although SunGold leads the growth strategy, Zespri’s goal is to supply a full range of fresh kiwi products including Green, Organic Green, and Organic SunGold.
To support retailers, Zespri offers customized category programs and promotions, which can be developed around each retailer’s specific needs based on customers’ shopping patterns, through their regional market development managers. Zespri is also launching strong consumer and retailer campaigns to support the SunGold variety. Retailers are encouraged to meet with their regional market development managers and utilize available point-of-purchase displays and other merchandising material that feature the “Celebrate the SunGold” consumer graphics to help promote SunGold Kiwifruit.
With gold on the horizon for North American produce aisles, keep your eyes peeled for SunGold Kiwifruit as Zespri gets closer to a year-round supply.
For more produce industry news, keep checking back with AndNowUKnow.