SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Two powerful delivery forces have teamed up, resulting in a strategic new alliance. Instacart has announced a partnership with Uber Eats, bringing the company’s popular restaurant delivery service to Instacart customers.

"Through this partnership, Instacart customers now have access to both the best online grocery selection in the U.S. and restaurant delivery, making it even easier for them to conveniently tackle all their food needs from a single app," said Fidji Simo, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of Instacart. "Whether it's ingredients for a beloved family recipe, a prepared meal from a nearby grocer, or takeout from a favorite restaurant—customers can now get the food they want, from the retailers and restaurants they love, all within the Instacart app."

Instacart customers nationwide will be able to use the app to order from hundreds of thousands of restaurants, powered by Uber Eats, in the coming weeks. As a press release detailed, the experience will be featured through a new "Restaurants" tab in the Instacart app, which provides a user-friendly interface that allows consumers to choose from a selection of nearby restaurants, browse menus, place orders, and track deliveries in real time.

Shoppers will also still be able to order groceries for the week from Instacart's more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners across more than 85,000 stores.

"Our goal is to make it effortless for people to go anywhere and get anything," said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. "We're excited that this new strategic partnership with Instacart will bring the magic of Uber Eats to even more consumers, drive more business for restaurants, and create more earnings opportunities for couriers."

This strategic alliance extends the efforts of both companies to create technologies and solutions that support brick-and-mortar businesses, the release explained, as Uber and Instacart aim to help restaurants and retailers grow by creating new opportunities for them to reach customers online. To read more about this strategy, click here.

With retail and foodservice blended on one popular platform, what opportunities will arise for increasing produce consumption?

ANUK will continue to explore.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE, CA - Another testament to its unwavering commitment to philanthropy and supporting communities in need, Allen Lund Company (ALC) recently gained recognition from the San Gabriel Region of Catholic Charities Los Angeles as a Spirit of Caring Awardee.

“Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, San Gabriel Region serves thousands of people every year,” Kenny Lund, Executive Vice President, stated. “They provide shelter, food, support, and care for an area with great need. To be recognized by them is a wonderful compliment. Our family and the Allen Lund Company employees are pleased to support their efforts and to collaborate with them to reach out to even more. It is a pleasure to be affiliated with this great organization.”

ALC garnered this recognition through the impact of its Acts of Kindness program, which challenges each of its offices and departments to give back to their communities through acts of service. To date, the company averages 100 acts each year across all offices and employees, a press release explained.

ALC and the Lund family were honored yesterday, May 8, during the Charities San Gabriel Region Volunteer Recognition Dinner.

In addition to its impactful Acts of Kindness program, ALC employees and the Lund family employ various other efforts to support communities across the Greater Los Angeles area, including involvement with Catholic Charities, Navidad en el Barrio, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Verbum Dei Jesuit High School, and the St. Edward Retreat Center, and Camp Lolek. In fact, the transportation broker was recognized with the inaugural Besties Award for Best Philanthropic Initiatives back in 2022.

Congrats to ALC on this well-deserved recognition!

NOGALES, AZ - Looking to strengthen your produce department with high-quality table grapes? Look no further. As we caught up to discuss the recent Spring Grape Summit in San Diego, California, Divine Flavor’s Senior Vice President of Sales Carlos Bon pointed to a unique opportunity for retailers to increase their overall grape sales.

“When we analyze the consumer data, we’re seeing that some of the key drivers for category growth in the last couple of years have been in incremental purchases and specialties that don’t cannibalize the regular green and red sales,” Carlos explains, uncovering an opportunity for grocers to increase the category’s overall basket share.

“Some of the biggest opportunities in the table grape sector are in specialty and organic grapes. Divine Flavor is the largest organic and specialty grape grower in Mexico, and we plan to grow even further in terms of volume and promotion opportunities,” Carlos continued.

With a wide range of premium, high-flavor varieties in its portfolio, Carlos emphasizes Divine Flavor’s ability to establish a unique channel of demand in the space—one that leads to more table grapes in shoppers’ baskets. This is backed by the company’s expansion into Jalisco, Mexico, which allows it to hone the flavors of its premium grape varieties longer to deliver the best eating experience to consumers.

Beyond the unique appeal of its robust portfolio, Divine Flavor also maintains its competitive edge by providing its partners with a convenient, one-stop shop for their fresh produce needs.

“We provide increased value on the logistics side,” Carlos assures. “Our customers greatly appreciate the fact that we offer a one-stop shop for a variety of produce items. We want to make things easier for our partners, and what better way to do it than by meeting all of their needs at one stop?”

You heard it here first! Up your organic and specialty grape assortment and watch the table grape sales rise.

For more category opportunities, leave a tab open to ANUK.

BAYONNE, NJ - "Pop. Drop. Done.” It’s a fresh new culinary concept bringing increased excitement to the herb space as Kayco Beyond announces a transformative rebrand for its Dorot Gardens® label.

“The new Dorot Gardens branding now has larger, more prominent flavor callouts and individual colors assigned to each flavor! The new package will ensure consumers pick the right flavor to avoid making a flavor mistake so they can use the different flavors hassle-free,” explained Laura Morris, Marketing Director of Dorot Gardens.

Vibrant packaging with a sleek design and compelling messaging will appeal to home cooks worldwide, highlighting the coveted ease, quality, and convenience of the supplier’s pre-portioned flash-frozen garlic and herbs. This strategic shift marks the most significant evolution of the brand since the launch of its notable purple package in 2017, a press release detailed.

Dorot Gardens’ high-quality garlic and herbs are grown, washed, peeled, and chopped, then flash-frozen and pre-portioned for easy use. Without the need for chopping and measuring, consumers have access to garden-fresh flavors conveniently in their own kitchens. Each product has a two-year shelf-life, allowing even out-of-season ingredients to maintain their freshness.

The current Dorot Gardens lineup includes Crushed Garlic, Crushed Ginger, Chopped Basil, Sautéed Glazed Onions, Chopped Cilantro, Crushed Turmeric, Chopped Parsley, and Chopped Dill—all perfectly portioned in innovative trays. 

The rebrand elements will be integrated across all product SKUs and serve as the cornerstone of a revamped website, in-store displays, digital and social media campaigns, and advertisements, the release stated.

"We wanted the new packaging and brand assets to convey clearly: Dorot Gardens is revolutionizing cooking, ensuring richer, fresher flavors and aromas. We are confident that the new packaging will ‘pop’ off the freezer shelves into the consumer’s carts,” Morris added.

For more updates on this brand and more, keep an eye out for that little apple logo.

ZAANDAM, THE NETHERLANDS - Ahold Delhaize recently released its financial report from Q1 2024 alongside its 2024 outlook. Within, President and Chief Executive Officer Frans Muller detailed how the retail group is working toward implementing a new strategy throughout its operations to drive growth.

"I am pleased to report a stable first quarter, placing us well on track to reach our goals and aspirations for the year. The external environment remained challenging, similar to the second half of 2023. Our brands have been very active during the quarter in delivering great value, quality, and savings to customers, creatively using the full spectrum of their own-brand assortments and omnichannel toolkits,” Muller noted.

Highlights from the financial include:

• Q1 Group net sales were €21.7 billion (USD $23.3 billion), up 1.3 percent at constant exchange rates and up 0.4 percent at actual exchange rates
• Net consumer online sales decreased by 1 percent in Q1 at constant exchange rates, negatively impacted by 5.7 percentage points due to the divestment of FreshDirect. This was partially offset by double-digit growth at Food Lion and Hannaford and accelerating growth at Albert Heijn

Focusing on the United States market, Muller had this to say.

“In the U.S., our decision to orient our online fulfillment capabilities toward more efficient, less asset-intense same-day delivery models, such as click and collect, is also paying off. Our online sales in the U.S. grew 4.7 percent in the first quarter on a like-for-like basis, fueled by new customer growth, as well as strong retention of existing e-commerce customers,” he noted.

We can’t help but recall the growth seen by Food Lion and Hannaford, as referenced above in the highlights.

“[…] Ahold Delhaize USA launched a first supplier collaboration focusing on reducing carbon emissions, with several more to follow this year,” Muller added, speaking to some company firsts driving growth in the United States.

To see the financial report in full, click here.

ANUK will continue to report on the latest retail news, so stay tuned.

LEAMINGTON, ON, CANADA - Asking “What is this?” has shifted in the mind of consumers. Gone are the days when this statement was a nail in a new item’s clamshell coffin—now it elicits a tone of intrigue and adventure.

“There is something to be said for consumer appreciation for new colors in food. They are curious and intrigued by what used to be terrifying,” Matt Quiring, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, observed.

It’s one of many assets the Vice President of Sales for Nature Fresh Farms® sees for the bright future of the company’s recently launched Sweet S’NAPS™. Debuted in a multitude of colors with a flavor profile and texture likened more to a Granny Smith apple than a traditional pepper, it is an offering Matt doubled down on as a disruptor of the category.

“You will not find a better-tasting pepper on the market that delivers this experience, I guarantee it,” Matt said. “Put this on the shelf, get people to taste it, and you will watch your sales in the category rise. For our part, it's not a question: We know it's going to do well—not out of arrogance, but because we've done our research. We know what we have.”

Matt walked me through a painstaking process of raw consumer trials that not only gave the team open reactions to Sweet S’NAPS, but that resulted in the entire brand and pack we now see as the final product.

“The findings completely diverted our branding plan, and the result is our current Sweet S’NAPS pack. Everything was developed with the consumer in mind. We did consumer research studies—qualitative and quantitative—which guided us in our brand proposition,” Matt shared, telling me this was a critical step in offering something disruptive.

You are, after all, facing the challenge of defying expectations. While this is a highly sought-after achievement, it also means establishing new expectations and education—a key retail need pointed out by CPMA’s international retail panel David Dudley of Sprouts Farmers Market, Daniel Bell of Grocery Outlet, and John Haycox of Costco.

“We've made it easy to understand what the product is by identifying usages on the packaging, we've called out flavor profile right in the name and the brand of the product, and now we're tying it all together with demos and merchandising programs to create product understanding,” Matt emphasizes. “When we look at launching tasty and new products at retail now, we know driving trial will be our primary path to success- especially with products that are different and taste so good like Sweet S’NAPS.”

In addition to Matt’s experience and faith in the product are the numbers seen across the Pond. In Europe, Nature Fresh is seeing these long, sweet peppers beginning to dominate the market.

“I understand they're roughly 50 percent of the sales dollars right now in the pepper category. Generally, what we see over there translates five years down the road here. Those sales domestically are less than 5 percent of the entire pepper category—there's a ton of opportunity in different usage occasions and through development of this category, not to mention the superior flavor compared to the standard bell peppers,” Matt said. And thanks to a wildly impressive shelf-life of Sweet S’NAPS, Nature Fresh is able to ship from coast to coast. “Just yesterday I was touring stores in British Columbia and product looked like it was picked yesterday off the vine!”

With so much potential on the horizon and the accolade of being the biggest push the esteemed greenhouse grower has brought to market in its 20-year history, this is an exciting offering to watch in the months and years ahead.

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Post-harvest innovation is being accelerated by the 2024 Post-Harvest Academy, hosted by AgroFresh Solutions and recently acquired Pace International, today, May 8, in Cle Elum, Washington. With a central focus on the apple industry, the event brings together leading voices from Washington State University and beyond to explore topics such as emerging diseases and internal disorders in apples, navigating organic regulations, and the role of ethylene management in apple quality.

“The acquisition of Pace International by AgroFresh in March provided an exciting opportunity to continue the tradition of the Post-Harvest Academy for a 12^th consecutive year,” said Rodrigo Cifuentes, recently named Regional Commercial Director, North America, AgroFresh. “We eagerly anticipate the exceptional learning—and important engagement—that will occur at this year’s event.”

The invitation-only event features a variety of presenters from Washington State University, including Dr. Carolina Torres, Associate Professor, Endowed Chair in Postharvest Systems, and Achour Amiri, Associate Professor of Plant Pathology.

The event also hosts speakers such as:

• Desmond O’Rourke, President, Belrose
• Simone Seifert-Higgins, Regulatory Manager, AgroFresh
• Jim Spadafora, Director, Global Product Development, AgroFresh

O'Rourke is presenting “Coping with a Changing World,” an exploration that promises to provide valuable industry insights as he conducts his annual marketing analysis of deciduous fruits worldwide, a press release explained.

"To overcome future challenges and exploit opportunities, the Northwest fruit industry needs to develop a much more comprehensive database on its supply, orchard, packing, and marketing system to effectively address future challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities," says O'Rourke.

The event closes out with a future-focused panel discussion on empowering digital transformation in individual operations.

Valuable insights and opportunities for industry growth are sure to come out of this event, so stay tuned for more updates.