SEATTLE, WA - Backed by its strong consumer following and a plethora of successful growth strategies, Amazon’s latest expansion has hit the newswire in the form of elusively named Project Tiger. With plans dating back to June 2020, the company is moving forward with a leased warehouse in Renton, Washington, where the retailer plans to operate a commercial kitchen according to recently filed permits.
This new food production facility was built to serve Amazon’s Fresh and Go stores along with delivery operations, the retail behemoth confirmed to Puget Sound Business Journal. Part of this Washington-based facility will also act as a corporate office support location.
Currently, Amazon anticipates the entire warehouse to be up and operating by the end of January, although a portion of the facility has been staffed since May 2021. Permits have revealed that operation will be a renovation on an already standing 164,480-square-foot building that includes heating and cooling systems, kitchen hoods, and ventilation and exhaust fans as explained in plans filed in November 2020 under the Project Tiger name.
Amazon’s latest play showcases the quickness of its grocery business expansion, complementing its Amazon Fresh grocery stores around the nation. Two have already been completed in the Seattle area near this facility, with locations in North Seattle and Federal Way slated to open later this year.
Recently, the company has posted job openings in Renton for a food production association, lead, and culinary product developer for “Amazon Kitchen.” One listing for a Senior Culinary Product Developer read, "work at Amazon's first food manufacturing facility to help design fresh prepared products."
While not all of the details have been made known, I am sure that, like many other Amazon projects, this new operation will make a splash in the retail space. For more updates, keep clicking on AndNowUKnow.
WASHINGTON, DC - Entities in the industry that went up against a federal mandate requiring vaccines for those working in large businesses walked away victorious late last week. The ruling, handed down by the Supreme Court, would have impacted some 84 million private sector employees and would have required all businesses with 100 or more workers to either be vaccinated or be tested weekly, according to NPR.
“We are happy that the Supreme Court of the United States sided with private enterprise to not enforce a federal mandate as we believe our Associates should have the freedom to choose whether or not they receive the vaccine,” commented Tony Sarsam, President and Chief Executive Officer of SpartanNash. “We were prepared to comply with the ETS mandate and will continue to strongly encourage vaccination, and administer them throughout our pharmacies. However, we agree with the ruling since we felt the ETS placed a burden on businesses that are already battling the most challenging labor market and supply chain environment we have ever faced. The ETS could have led to disastrous consequences impacting millions of people by crippling our supply chain and increasing food insecurity for Americans. Having one less barrier for our hard-working Associates, who are vital to keeping America’s supply chain moving forward, will help us continue to best deliver the ingredients for a better life to our customers.”
Many industries, including ours, saw businesses join oral arguments before the court on the legality of the mandate. Among them was the National Retail Federation, which shared support in blocking the federal move.
“While NRF has maintained a strong and consistent position related to the importance of vaccines in helping to overcome this pandemic, the Supreme Court’s decision to stay OSHA’s onerous and unprecedented ETS is a significant victory for employers. As NRF and other plaintiffs articulated in our briefs before the court, OSHA clearly exceeded its authority promulgating its original mandate under emergency powers without giving stakeholders the benefit of a rulemaking process,” Senior Vice President of Government Relations David French said on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reimpose a stay of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA).
“NRF urges the Biden Administration to discard this unlawful mandate and instead work with employers, employees, and public health experts on practical ways to increase vaccination rates and mitigate the spread of the virus in 2022,” French continued.
More than 26 trade associations presented on behalf of their industries in the hopes of such a decision. As the industry continues to address the pandemic on multiple fronts, AndNowUKnow will report the latest.
MEXICO AND UNITED STATES - Keeping our eyes on category pricing is par for the course for the writers at ANUK. Recently, elevated prices on limes piqued our curiosity. With the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reporting prices of $56–$60 on a 40 lb carton of 110s or 150s and $60–$64 on a 40 lb carton of 175s or 200s, we turned to members of the industry to confirm.
“The market is currently tight on demand for Persian limes,” Joshua Barragan, Sales Representative for Limoneira, explained to me. “The current pricing we’re seeing is in the high $50’s and low $60’s. There is not much fruit on the trees to pick in the Yucatán, Mexico, region. This was due to some big rains that happened back in late August during Hurricane Grace, which knocked off much of the flowers. Mexican growers are still dealing with weather issues, such as a rain and cold front this week. I think prices will remain high for at least the remainder of the month.”
I also touched base with Paul Catania, President of Catania Worldwide, who clued me in to other factors affecting lime pricing.
Paul also echoed the industry feeling the effects of past storms, which wiped out a significant portion of bloom that would have come to harvest by January and February.
“Another factor that really compounded things this year was a spray program that was intended to keep insects off the fruit, but ended up killing a large portion of the crop,” he commented. “All those Key limes that would normally go to the national market are gone. Freight is also a factor, as we’re seeing freight rising dramatically, and in some cases, it has doubled. That certainly adds to an already difficult situation.”
Matt Catania, Paul’s son and Catania Worldwide’s Sales Manager, hopped on the phone to detail another issue driving up price.
“Because of COVID and the log-jam at the ports on the East Coast and in Florida, the off-shore fruit from Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru have not been able to come over in the same volumes as they normally do. Fewer shipping containers are available, and once they get to the U.S., they clog up at the ports, so they’re not getting into the markets as quickly. Typically, when the off-shore limes come into the market, it drives the Mexican pricing back down. That will happen, but we haven’t yet seen it during this pricing rise,” Matt noted.
Keep reading us here at AndNowUKnow for the latest.
NEW YORK, NY - In early December, we had the pleasure of reporting that BrightFarms' Abby Prior had been promoted to Chief Commercial Officer. With this new appointment, the company has also finalized the formation of its new Commercial team, which will focus on bringing indoor-grown leafy greens into the retail spotlight. I recently had the chance to sit down with Abby and discuss some of the details.
Chandler James: Abby, with the recent acquisition by Cox Enterprises and increasing demand for indoor-grown leafy greens, why is now the perfect time to launch this new team?
Abby Prior: The indoor sector and our company specifically are at an inflection point. Cox has been our lead investor, and now we have more capital to accelerate our pace of building new capacity. For the past six years, our primary focus has been on raising money, and now we are just focused on growing. We are building out our team to be the sort of organization Cox envisions us as; we'll finish this year somewhere around 40 million in retail sales, but Cox would like us in the next five to 10 years to be 10 times that big. So, we're changing the structure of our Commercial team to reflect that. We used to place our sales focus on geographies, and that no longer felt like the appropriate way to do it. So, we now focus on the present and the future.
CJ: I know multiple other leaders were promoted in addition to your new role announcement; can you tell me about their focuses within the Commercial team?
AP: We broke out our sales team with two leadership roles. One is Vice President of Sales, which is held by Matt DiNitto. His focus is to get product out each and every day and serve our existing retail partners extremely well. We named Suzie Dollak as Vice President of Customer Strategy, and her role will be to think about the infrastructure needed to achieve 10 times more growth in the future.
We've also elevated some people on our marketing team. Jessica Soare has been promoted to Director of Marketing on the brand side, and her job is to figure out how to communicate all of this to the consumer through packaging, positioning, and more. Marissa Arguelles is now our Director of Innovation, and she's working on the next phase of BrightFarms' products as we seek to truly replicate the whole offering of the salad category.
CJ: Strong relationships with retailers will clearly be very important as you pursue these long-term goals. In what ways will BrightFarms wield those relationships to best represent the indoor leafy greens category?
AP: Over the next five to 10 years, our goal is for retail partners in the geographies where we have our farms to see us as a complete category solution for indoor leafy greens. We hope to allow buyers to source their whole category from us through consistency of service, a strong track record in order fill and food safety, and driving consumer demand to be a one-stop shop.
We highly value our long-standing, deep partnerships with retailers, and we want to be seen as the player that will go the extra mile. One of our values as an organization is fanatical customer service—we want to do more than what's expected of us to earn the trust of our retail partners.
CJ: The opportunity for growth seems infinite! What are some of the upcoming developments at the farm level that will position BrightFarms as a leader in this space?
AP: One of the things I'm most excited for is what we can do in terms of impacting the sustainability of the produce supply chain. As we build these new farms, there are some exciting ideas coming forth around how they can run on dramatically less energy, how we continue to take miles off the road, and how we can cut carbon emissions out of the supply chain.
We're just getting started in the effort to make indoor leafy greens a staple item. BrightFarms is going to be a strong player, and we see other companies doing a really great job as well. I think a few players are going to come forward as the leaders of the space and really drive the conversion to indoor, and we are overjoyed to be at the helm of those efforts.
It's only up from here for BrightFarms, and ANUK will be here to celebrate its success along the way.
BOISE, ID - Albertsons Companies is continuing to drive year-over-year growth across its organization. Several concentrated efforts contributed to a sales boost during the third quarter of fiscal 2021. Ultimately, the company reported net sales and other revenue was $16.7 billion during the 12 weeks ended December 4, 2021.
“We are pleased with our third quarter results as we continue to execute against our transformation strategy. A favorable economic backdrop together with the heroic performance of our frontline retail, distribution, and manufacturing teams contributed to these better-than-expected results,” said Vivek Sankaran, Chief Executive Officer. “Also driving these results was our continued focus on in-store excellence, acceleration of our digital and omnichannel capabilities, and delivery of our productivity initiatives. During the quarter, we continued to gain market share in both units and dollars and saw ongoing improvement in both the in-store and online customer experience.”
The impressive net sales result is compared to the $15.4 billion earned during the 12 weeks ended December 5, 2020, marking an increase of $1.3 billion. According to the report, sales related to stores acquired and opened since the third quarter of fiscal 2020 was a large contributor to this growth.
This increase can also be attributed to a number of other growth metrics:
- Identical sales increased 5.2 percent; on a two-year stacked basis identical sales growth was 17.5 percent
- Digital sales increased 9 percent; on a two-year stacked basis digital sales growth was 234 percent
- Net income of $425 million, or $0.74 per Class A common share
- Adjusted net income of $457 million, or $0.79 per Class A common share
- Adjusted EBITDA of $1,051 million
This growth is especially impressive as Albertsons has navigated a difficult time period during which higher supply chain costs and increased product prices posed challenges to the industry.
We will continue to keep an eye on the growth of Albertsons and other big-box retail chains, so don’t go anywhere.
HOUSTON, TX - If Sysco didn’t have a trophy case before, I’d imagine that the team is erecting one now. The company received an incredible honor this week, as Sysco was named the #1 Food and Drug Retailer in the JUST 100 Rankings for 2022. This is the first time Sysco has been recognized with this honor, spotlighted for uplifting its workers, customers, communities, the environment, and shareholders.
“We are extremely proud to be at the top of the list in the food and drug retailer segment this year,” says Neil Russell, Senior Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Chief Communication Officer. “This is a testament to the great work Sysco is doing in progressing our Corporate Social Responsibly goals which center around caring for people and communities, sourcing products responsibly, and protecting the planet.”
Through vigorous, objective analysis, JUST Capital, in partnership with CNBC, evaluated and celebrated United States corporations that outperform on the issues that matter most to the American public, a press release explained.
Sysco stood out for its work in creating jobs in the U.S., paying a fair living wage, prioritizing accountability to all stakeholders, protecting worker health and safety, providing benefits and work-life balance, cultivating a diverse and inclusive workplace, producing sustainable products, and protecting customer privacy.
Congratulations to Sysco on this high honor!
YAKIMA, WA - With its successful proprietary Opal Apple variety as an anchor, FirstFruits Marketing is setting out to inspire more portfolio growth across its other commodity categories. As part of the voyage, the purveyor has brought Stadelman Fruit aboard as its partner for pear growing and distribution.
“We are excited to add Stadelman Fruit as a partner,” said Chuck Zeutenhorst, President of FirstFruits Marketing. “This relationship will help us expand our already extensive fulfillment ability and continue to position us as a leader of the apple, pear, and cherry categories.”
This new partnership officially kicked off on January 4, 2022, and shipping of Stadelman’s fruit began on January 10, 2022, according to a release. As part of the collaboration, Stadelman Fruit will coordinate with FirstFruits Marketing to meet the needs of its retail partners, providing greater supply to support demand.
Stadelman Fruit boasts over 100 years of operation and more than 70 years of experience shipping pears in both domestic and international markets, proving the company to be a formidable ally for FirstFruits. Together, the pair will expand on the robust line of apples that FirstFruits Marketing offers, including its popular Opal variety known for its crisp, sweet, and naturally non-browning characteristics.
“Our experience combined with FirstFruits’s strong retailer relationships will make for a robust partnership,” added Troy Elliott, Vice President for Stadelman Fruit. “Everyone at Stadelman was enthusiastically preparing for January 10.”
Having set sail toward new expansion horizons, how will this new partnership inspire greater growth for FirstFruits? As always, AndNowUKnow will bring you the answers.
KEASBEY, NJ - In the retail space, innovation, convenience, and safety continue to inspire shopper loyalty. Picking up on this trend, ShopRite has unveiled its new QuickCollect GO!™ POD, where consumers can quickly pick up their online grocery orders from a temperature-controlled outdoor pod for an easy contactless experience.
“The QuickCollect GO!™ POD will make it even easier for our shoppers at the New Rochelle store to pick up their online orders,” said Steve Savas, President, Shop-Rite Supermarkets (SRS), which operates ShopRite stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Hudson Valley and Capital Region in New York. “It’s self-checkout and pickup for online orders that’s done right outside the store. We are excited to be the first grocer on the East Coast with this technology.”
This smart grocery retrieval system is capable of holding ambient, refrigerated, and frozen foods, making shoppers’ entire grocery orders available for pickup with one simple solution, according to a press release. The free-standing pod is now available as an option at the ShopRite of New Rochelle, New York, offering convenience for local consumers.
Developed by Bell and Howell, a provider of automated e-commerce pick up solutions, the QuickCollect GO! utilizes robotic automation that allows secure delivery and retrieval of online orders anytime. The first totes start dispensing to consumers in under one minute, reducing wait time for those picking up their products.
All of this happens using Bell and Howell’s next-generation automation and intelligent software. Once shoppers place their orders online, the pod keeps items safe and secure until the consumer picks them up with a unique code. When their orders are ready, shoppers receive a text message containing a QR code to scan at the pod’s console screen, bringing the order to the pickup portal. Offerings like the QuickCollect GO! POD are continuing to drive trend progression and giving consumers the convenience they desire from e-commerce.
“Retailers like ShopRite recognize that consumer convenience and fulfillment efficiency are critical to the next level of e-commerce,” stated Larry Blue, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bell and Howell. “Our data shows that consumers enjoy the convenience of this new individual automated curbside pickup with our QuickCollect GO! POD.”
Where will ShopRite take this innovative solution next? Keep reading AndNowUKnow for the latest updates.
SANTA MARIA, CA - With 60 years under its belt, it’s safe to say that Bobalu Berries knows a thing or two about navigating the fresh produce industry. Taking its knowledge and applying it to its 2022 growth strategy, the berry supplier has unveiled well-laid expansion plans featuring increased acreage and availability, developing new partnerships, and building out its online presence.
“We are very pleased that for the first time, we will have fresh berries all 365 days of 2022 from California,” explains Cindy Jewell, Marketing. “Bobalu typically relies fully on fresh volume from Mexico during December after the Santa Maria, California, fall crop ends, and before the spring crop begins in Oxnard, California. However, for the first time in our 60-year history, we added a fall Oxnard crop that will help carry fresh California fruit into 2023. Meanwhile, our crops from Mexico will complement domestic fruit, providing a beneficial overlap during the holidays.”
Adding to the grower’s surge in berry availability, Bobalu will also be upping its summer planted acreage to provide smoother transitions from the spring and early summer to the fall crop. The supplier will be growing its acreage by 20 percent from previous years, keeping volume more consistent to provide its customers with a steady supply and more promotional opportunities.
Backed by increased volumes, Bobalu will be expanding its foodservice business in 2022, bolstering its presence in the sector at a key time as restaurants reopen following pandemic shutdowns.
“Now that we have this year-round California volume, we can compete in terms of availability as well as on quality and flavor, so, our business is quickly expanding in the foodservice sector,” says Cindy. “We are also enthusiastic that, for the first time, Bobalu will be participating in the annual Foodservice Conference in Monterey, California, as a result. It is exciting to be entering into new segments of the industry to round out our business.”
Supplementing these operational expansions, Bobalu is also looking forward to evolving its relationships with consumers through its recently updated website and its social media presence via influencer partnerships and more.
“Consumers are hungry for easy recipe solutions, tips, and hacks, along with information about the brands they align with,” Cindy imparts. “Our added communication and engagement will work to support increased purchases and usage of Bobalu berries by our current and new brand followers.”
Although the old adage says that even the best-laid plans can go awry, Bobalu is going into 2022 prepared for the challenges that could be in store following the hurdles that 2021 had to offer—after all, six decades in the industry means plenty of time to hone one’s expertise.
“As we navigate 2022, we are being cautious about our growth, aligning with our customers, and staying focused on the supply side to keep our crops moving,” adds Cindy. “Bobalu has a strong, close team. Challenges will come and go, so we are all coming together to concentrate on growth, strong communication, and packing quality and flavor in every box of berries.”
With all of that said, cheers to 2022 and to Bobalu as it celebrates 60 years of growth and well-earned success!
MONTENEGRO - Bananas have once again fallen prey to the unsavory actions of criminals as Montenegrin authorities seized almost half a ton of cocaine, approximately 881 lbs, in the country’s capital of Podgorica.
“This was second large [sic] cocaine seizure in five months. We continue the joint fight against drug cartels; determined, brave and uncompromising,” said Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic in a Twitter post.
The packages of alleged cocaine were uncovered by workers in the Voli retailer company’s warehouse, according to BalkanInsights. After finding the packages, Voli’s management called the police to inspect the banana shipment.
This was the country’s third seizure of cocaine hidden within banana shipments in the last eight years. In August 2021, police seized over 3,000 lbs of cocaine in the village of Mojanovici, once again concealed amongst the fruit. Previously, in 2014, they seized 551 lbs within a shipment that was predicted to be worth approximately $14 million.
Thank you to the vigilant authorities who continue to protect the reputation of the fresh produce we hold dear.