A newly released study conducted by Vericast indicates consumers are leaving brands that aren’t perceived to offer value. The 2021 Deals & Coupons Report conducted by the marketing solutions company reveals that consumers are increasingly …
Over the past twelve months, national brands have turned the tables on private label, racking up a higher percentage of total dollar sales for edible products and beverages. The new data suggests a shifting landscape …
Restaurants and hotels are pushing back against unruly customers and eschewing the adage “the customer is always right.” Some 60% of restaurant workers said they had suffered from emotional abuse and disrespect from customers, and …
As they brace for what’s expected to be intense holiday demand, warehouse operators are boosting pay, acquiring more talent, and enlisting robots, reported The Wall Street Journal (Sept. 26). TALENT ACQUISITION PUSH Demand for distribution …
While Amsterdam-based e-grocery platform Picnic recently made headlines by raising $707 million in a Series D funding round led by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, perhaps the bigger news is how Picnic and other food …
Fresh fruit dollar sales at the retail level continue to enjoy growth when compared to 2020, according to Food Institute analysis of IRI data. In the 52 weeks ending Sept. 5, dollar sales of items …
The retail industry is hiring at a record pace. In June, the industry saw 1.1 million job openings even after more than 1.1 million workers got hired in a massive hiring spree, reported NPR (Aug. 26). Still, employment …
Albertsons Cos. has entered the shoppable media space in a new collaboration with video platform Firework. Through the partnership, the grocer aims to transform its digital offerings with community-oriented experiences led by interactive short-form and …
Online grocer Misfits Market Inc. nearly doubled its valuation in just five months, making it a unicorn twice over. The direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform buys so-called “ugly” produce from farmers that cannot be sold to stores for aesthetic reasons …
Hy-Vee, the Midwest grocery chain with more than 280 stores across eight states, feels it has “reimagined” the traditional supermarket. The chain recently opened a nearly 93,000-square-foot store in Grimes, Iowa, that features a few …
Food waste has become a significant issue around the world, but nowhere more so than in America. In fact, about $161 billion of food is wasted in the U.S. every year, per Rubicon research. In …
A detour to the grocery store on the way home from work used to be just part of the daily grind, but all that has changed, and Amazon’s entry into the grocery business is moving …
Demand for more nutritious food options on children’s menus continues to climb as health-conscious Millennial parents seek options that align with their own dietary values. Now more restaurants seem to be responding, with traditional kids …
According to industry experts, consumers can expect to see higher prices in the last quarter of this year in several grocery categories. Ingredient suppliers are seeing longer lead times because of issues like labor shortages …
As competition intensifies across the media advertising landscape, major retail players are differentiating themselves with technologically-optimized content that advances the omnichannel purchasing experience. The recent partnership between Walmart and media corporation Meredith has upped the …
On a recent earnings call, Kroger CFO Gary Millerchip said the retailer will be “passing along higher cost to the customer where it makes sense to do so.” The CFO acknowledged the company’s facing pressures …
As the U.S. restaurant industry pushes towards pandemic recovery, a new report from Lending Tree shows some cities are bouncing back faster than others. For the study, researchers examined four key metrics from the 50 …
Coffee’s popularity in the U.S. shows no signs of slowing. More than half of Americans over 18 years old drink coffee daily, with the average coffee drinker consuming three cups of coffee per day, as …
Dealing with a shallow labor pool, major companies are increasingly turning to creative – and, in some cases, controversial – measures to attract new hires. Here’s a look at some unique moves made recently along …
Higher pay. Flexible work hours. A retirement account. What more do workers want? The answer is: plenty. The pandemic changed the way a lot of people think about work, and employers are not only scrambling …
Ahead of Labor Day Weekend, the labor situation for grocers and restaurants is anything but rosy. Although both the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and ADP showed a net gain in jobs for August, hiring …
Of the approximately 7,300 U.S. stores opened, or planned to open in 2020 and 2021, 43% are dollar stores, according to Coresight Research. Dollar General opened 1,000 new stores in 2020 and has 1,050 more …
Food companies have had to get creative to attract workers during the ongoing labor shortage. An Oregon McDonald’s is now even looking to hire teen workers as young as 14, according to a report from …
Chronic labor shortages and mandatory overtime appear to be fueling union unrest as the economy bounces back from the pandemic, with workers realizing they aren’t as powerless as they once were. “With the pandemic and …
The COVID-19 pandemic simply accelerated Americans’ shift to a home-centric lifestyle, according to a new report by The NPD Group. But the tendency to largely hunker down at home was already apparent prior to the …
It seems like every few weeks food delivery apps are finding themselves in hot water. Most recently, Chicago officials accused both DoorDash and Grubhub of harming city restaurants and customers through high fees and other deceptive …
Loyalty programs continue to gain traction across the food industry as restaurants and retailers implement new offerings to capitalize on customer allegiance. The increase is widely tied to pandemic-induced spikes in digital commerce along with …
Bojangles closed all of its company-owned stores today and will do so again on September 13 in an effort to give its employees and managers a “well-deserved break.” However, employees will not be paid for …
With daily COVID cases up 11% since last week in the U.S., signs of the pandemic’s staying power threaten to disrupt the nascent effort to attain some semblance of normalcy. The Delta variant has turned …
Albertsons Cos. has begun piloting an Instacart-powered online grocery pickup service in six major cities. The new click-and-collect service, which is currently available in 40 stores, will work in tandem with Albertsons’ Drive Up & …
Walmart plans to open up its in-house delivery platform, Spark Driver, to other businesses. The retailer is doing so to allow the independent contractors out delivering Walmart merchandise to make additional deliveries along the way, …
With July U.S. retail sales off 1.1% overall, Walmart bucked the trend, reporting a second-quarter increase of 2.4%, compared to last year, while Amazon missed revenue estimates for the first time in nearly three years. …
What will the post-pandemic future hold for wine retailers? The global wine sector is large and highly fragmented, so it’ll take some time to fully measure and understand COVID’s impact on the segment. For wine …
With ESG topics becoming increasingly important to consumers, food companies are noticeably increasing their efforts. Below are a few recent examples of new ESG initiatives in the industry. MCCORMICK ADVANCES SUSTAINABILITY STANDARD McCormick & Company …
Editor’s note: Juan Ruiz is a finance and investment professional with over 30 years’ experience collecting and reviewing wines. He’s a graduate of New York’s Institute of Culinary Education’s Intensive Sommelier Program and a certified …
As pandemic restrictions eased, pent-up consumer demand kept inflation elevated. In July, the overall consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.5%, a somewhat moderate gain relative to recent increases. Yet, over the past 12 months, price …
