Market News

7-Eleven Expands

7-Eleven, Dallas, TX, has introduced quite a few new lines of private label products this summer.

In late July, the retailer introduced a private label line of bottled soft drinks called "Big Gulp," named after the mammoth sized fountain drinks sold in 7-Eleven stores.

Four flavors are available in 20-ounce bottles: Diet Cola with Splenda, Cola with pure cane sugar, Mint Lime Twist, and Ginger Apple Snap.

In addition to having a product considered to be proprietary, the packaging also will be distinctive, with a wide mouth unusual among bottled soft drinks, allowing consumers to take a "big gulp."

The retailer has also partnered with Pepsi to create a new private label soda flavor called Frawg, available since early August. Targeted to teens and 20-somethings, Frawg is a new apple-flavored, caffeinated soda available as both a Slurpee and a Big Gulp fountain drink. 7-Eleven has exclusive rights to Frawg for one year.

More recently, Formula 7, a line of functional foods and beverages, has been introduced. The initial 7-Eleven product lineup includes bottled and canned beverages, as well as two nutritional bars, each designed specifically to enhance energy, fitness, or endurance. The products are fortified with vitamins, minerals, herbs, antioxidants, amino acids, and other natural ingredients.

The suggested retail price for both the bottled beverages and bars is $1.79, and $2.49 for the canned energy drinks.

Functional and fortified foods and beverages are the top-selling category of packaged consumer health and wellness goods, with sales reaching $23.4 billion in 2004, according to the National Marketing Institute.

SHOW PREVIEW

HBA Expo

The 13th annual Health & Beauty America (HBA) expo, a leading health, beauty, and personal care product development trade show and conference, will be held from Tuesday September 27 to Thursday September 29 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York. HBA will feature an extensive educational program addressing a wide range of marketing, product development, and business strategy topics. The exhibit floors will also feature the latest products and services from the top companies in the business. Among the expected 550 international exhibitors representing 65 countries will be formulators, contract fillers, ingredient suppliers and private label manufacturers as well as packaging, dispensing and labeling companies.

The keynote address will be given on Tuesday, September 27, at 9:00 AM by Susan J. Kropf, president and COO of Avon Products, Inc.

For more information, visit www.hbaexpo.com.

Food Lion's Merlot

Food Lion, Salisbury, NC, has added a merlot to its exclusive Braidenwood Estates wine collection. The retailer introduced Braidenwood Estates Wine earlier this year with the debut of a cabernet and chardonnay. The new Braidenwood Estates Merlot has a smooth, rich texture, balanced by aromas of toasty oak, dark fruits and spice.

Food Lion is offering the new merlot in a debut-size 11.25-oz, the equivalent of 2-3 glasses. The introductory price is $5 for two bottles.

Braidenwood Estates is made exclusively for Food Lion by the Canandaigua Wine Co., based in Canandaigua, NY.

Albertsons Introduces Angus Beef

Albertson's, Inc. announced today that it is introducing Wild Harvest all natural ground beef products in its Albertsons, Acme, and Jewel-Osco food stores. The new items, which include Angus Ground Beef Round, Angus Ground Beef Chuck, and Angus Beef burger frozen patties, and were available in stores in early August.

Target Steps Outside

Target, Minneapolis, MN, recently announced that it has signed a deal with Smith & Hawken, an upscale gardening and outdoor living brand, according to a report by The Retail Merchandiser. Smith & Hawken will design an exclusive line of items for the retailer that will be available in Target garden centers in late 2005 and in Target stores nationwide in March 2006.

The Hunt for Private Label

K-VA-T Food Stores' Food City, Abingdon, VA, has announced its annual Food City/Food Club $100,000 Treasure Hunt, running now through October 15. Food City shoppers gain automatic entry into the contest each time they purchase three or more Food City, Food Club, Pet Club/Paws, Top Crest, Top Care, Valu Time, Dining In, Full Circle or World Classics Corporate Brand products during the same shopping visit, using their Food City ValuCard.

Eighteen shoppers will be randomly selected through the contest period to contend for cash prizes. The Food City Treasure Hunt team will visit these shoppers' homes. Winners will receive $200 for presenting their Food City Valu Card to the Treasure Hunt Prize Team and an additional $100 for each corporate brand product found in their home. The maximum payout is $10,000 per winner.

Private Label Doing Well

More than two-thirds of global consumers consider private label products to be a "good alternative" to other brands and an "extremely good value for the money;" while nearly as many believe such products offer quality that's "at least as good as that of the usual big brands," according to a new global consumer survey by ACNielsen.

The ACNielsen online study, which polled consumers in 38 markets, found that Americans, in particular, have embraced private label products.

Consumer perceptions that private label brands are a good alternative to other brands are most prevalent in the highly developed private label regions of Europe (78%), the Pacific (78%), and North America (77%). This compares to 64% of Latin Americans and 51% of consumers in Asia.

To see an overview of the survey visit http://acnielsen.com/press/data_privatelabel.shtml.

SHOW PREVIEW

NFRA Convention

The 2005 National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Convention (NFRA) will be held at the Hilton San Francisco in California. The Convention-themed A Golden Opportunity-will provide a forum for frozen and refrigerated food industry decision-makers from across the U.S. to meet at a single venue to conduct multiple key business meetings, network, and engage in discussion on the latest industry trends.

The convention is designed with extensive networking opportunities as its focus. This structure helps attendees forge working relationships within the industry to not only increase sales but also to build on cross-marketing and merchandising opportunities.

Attendees can take advantage of many other opportunities throughout the convention. Highlights include educational sessions by top industry experts; the Golden Penguin Awards Reception and Banquet, which honors the 2004 Golden Penguin winners for March National Frozen Food Month, June Dairy Month, and the June/July Summer Favorites Ice Cream & Novelties promotion; and the Café NFRA, the convention's most popular gathering place.

For more information, visit www.nfraweb.org.

Food and Furniture?

Following the success of its in-store restaurants and food markets, furniture retailer Ikea, Helsingborg, Sweden, is planning to offer private label food products beginning next year, according to Datamonitor, an industry research firm.

Ikea began selling food in the 1980s, and this concept has since expanded into "Food Markets," which encompass both Ikea's successful restaurants and its food retailing. Ikea's Food Markets currently stock 150 Swedish products, few of which are sold under the Ikea brand, but the retailer aims for private label products to make up 30 percent of the groceries it sells by 2007. According to Euromonitor, "the retailer also intends to tap into the current trend for move from conventional to organic ingredients in its food range whenever possible."

The Costco Connection

Costco, Issaquah, WA, has recently struck an unusual deal with Kimberly-Clark Corp., manufacturer of Huggies, to not only supply the retailer with its new Kirkland Signature private label diapers, but to handle the consumer affairs support for the diapers as well, according to a report by Advertising Age.

Costco ousted Procter & Gamble Co.'s Pampers from 70 percent of its stores in June as part of the deal.

Gourmet Groceries

Central Market, San Antonio, TX, the successful gourmet store format operated by H-E-B Grocery Co., continues to build a distinctive own-brand franchise for its seven Texas stores, according to the Progressive Grocer. The retailer has introduced more products bearing the CM private label.The program's highlights include CM organics, with new items including frozen fruit, frozen vegetables, balsamic vinegar, and canned tomatoes, as well as CM all-natural products, with the latest additions of peanut butters, pastas, pizzas, and veggie chips.

Five new artisan dry pastas -- casarecce, armoniche, ricciarelle, pappardelle, and spinach tagliatelle -- join an existing all-natural line of spaghetti, capellini, linguine, fusilli, penne rigate, and farfalle.

The expansion also includes CM Italian wood-fired pizzas, made for Central Market by bakers in the Puglia region of southeastern Italy, and shipped and sold frozen. The pies come in five varieties.

Recent Appointments

IGA, Chicago, IL, has named James J. Walz as senior director of branding and business development. Walz will report directly to IGA vice president, U.S. chief growth officer, Doug Fritsch.

Wal-Mart Canada, Mississauga, ON, has named Mike Huffaker as its new COO following the return of David Cheesewright to Asda in the UK in July.

Sears Roebuck and Co., Hoff-man Estates, IL, announced in early July the promotion of Joan Chow to senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Sears Retail.

Metro, Montreal, QB, has appointed Alain Brisebois, a Metro senior vice-president, as the new chief of A&P Canada. He will oversee the merger of A&P into Metro and the integration of the two operations. Robert Sawyer, vice-president of retail operations, succeeds Brisebois.

Food Lion, Salisbury, NC, last week rotated the functions of a few vice presidents as part of its employee-development initiative. Scott Harrison was named vice president of retail operations, Southern Division; Geoff Waldau succeeds Harrison as vice president of merchandising services; John Mercer was named vice president of meat and seafood merchandising; Mark Messier succeeds Mercer as vice president of retail services; Ty Burns succeeds Messier as vice president of retail operations, Central Division; Gaelo de la Fuente succeeds Burns as vice president of retail operations, Atlantic Division; Bob Stapleton was named vice president of retail operations, Western Division. Paul LaCroix has also been named president of dry category management, from director of pricing and private label.

The board of directors of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc., Montvale, NJ, in late July approved a few changes in senior management. Christian Haub, currently chairman and chief executive officer, will become executive chairman of the company. Eric Claus, currently president of A&P Canada, will become president and chief executive officer of A&P reporting directly to Mr. Haub. The company also announced that Brian Piwek, president and chief operating officer of A&P, has retired.

Wal-Mart Stores, Bentonville, AR, has promoted Doug McMillon to president and CEO of its Sam's Club warehouse club unit to replace Kevin Turner, who is leaving the company to become COO of Microsoft.

Kmart, Hoffman Estates, IL, has announced the promotion of Peter Whitsett to senior vice president and Kmart merchandising officer.

Rite Aid, Camp Hill, PA, has announced that Todd C. McCarty, formerly senior vice president of human resources, North America for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, is joining the company as senior vice president of human resources. Gregory A Drew, formerly vice president of Pharmacy Health Services for Rite Aid, has been promoted to vice president and general manager of Rite Aid Health Solutions, the company's pharmacy benefit management (PBM) company.

Morehouse Foods, Inc., Industry, CA, has named Richard E. Mayne as president. Mr. Mayne, 41, has 20 years of experience in the food industry, most recently as an executive with the H. J. Heinz Company in Asia.

Family Dollar, Matthews, NC, has announced a management reshuffle. Robert George will join Family Dollar as executive vice president and chief merchandising officer. Dorlisa Flur, senior vice president of strategy and business development, will assume executive management responsibility for real estate and facility management. David Alexander, president and chief operating officer, has resigned to pursue other opportunities.

Dave LaPlante has been named president and chief executive officer of Federated Group, Arlington Heights, IL. He replaces Lou Nieto, who has accepted the position of vice chairman of the board.

Michael S. Heschel, executive vice president and chief information officer of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, OH, will retire at the end of the fiscal year. Christopher T. Hjelm will join the company later this month as senior vice president and chief information officer.

Dollar Tree Stores, Chesapeake, VA, announced that Mary Anne Citrino has been appointed to its board of directors. Citrino currently serves as a senior managing director of corporate advisory services group at The Blackstone Group.

Pathmark, Carteret, NJ, has hired Jim Finocchi as its new vice president of pharmacy operations. The supermarket retailer has also named John T. Standley as chief executive officer to succeed Eileen Scott, who is leaving after three years as CEO to pursue other interests.

Dollar General, Goodlettsville, TN, named Challis M. Lowe as its executive vice president of human resources.

Wild Oats Markets, Boulder, CO, has named Dan Bolstad senior vice president of operations. He succeeds Edward Dunlap, who has resigned.

Stephen Quinn, former chief marketing officer of Frito-Lay, will join Wal-Mart, Bentonville, AR, as senior vice president of marketing.