Donald Kent, Sr., retired Stater Bros. Markets' VP of Produce Operations, passed away on June, 18^th at his home in Riverside, CA at the age of 76.  Don was born in San Bernadino, CA on August 17^th, 1937.  He lived there for 31 years and then in Riverside for 45 years.

He served in the U.S. Army as a Sergeant in the Artillery at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma as well as CA National Guard infantry 1958-1962.  After 37 years of service, he retired from Stater Bros. Markets.

Don is survived by his wife Jeri of Riverside, CA; sons Kevin of San Diego, CA and Don Jr. and daughter-in-law Lena of Riverside, CA; brother Andy of Pacifica; sister Lottie Joy of Hesperia and 5 grandchildren.

The Funeral Service will be held on Thursday, July 3^rd at 12pm at The Grove Community Church, 19900 Grove Community Dr. Riverside, CA 92507.  The burial will be at 2pm at Riverside National Cemetery with a light reception back at the church after.

The family suggests memorial contributions be made to the American Heart Association or the Wounded Warrior Project in lieu of flowers.

AndNowUKnow would like to extend our deepest condolences to Don’s family and friends.

Dan’l Mackey Almy, President and CEO of DMA Solutions, joins AndNowUKnow to share the latest details on the company’s Honor Your Fresh Hero campaign as part of its 10^th anniversary. Honor Your Fresh Hero is the perfect opportunity to express gratitude to the person who inspires your passion for fresh produce.

Dan’l also takes a moment to share her fresh hero, Lorelei Disogra. Lorelei taught her a number of valuable lessons, including the importance of pro fruits and vegetable policies and our efforts to increase produce consumption. To find out how you can say "thank you" to your inspiration, follow the link below...

Click here to honor your fresh hero today!

ROSEMONT, IL – US Foods is introducing a new Summer Scoop product line inspired by family dining that restaurants can add to their menus.

“With this Summer Scoop product line we are changing the way families dine together by providing new menu offerings that will please the palates of even the pickiest family members,” said Pietro Satriano, Chief Merchandising Officer, US Foods. “Nearly 90 percent of families choose a restaurant based on its kid-friendly environment and more than 60 percent of parents want more interesting options on a kids’ menu. With this product line, we are providing operators with the products they need to capture this audience and keep their tables filled all summer long.”

The Monach Puzzle Potatoes are one of the most kid friendly additions and are delicious and fun to eat.  They are designed in puzzle shapes to bring entertainment and eating together.  The new Harbor Banks Basil Cod Fries pair with cod, one of the healthiest sources of low-calorie protein and omega-3s, and the new Devonshire Cake Pops are a fun way to end the meal for children and adults alike. 

Aside from the new menu, the line includes an exclusive 3-D customizable coloring placemat that allows kids to see their images come to life in 3-D with the “colAR Mix”  app available from iTunes and Google Play.

The company is also introducing two new Italian sausages from famed meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, according to a press release. The Chef’s Line Hot Italian Sausage and Sweet Italian Sausage are made using traditional recipes.  Another new item is the winning item from the US Foods 2013 Next Top Product Contest, the Chef’s Line Black Bean Burger.

Keeping adults in mind too, US Foods added two new pasta options.  The Chef’s Line Heirloom Tomato and Burrata Mezzelune and the Buffalo Milk Ricotta, Spinach and Rapini Tondi add an updated twist to classic stuffed pasta.

“Creating a menu that will satisfy both kids and their parents is only one part of making a restaurant family friendly,” said Satriano. “That’s why we’re searching for restaurants that represent the best in helping families enjoy the entire dining experience together.”

Building on the family theme, US Foods is excited to launch the Top Family Friendly Restaurants contest to search for the best family restaurants in the country. Restaurants will be judged on their family friendliness, kid’s menus and overall fun environment. Ten finalists will be chosen by a panel of culinary experts, including a judge from Rachael Ray's Yum-o! organization. The judging panel will announce five winners on September 2, 2014 who will each receive $2,000 worth of culinary equipment and supplies and be featured in the 2014 winter issue of Food Fanatics Magazine.

Restaurants can enter through July 18, 2014 by clicking here.

US Foods

STELLARTON, NOVA SCOTIA - Facing declining earnings and underperforming stores, Sobeys announced today that it will be closing roughly 50 of its stores, 60% of which are located in Western Canada, in efforts to improve future earnings.

A statement released by Sobeys' parent company Empire Co. said that this move “logically follows”  Sobeys' recent $5.4 billion retail acquisition from Safeway. This purchase brought 213 new full-service grocery locations into Sobeys' retail network in Western Canada.

CBC News reports that by July 5, the Foodland outlets in Amherst, Tracadie, Perth-Andover, Edmundston and Nashwaaksis will be closed. The St. Stephen location and many others are expected to follow.

“We reviewed our network of stores, as we do, on a market-by-market basis and as a result of that made the decision to close a group of six stores in the Atlantic region that have consistently been underperforming,” said Sobeys Atlantic spokesperson Shauna Selig.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the store closures will cost almost $170 million Canadian dollars and is expected to reduce future sales by around $400 million Canadian dollars. Empire Co. hopes however that despite the costs, the closures of these stores will improve it's net earnings in future quarters.

Selig added that Sobeys will strive to make sure its employees in the closed stores will find work elsewhere in the company or be given severance pay.

"The decision to close stores is always difficult and it's never taken lightly," she said. "We think about the impact it has on the customers, the staff and the community."

According to a press release, Empire Co. had adjusted net earnings from continuing operations of $1.5 million, $0.02 per diluted share, in the 2014 4th fiscal quarter. This is in comparison to $102.5 million, or $1.51 per diluted share, from last year.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for updates on this developing story.

Sobeys

Empire Co Investor Relations

IRWINDALE, CA – Ready Pac Foods Inc. welcomes Robert Prystash as its new Vice President of Continuous Improvement. 

Robert will lead transformation initiatives and continue to progress Ready Pac’s culture of continuous improvement and will report directly to Peter Laport, Chief Supply Chain Officer at Ready Pac.

“Robert’s true leadership and dynamic approach to obtaining results make him an ideal fit to innovate and lead continuous improvement for Ready Pac,” said Laport. “We are excited to utilize his experience in developing strategic vision and leading cultural change to further our mission and goals of our company.”

Previous to this appointment, Robert was responsible for implementing a continuous improvement operating system in Logistics as the Director of Continuous Improvement in Supply Chain for ConAgra, according to a press release.  Prior to that, he worked for Sun Chemical, Solo Cup Company and Moore Business Forms in a variety of improvement roles.

Congratulations, Robert!

Ready Pac

FRESNO, CA – A new television campaign for Grapes from California kicked off in June on the Food Newtork.

“These commercials showcase the natural beauty, easy versatility and great taste of California grapes while communicating the value of sharing life’s special moments with family and friends, and the care that growers put into growing,” said Kathleen Nave, President of the California Table Grape Commission.

One of the two new commercials has a grower theme and the other has a dinner party theme.  You can watch them below.

These commercials are the first two of a planned series of six and are seen during shows like “Trisha Yearwood’s Southern Kitchen,” “Sandra’s Money Saving Meals,” “Home For Dinner with Jamie Deen,” and “Diners Drive-ins & Dives,” according to a press release.  The commercials will be run through December.

Grapes From California 

EMERYVILLE, CA - SCS Global Services is offering its first interactive online training class for GLOBALG.A.P. food safety Standards: IFA & PSS for Fruits and Vegetables.  The class, which debuts in July, will feature live tutorials and self-paced interactive coursework.

To register for the course, click here.

GLOBALG.A.P. is an internationally recognized set of farm standards dedicated to good agricultural practices and is recognized by the Global Food Safe Initiative (GFSI), according to a press release. 

“GLOBALG.A.P. training is the most efficient way for growers to start the process of reaching certification.  SCS has worked closely with reps from GLOBALG.A.P. to ensure that our education programs are accurate and helpful.  We’re happy to be able to offer a new kind of learning for producers around the world,” said Diane Dulmage, SCS Training Services Manager.

SCS has turned its traditional two day GLOBALG.A.P. course into a syllabus structured around three web-based live workshops to help attendees progress through 14 digital learning modules at their own pace.  The attendees will have continuous interactive engagement with the each other and the instructor, food safety veteran Rhiannon Wallstedt Woo.

“SCS is bringing its popular food safety training experience to a worldwide audience online while providing immediate cost savings while maintaining our commitment to high-quality education,” continued Dulmage.

SCS will roll out the GLOBALG.A.P. online training course over a live–streamed introductory workshop on July 8^th at 10am PST.  The course will take place for two weeks until July 22^nd.

For more information on the course, click here.

SCS Global Services

DENVER, CO - Chipotle is reaffirming its commitment to serving customers fresh, local produce with plans to increase its purchases of locally grown bell peppers, cilantro, red onions, jalapeno peppers, oregano, romaine lettuce and tomatoes to over 20 million pounds in 2014. This represents a 33% increase from last year's produce orders. By coordinating purchases with over 45 local farms spaced across the United States so that none will be farther than 350 miles away from the location it will be servicing, Chipotle has drastically increased the amount of locally sourced produce it sells since first starting the program in 2008.

“We are changing the way people think about and eat fast food,” said Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle. “That means pushing ourselves to find the best quality ingredients – ingredients that have traditionally been available only in high-end restaurants and specialty food markets – and making them available in a way that is accessible to really mainstream customers.”

A 2014 National Grocery Association panel showed that 87% of consumers consider it 'very/somewhat important' to have locally grown produce and packaged food choices available to them. This is an 11% increase from when the study was last conducted in 2009.

Recognizing this growing market demand early on, Chipotle was among the first to make locally grown choices available to consumers when going out to eat.

Chipotle also prides itself on its organic food selections. According to a press release, Chipotle restaurants use 2 acres of organic cilantro every day, along with 7 million pounds of organic black beans and 1.2 million pounds of organic wheat each year. In addition Chipotle is the leading provider of Responsibly Raised® meat among all US restaurant companies and ensures that its dairy products are free of the synthetic hormone rBGH and come from pasture-raised cows. 

Chipotle

ATLANTA, GA – Stanley Farms LLC, a Vidalia onion producer, has agreed to pay over $90,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of farmworkers over wages and working conditions.

A judge on Monday approved the agreement. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution states that Stanley Farms agreed to pay $92,500, with $82,500 going to back wages and damages and $10,000 going to attorney’s fees and costs.  The company also agreed to follow specific hiring and employment practices that were outlined in the agreement.

“We’re pleased with the resolution reached, and we’re pleased that the farm is agreeing to pay U.S. and foreign workers the same amount, which we don’t believe they were doing,” said Dawson Morton, a lawyer for the workers. “That should reduce the exclusion of U.S. workers from Vidalia onion work and we hope assure equal treatment and equal pay.”

The American workers and their former co-workers filed a lawsuit last year that claimed that American farmworkers were paid less than the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour while foreign guest workers were paid between $9.11 and $9.38 an hour.

As part of the settlement, Stanley Farms also agreed to only use transportation that is properly inspected and insured and has a seat for each passenger, not allow workers into fields until 24 hours after the application of certain chemicals, and provide proper tools, according to the Greenfield Reporter.  

Stanley Farms does not admit to the allegations in the lawsuit.  “We still dispute that we are liable,” the farm's attorney Larry Stine said, “but it would cost us more to go to trial than to settle the case.”

Stanley Farms currently grows more than 1000 acres of onions as well as numerous acres of other crops and vegetables including over 100 acres of Certified Organic Vidalia Onions.

Stanley Farms

TEWKSBURY, MA - It seems controversy has found Demoulas again with reports coming out that Market Basket has lost almost three centuries worth of retail leadership experience. Seven top executives quit in protest of Monday's removal of former Demoulas CEO Arthur T. Demoulas and fellow executives William Marsden and Joseph Rockwell.

Before he was let go, Marsden was highly critical of the Board's ouster of Arthur T. Demoulas saying, “The Board's action today is driven by greed, pure and simple.”

Former Executive Vice President Jim Miamis, who left Market Basket with his fellow executives today, apparently agreed with this sentiment. The longtime Demoulas employee who started with the company when he was only 11 years old will take with him 59 years of retail experience as he leaves.

His fellow protestors will take with him a comparable wealth of industry knowledge. Joanne Marsden, Ron Carrigan, Susan Dufresne, Dave McLean, Jay Rainville, and Don Mulligan leave Market Basket without its two top Executive Assistants, Deli Director, Director of Operations, Director of Advertising and Governmental Affairs, and Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Vice President.

The Board's actions have done more than drive away top executives. According to the Sentinel & Enterprise News, hundreds of Market Basket workers and managers, many who thought of Arthur T. Demoulas in a way usually reserved for family members, rallied together in the Chelsea store's parking lot yesterday to protest.

Christine Doubleday, a 20 year veteran with the company, said, "I just feel like a family being broken up."

How new Demoulas Co-CEOs Felicia Thornton and James Gooch will deal with this controversy will have big ramifications for the future of Market Basket and its thousands of employees.

For more information on Monday's Board decision which triggered this sequence of events click here.

Market Basket