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

WASHINGTON, DC – Kevin McCarthy, who represents the 23^rd district in California, has been elected to Majority Leader in the House. With a district that includes the San Joaquin Valley and its large agricultural growing region, the produce industry celebrates this change in leadership.

Tom Nassif, Western Growers President and CEO, released a statement praising the election.  “Majority Leader-elect McCarthy has provided critical leadership on a number of issues impacting the produce industry, including ensuring passage of a farm bill that recognizes the importance of fresh fruits, vegetables and tree nuts, ongoing work to negotiate a solution to our water crisis, and of course working to address the immigration needs of agriculture,” said Nassif.  “We look forward to working this year with the new majority leader to bring relief to our drought stricken farmers and to finally fix our broken immigration system.”  

Nassif was not the only industry leader to respond.  Ray Gilmer, Vice President of Issues Management and Communication at the United Fresh Produce Association, also weighed in.  In a statement to Politico, Gilmer said McCarthy “understands the importance of the fresh produce industry to his state’s economy and of the nation.  We look forward to working closely with the new House Majority Leader to address produce priorities on immigration reform, nutrition and other issues.”

Immigration reform is going to be a key factor as McCarthy assumes his new position.  CNN reports that supporters and activists are both looking to McCarthy for action.  "We have spoken with Congressman McCarthy and his staff about immigration reform and its importance to our local and regional economy," Cynthia Pollard, president and CEO of the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce told CNN in a statement.

"As the person responsible for scheduling House votes, when it comes to immigration reform McCarthy will either be a hero or a zero," Frank Sherry, Executive Director of America's Voice, an immigration reform advocacy group, said in a statement.

“I have lived my entire life right here in our community.  It is where I met my wife, raised our children, all in the first house we ever bought, and it is where I learned my conservative values.  It is with great pride and humility that I have been entrusted to serve on your behalf every day. I believe strongly in our country’s ability to overcome any challenge, and I will continue to work in Congress fighting for solutions to help our neighbors and our communities,” McCarthy said in a statement on his website.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for more stories on McCarthy’s impact on the produce industry and the problems that it faces.

Western Growers

United Fresh

CORAL GABLES, FL - Del Monte Fresh Produce now offers Del Monte® Fresh Guac and Fresh Avocado. 

“We use only fresh ingredients such as veggies, creamy Hass avocados, and a dash of salt (for flavor) to create our delicious guacamole,” says Dionysios Christou, Vice President of Marketing for Del Monte Fresh Produce. “Del Monte® Fresh Guac comes in an assortment of flavors in convenient packaging, and since we are using Ultra High Pressure, it is preservative free, and always fresh tasting and ready-to-eat.”

The company offers an array of flavors including Classic, Spicy, Pico de Gallo, Baja, and 100% Fresh Avocado. The Del Monte® Fresh Guac blends are made with 100% fresh ingredients and provide no less than a 45-day shelf life from packing date.  Maintaining freshness and quality are two major factors when providing its customers with the best quality guacamole product on an everyday basis. 

Del Monte Fresh Produce

WENATCHEE, WA - Bryon McDougall, Vice President of McDougall & Sons, joins AndNowUKnow to discuss CMI’s new 445,000 square foot facility center in Wenatchee, Washington.

The new facility addresses the limitations of current packing facilities with increased capacity, more consistency, and the latest technology. The packing line can also double the capacity of the current packing line as well.

Versus last year, McDougall says that the company is up 25% and expects 10-15% growth year-over-year over the next five years.

Come join us as we take an inside look into this exciting new facility!

CMI