Posts Tagged “feature”
McDonald’s recently announced it would offer value menu customers a side of salad, fruit or vegetables as an alternative to French fries in the fast food giants top 20 markets, including the USA.
Additionally, McDonald’s said it would promote and market only water, milk and juice as the beverage for children’s Happy Meals and work to heighten kids’ interest in produce options.
Finally, the restaurant chain said it would have all of its advertising directed at children include a message about nutrition or wellbeing, as well as dedicated panels on Happy Meal boxes or bags.
The chain said it worked on the pledges with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was created by the Clinton Foundation and the American Heart Association.
An independent, third-party assessor will be brought in by McDonald’s to track its progress on the commitment, which the company expects to roll out in up to half of the 20 markets within three years, completing implementation by 2020.
It’s a similar plan for healthier means recently announced by Burger King, which launched a low-fat, crinkle-cut French fry called Satisfries. The chain said the fries have 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than the fries at rival McDonald’s.
McDonald’s said specific options for substitute menu items would vary by market.
A company filing bankruptcy is never good for anyone. In the produce industry there is the Perishable Agriculture Commodities Act (PACA) administered by the USDA, whereby creditors receive a certain amount of protection, and hopefully get at least a portion of the money they are owed repaid.
I’ve advocated for decades that product truckers be offered the same protections under PACA that are afforded those in the produce indutry. Under a bankruptcy truckers would be among the last in line to be paid, which usually means they will receive nothing.
I was reminded of this when Progreso Produce Limited I LP filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation for the Boerne, Texas, business Sept. 30. The 40-year-old company is listing more than 60 creditors including many fresh produce companies.
The company is reported to have debts ranging from $1 million to $10 million. Assets of less than $50,000 are reported. The bankruptcy trustee notes there doen’t not appear to be any property available to the trustee to pay creditors.
River Ranch Closing
Meanwhile, produce, grower-shipper-processor of fresh vegetables, River Ranch Fresh Foods is closing operations. The Salinas, CA, based company will cease operations, effective Nov. 8.
Taylor Farms Retail will service retail value-added accounts beginning Nov. 9, plus Growers Express will handle all field-pack commodity requirements.
River Ranch, which was formed 34 years ago, was purchased by Taylor Fresh Foods three years ago with the hope of improving financial performance and regaining viability.
Consumer purchases have moved apples ahead of bananas into third place in total retail sales, trailing only berries and packaged salad in the 52 weeks ending May 29, according to Steve Lutz, executive vice president of Nielsen Perishables Group. Lutz said apples showed the biggest retail sales growth of any top major produce category, rising about 16 percent over the previous year.
Among the gains by various apple varieties with higher retail saies in the past year included pink lady, fuji, pinata, Honeycrisp, red delicious, ambrosia, Jazz, granny smith and gala, in addition to niche varieties such as Lady Alice, Envy, Opal and Junami.
The best apple consumers are willing to spend on healthy foods and fresh meals, and convenience and price are not a key purchase driver, Lutz said. With the income to afford choice, consumers are looking for unique flavors are driven to the category in pursuit of health, he said.
Despite challenges in the lackluster economy, Lutz said Nielsen data reveals fresh fruits showed an eight percent increase in retail dollar sales over the past year, accompanied by a 4 percent gain in volume. Produce is an increasingly important food choice for a majority of U.S. households.
Winter is never a great time for hauling produce as volumes are less and loading opportunties can become even worse as products are susceptable to the whims of Mother Nature.
It was reported recently adverse weather in Mexico is expected to cut loading opportunities at US border crossings starting next month. Now we’re hearing intial reports of imports of Chilean produce expected to be significantly hit, due to weather.
As US volume and loading opportunities seasonally decline in the latter part of the year, Chile is an important exporter of winter fresh produce to America. The product is typically picked up at ports on both coasts and distributed throughout North America.
There apparently going to be significantly less Chilean produce items for hauling this winter ranging from stone fruit, to kiwifruit, blueberries, grapes, almonds and walnuts.
The Santiago-based Chilean Fruit Exporters Association (ASOEX) is asking the Chilean government to declare a national state of disaster in the wake of the losses.
Up to 50 million boxes of fruit could be lost to freezes last September “….that sets up the biggest crisis that has affected the Chilean fruit industry,” according to one observer.
Red River Valley Potato Shipments
Shipments of potatoes from North Dakota and Minnesota is light to moderate as the focus still remains on getting the crop out of the ground. It is estimated the harvest is 60 to 65 percent complete.
Today, we’ll take a look at some loading opportunities starting in South Texas before extending up to Colorado and then over to Idaho and Oregon.
South Texas Produce Loads
The Lower Rio Grande Valley of south Texas is becoming more important every year for produce haulers. It’s not so much the area is growing more fruits and vegetables, as it is farming operations in Mexico, many with investments by people north of the border, who are expanding operations. Much of that produce is being shipped into the US for distribution throughout the states and Canada.
Everything from Mexican grown carrots to lemons, plum tomatoes, other vegetables and tropical fruits are crossing the border at McAllen is greater volume. In the Texas valley itself, shippers are gearing up for shipments of grapefruit and oranges, that will start in the next few weeks.
Colorado Produce Shipments
The San Luis Valley is easily providing the biggest volume and loading opportunties, averaging about 500 truck loads of potatoes per week. In the north and northeastern part of the state, the volume is much lower, but potatoes and onions are providing at least some partial loads.
San Luis Valley potatoes – grossing about $2200 to Houston.
Onion Shipments
The potato harvest in Idaho continues, but there are still about 1,600 truck load equivalents of spuds being shipped each week, although a higher percent is going by rail than in most other produce shipping points around the country….In Malhuer County, Oregon and eastern Idaho, about 750 truck loads of onions from storage are being shipped.
Idaho potatoes – grossing about $3100 to Chicago.
Here’s a round up of some produce items being shipped from Florida, Michigan, Washington state, central Wisconsin and West Texas.
Florida Produce Shipments
The Florida grapefruit harvest got underway from the Indian River District September 30th and light shipments are underway. By mid October loadings should be in good volume.
Florida’s citrus season usually begins with fallglo tangerines in mid- to late September, followed by grapefruit and navel oranges. Initial estimates on the navel orange crop indicate shipments this season will be similar to a year ago.
Michigan Produce Shipments
Michigan is shipping light to moderate volume of several fall produce items. While sweet corn and several other vegetable items are ending their season, there are partial loads of items such as celery and carrots. Volume is now increasing on what promises to be a record amount of apples this season. There also is increasing volume with potatoes and onions.
Washington Produce Shipments
Washington state is shipping nearly 2,000 truckload equivalents of apples weekly with the new crop, primarily from the Yakima and Wenathee valleys. There also are about 750 loads of storage onions coming out of Washington’s Columbia Basin and the adjacent Umatilla Basin of Oregon.
Washington apples – grossing about $4500 to Chicago.
Wisconsin Potato Shipments
The Badger state is moving over 500 truck loads of potatoes weekly, primarily from Central Wisconsin, as volume continues to increase.
West Texas Potatoes
The High-Plains region in west Texas, south of Lubbock, is shipping about 250 truck load of spuds a week.
Intrusive and excessive government regulations have been reported numerous times in HaulProduce.com and further proof of probably the greatest threat to the trucking industry, and particularly owner operators, comes from Dale Gray of Trenton, ON.
Dale is a veteran and drove a truck in the military before becoming a driver in civlian life in 1997. For over two years now he has been driving for Scotlynn Commodities Inc., of Vittoria, ON a Canadian transportation operation that has a sister company with several farms in Ontario and the USA that grows numerous items ranging from sweet corn to pumpkins.
Trucking both in the states and in Canada, Dale says American “rules are not as lienient.”
Although the hours of service regulations in both countries are similar, he prefers those in Canada because it allows him to be more profitable. For example, he can legally truck 13 hours in his country, compared to only 11 hours in the states.
“I prefer the the 13 hours driving time, because I can drive more hours. It makes a difference if you are paid by the mile,” Dale says.
He also notes he can split his sleeper berth hours by doing 8 1/2-hour increments during the day. In the US, the hours must be in 10-hour blocks.
“I can’t sleep for 10 hours,” he states. “Canadian rules are more user friendly.”
Speed limits are another matter, according to the 57-year-old driver. He notes Canadian speed limits in most of the country are 100 to 110 kilometers (65 – 70 mph). He prefers the higher American speed limits which range from 55 mph in California to 80 mph in Utah (75 mph in North Dakota where this interview took place).
Dale drives a 2012 maroon 386 model Peterbilt powered by a 485 hp Paacar MX diesel. The truck has a 60-inch sleeper with a 244-inch wheelbase and 13 speed tranny with overdrive. He pulls a 53-foot Utility trailer with a 2100 Advance Carrier refrigeration unit. Dale notes the reefer has a 120-gallon fuel tank that will run for a week.
“The reefer unit has a larger fuel tank so it can be shipped by rail,” he says.
Dale’s favorite thing about trucking is even though he is a company driver it is similar to being your own boss. “There is no one looking over your shoulder all of the time. In part of my military career, I was stuck in an office. I didn’t like that,” he states.
The worst part of driving is the attitudes of both four wheelers and truckers seems to have worsened over the years.
Dale hauls a lot of fresh produce grown by Scotlynn, plus he delivers a lot of frozen doughnuts and dry freight. On this particular day he was waiting to pick up a load of macaroni in Grand Forks, ND for delivery in Ontario.
National Public Radio reports a third of the world’s food goes to waste every year. In the USA alone, nearly 40 percent of food is thrown out, whether it occurs on farms, grocery stores, or in homes.
Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, is introducing Daily Table, a new perishable foods project aimed at tackling the overwhelming problem of food waste. He is determined to repackage perfectly edible produce just past its sell-by date that ends up in the trash.
“Most of what we offer will be fruits and vegetables that have a use-by date on it that’ll be several days out,” says Rauch. Daily Table will open in early 2014 in Dorchester, MA preparing and repackaging food at deeply discounted prices.
The idea behind the project is to bring affordable nutrition to the underserved living in the inner-cities of America. Rauch suggests the format is a hybrid between a grocery store and a restaurant, primarily taking this repackaged food, prepping it, and cooking it for what he calls “speed-scratch cooking.”
This is in an attempt to offer this food at prices that compete with fast food. Despite the fact that the food is past its sell date, Rauch ensures the products are absolutely safe to eat.
“This is about trying to tackle a very large social challenge we have that is going to create a health care tsunami in cost if we don’t do something about it,” says Rauch. “I don’t regard Daily Table as the only solution – there are wonderful innovative ideas out there – but I certainly think it is part of and is an innovative approach to trying to find our way to a solution.”
The Supermarket News on line publication SN.com has named up-and-comer Sprouts Farmers Market to receive its 2013 Retail Excellence Award.
Sprouts is known for healthy, organic and natural, convenient, fresh, local and affordable produce and groceries.
Based on its integration of those trend-forward attributes and its successful financial model that has helped it absorb two rivals and triple in size in the last three years, the Phoenix-based chain has been selected for the award.
“Sprouts is at the intersection of two mega-trends in the industry today — health and wellness and value, and that’s really what we hang our hat on,” said Steve Black, chief information and marketing officer, Sprouts, in an interview with SN. “That’s the model we’ve built for the last 10 years — to make healthy eating easy, understandable and affordable. That’s what we talk about with our tag line, ‘Healthy Living for Less.’
As the chain’s president and chief executive officer, Doug Sanders told SN in a separate interview at the launch of the company’s recent initial public offering that Sprouts is well positioned to be a gateway for shoppers of conventional supermarkets seeking a more healthy diet.
While traditional supermarkets seek to lure some share of consumers’ food spending away from restaurants by touting the healthfulness of home cooking, Sprouts seeks to take that one step further and teach those shoppers how to live even healthier.
“Most people want to eat better, they just don’t feel like they can afford to, and they don’t know how to,” Black explained. “That’s the secret to our success — that it’s affordable, and we have team members in the stores that can help you understand the vitamins and the supplements.
If you are on a gluten-free diet, or wherever you are in life from a health perspective, we have people in the stores who can help you with that.”
The focal point of Sprouts’ relatively small stores is they measure about 25,000 to 28,000 square feet — is the farmers’ market-style produce display, where Sprouts leverages its longtime relationships with growers and suppliers to make a statement on price. Founder Henry Boney began his food retail career with a farmers’ market in 1943, and his legacy lives in the chain’s current positioning.
Stores devote about 15 percent of their floor space to produce, which generates about 25 percent of sales, according to Sprouts’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission related to its recent initial public offering.
Sprouts tooks to attract both the lifestyle customer and everyday supermarket customer by featuring fresh produce at prices that are significantly lower than the conventional supermarket. The emphasis on produce not only helps enhance the stores’ healthful image, but also helps drive repeat traffic.
Produce is the focal point of Sprouts stores, where customers are attracted to the selection and value, company executives say. Stores have a farmers’ market ambiance with low shelving for better visibility and to create a bright, open-air atmosphere.
Tropical storm Manuel hit Western Mexico the week of September 15th, killing dozens and bringing extensive damage to growing areas around Culiacan, a major growing area for tomatoes, squash and many other produce commodities shipped to the USA during the late fall, winter and early spring seasons.
More than 350,000 acres of crops were damaged by the storm, mostly due to heavy rains ranging from around eight inches to 15 inches.
This is expected to hurt loading opportunities for Thanksgiving green beans and other products in the Los Mochis area of northern Sonora. Some loadings that would have started in early November will not be ready until late November. Squash, cucumbers and eggplant were among the crops most heavily affected.
A majority of these Mexician produce items cross the border at Nogales, AZ.
Salinas Valley Vegetable Shipments
Moderate amounts of vegetables continue to be shipped from California’s Salinas Valley, led by head lettuce, romaine lettuce, then celery, broccoli and cauliflower. These items also are being shipped in smaller volumes from the Santa Maria district to the south of Salinas.
Moderate shipments of strawberries also continue from the Watsonsville district, as well as from Santa Maria.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – grossing about $7400 to New York City.