It would be a little bit confusing to open a microwaveable pot roast and find a microwaveable meatloaf instead. However, it could be seriously problematic for people with food allergies, since while meatloaf has bread crumbs and soybean oil, pot roast doesn’t. That’s why the incognito meatloaf has been recalled. [More]
grocery stores
Report: That Grocery Store Salmon You Bought May Be Subsidizing North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program
By 10.4.17
It may look like an ordinary package of salmon, but according to a new investigative report, that fish you bought for dinner may actually be funneling money into the pockets of the North Korean government, and possibly supporting less than ideal working conditions for factory workers in the process. [More]
5 Things We Learned About How Aldi Can Compete With Grocery Stores
By 9.21.17
The battle between Aldi and other grocery chains has been raging for a while now; from the price war with Walmart to earmarking $1.6 billion to upgrade stores to be more Whole Foods-esque. But just how can the relatively small supermarket chain compete with bigger chains and win over customers? [More]
Whole Foods Meat Guys Sculpt Amazon Logos Out Of Ground Beef
By 8.30.17
What’s that old saying, again? “When you love someone, say it with meat”? That’s how employees at one Los Angeles Whole Foods welcomed their new e-commerce overlords, sculpting Amazon and Prime logos out of ground beef in the display case. [More]
Can Retailers Use Stealth Calorie Cuts To Get Shoppers To Eat Healthier?
By 8.23.17
While there is a large segment of the population always looking for healthier, lower-calorie food options, there are some shoppers who like the things they buy just the way they are — and who react negatively when their favorite foods are tweaked. Is there a way to get these folks consuming fewer calories? [More]
Grocery Stores Jumping Into Meal Kit Market
By 8.9.17
Your mission? Make a delicious home-cooked meal for dinner. Here are your options: Walk around your massive local grocery store picking up each ingredient piece by piece, or walk into the store, grab a box full of pre-selected, pre-proportioned ingredients and walk out. Which would you choose? Grocery stores around the country are hoping it’s a variation of the latter, as they gear up to compete with online meal kit services. [More]
Amazon’s Likely First Move At Whole Foods: Bring In Warehouse Robots
By 6.26.17 — Updated: 6.27.17
When Amazon and Whole Foods announced that they were getting hitched in the corporate sense, the benefits for both sides were obvious. Amazon would acquire its way into a grocery distribution network and hundreds of stores with upscale customers, and Whole Foods would get a parent company at the forefront of retail technology. What’s likely to be first up for Whole Foods? Warehouse robots. [More]
Will Any Other Big Companies Make A Bid For Whole Foods?
By 6.22.17
Although Amazon announced last week that it would be buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, it’s far from a done deal. And in the time it takes to complete such a large merger, there could be a few other players who decide to belly up to the table and make a bid for the grocery chain. [More]
What Will Whole Foods Be Like After Amazon Takes Over?
By 6.19.17
Now that Jeff Bezos has ordered himself a few billion dollars’ worth of groceries with the purchase of Whole Foods, everyone is wondering what Amazon will do with the 465 stores it will soon own. [More]
Kroger Slashing Prices On Milk, Eggs To Keep Up In Heated Grocery War
By 6.15.17
With foreign newcomers like Lidl and Aldi landing on our shores, and online services like Amazon creeping onto an already crowded grocery battlefield, traditional grocers are willing to do whatever they can to keep customers coming back. At Kroger, that means slashing prices on popular staples like milk and eggs, in an effort to signal to customers that their stores have the best deals on the everyday items they need. [More]
Imminent Arrival Of Lidl Supermarkets Means U.S. Stores Are Renovating, Lowering Prices
By 6.12.17
Walmart and Aldi are currently locked in a price war for national grocery domination, with Walmart demanding price cuts from suppliers to help it cut prices for consumers in turn. Yet the company’s price war will soon have a new front in some markets, as another German discount grocer, Lidl, opens its first U.S. stores. Both Walmart and Aldi, as well as other stores nearby, are figuring out how to beat a rival that hasn’t opened any stores on this continent yet. [More]
Walmart Lowering Grocery Prices To Prep For Battle With U.S. Newcomer Lidl
By 5.16.17
Walmart is already engaged in a price war with one Germany-based discount supermarket chain, Aldi, and now it has to prep for competition from a second low-cost German grocer, Lidl, which is set to open its first U.S. stores this summer. [More]
How Aldi Plans To Beat Walmart’s Prices On Groceries
By 5.11.17
For many of us, the most important thing about shopping for groceries isn’t the technology at the checkout line, or the number of artisanal ketchups available; it’s about getting a decent product for the best possible price. Aldi is hoping these pragmatic shoppers will help it win a price war with America’s largest supermarket chains, including Walmart. [More]
Whole Foods Tries To Avoid Selling Itself By Replacing Most Of Its Board
By 5.10.17 — Updated: 5.25.17
A month after shareholders told Whole Foods to shape up and see if someone was interested in buying the chain — Amazon and Kroger, apparently, for a while — the health foods store hasn’t put up the “for sale” sign yet. Instead, the company says it will completely revamp its board. [More]
Starbucks Giving Out Rewards Stars For Bottled Beverages And K-Cups
By 5.4.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
One handy feature of the My Starbucks Rewards program is that you don’t have to actually go to a Starbucks. Customers can earn program “stars” for purchases of Starbucks branded bagged coffee that they brew at home. Now the program has expanded to more products. [More]
In Battle For Supermarket Shelf Space, Big Brands Losing Ground To Fresh Food
By 5.1.17
For decades, your typical supermarket had one wall of produce, and a corner deli counter, with the core of the building given over to boxed, canned, and bottled products from recognizable brands. But as grocery stores revamp stores to attract shoppers looking for fresher food, companies like Kraft, Mondelez, and Kellogg are losing ground. [More]
People Eat In Supermarkets Now, But Please Stop Calling Them ‘Grocerants’
By 4.5.17
Supermarket delis have expanded in size and broadened their offerings, and there’s apparently a term for this in the food industry. It’s “grocerant.” You know, grocery store + restaurant, where you can combine picking up dinner and doing your shopping. [More]
Grocery Shrink Ray Strikes Cascade Complete Pods, Febreze Air Effects
By 3.15.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
When companies slightly reduce the size of a product instead of raising the price, that’s called the Grocery Shrink Ray. It’s often deployed at the same time as a packaging redesign to make the shrinkage harder to notice. Two brands from Procter & Gamble, Febreze and Cascade, have done this with their products recently, and our observant readers noticed. [More]
