I want to begin this month’s piece with a huge happy 75th birthday shout out to the Dietz & Watson family! We at Food Trade News and Food World have spent a good deal of time at the plant and offices of this iconic company working on the special section pull-out included in this issue. You will read about how Dietz & Watson has gone from a small local company to the second largest manufacturer of deli meats and artisan cheeses in the U.S. and now to the groundbreaking of their new distribution facility in the Tacony section of Philadelphia. Many thanks to the marketing team and the Eni/Yingling families for their cooperation and help with making this tribute section a success! Auguri!
Just before press time the Karns family “cut the bologna” (Seltzer’s Sweet Lebanon Bologna to be exact) to open their replacement store in Lemoyne, PA directly across from the old store. This store is more than double the size of the old one, coming in at 67,000 square feet and offering a 100 foot fresh meat case; expanded produce, gluten free, and organic departments; an Eastern European section including fresh and frozen products serving that part of the community; and upscale fixtures and décor package. Andrea Karns, granddaughter of founder Dave Karns said they are also partnering with local vendors and manufacturers to keep the close knit family feel to the store. The Karns family operates a total of eight stores in Central Pennsylvania.
Congratulations are in order as the third generation supermarket operators of the Ravitz family opened their first Price Rite on the site of the old Pathmark in Camden, NJ on October 15. This new store is the first supermarket to open in Camden in nearly 40 years with much anticipated access to fresh food at excellent prices. Indeed, the Honey Crisp apples were priced at $0.99 per pound, a much lower price than elsewhere. More than 75 percent of the store’s new hires are from the local community. In addition to Camden Mayor Dana Redd, Senator Donald Norcross spoke to the crowd about bringing business and jobs back to Camden. Proud father Steve Ravitz looked on as his sons Jason, Shawn and Brett spoke and welcomed the crowd to this new addition to the Camden business landscape. The Ravitz family is opening a ShopRite in Camden as well in 2016. Keep it here for updates.
The Produce Marketing Association (PMA) held its annual convention in Anaheim, CA last month and broke all kinds of records. On hand were 1,090 exhibitors who showed their goods to 22,400 attendees which included more than 1,150 retailers, giving the PMA its largest attendance since 2001. I can’t say enough about the vibe of this show – it’s electrifying! My colleague Karen Fernandez and I scoured the show floor for new items and trends, thinking “what else can we find?” Well, we found many new items but, most noticeably, we found that the emphasis for growers and packers is on the next generation of consumers, namely children. Everything from product size to packaging is geared toward making children learn to eat and enjoy produce as part of their everyday diets. Apples, God’s perfect food, for example, are now available in smaller sizes, perfect to fit in the hand of a five year old child. Packaging has more inviting graphics featuring many characters kids have come to know and love. Produce is being paired with cheese and other snacking foods and put into easy-open packaging to provide a balanced snack for little ones. Raisins even got into the holiday act with mini boxes of yogurt covered raisins packaged for each holiday. Forget about the Boomers, it’s all about the kids now. Juices/ smoothies were everywhere, making all kinds of claims of leading to better health. The winner of the show for us was certainly Fresh Green Chickpea Hummus from Sarah’s Harvest. Served on a slice of raw cucumber, this product had a fresh, clean taste. This product is made from garbanzo beans that are green and have never been dried. Delish! The most fun gadget we found was the pistachio opener you put over your thumb and easily open any pistachio, closed tight or slightly open. That was really cool. At the end of the show, 217,667 pounds of produce was collected from the convention center expo hall by approximately 300 volunteers from the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County, CA. The food bank is a chapter of Feeding America, a national non-profit organization that works to feed more than 37 million people a year. Over the past decade, PMA exhibitors have donated more than 2.9 million pounds of fresh produce to communities in need in the United States. Next year’s Fresh Summit Convention and Expo will be held October 23-25 in Atlanta. For more information, visit www.freshsummit.com
The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) has announced that its 51st Dairy-Deli-Bake Seminar & Expo, will be held in Atlanta at the GeorgiaWorldCongressCenter, June 7-9. The theme for the 2015 show is “Growing the Future.” For more information, visit www.iddba.org.  More news coming out of the IDDBA headquarters in Wisconsin is the election of the 2014-2015 officers and board of directors at the annual business meeting, held recently in Chicago, IL. David Leonhardi, director of tradeshows, tours and events for Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Inc., was elected as the association’s chairman of the board. He has served on the board since 2002 and has been actively involved in many committees.
The Mid-Atlantic Food Trades Organization (MAFTO) has announced that the 10th annual dinner dance honoring Jonathan Weis has been rescheduled due to issues connected with the closure of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. The new dates are March 13-15 at the Baltimore, MD Marriott at the Inner Harbor. All events throughout the weekend will remain as originally planned. Companies already registered for the weekend event DO NOT need to re-register, only those companies or individuals that have not previously registered need to do so. For more information please go to: www.mafto.org. Also coming up is MAFTO’s Christmas for All Kids on December 5 at Williamson’s in Horsham, PA. Please join the generous folks at MAFTO as they raise toys for the upcoming holidays by bringing a new unwrapped toy, your gambling prowess and your dancing shoes to celebrate the joy of the season by giving to those who are less fortunate. Speaking of this charitable group that raises money to give it away, Acme Markets president Jim Perkins was the guest speaker at the MAFTO retailer dinner last month in King of Prussia, PA. Jim spoke to a crowd of over 200 industry members and Acme personnel about Acme’s progress locally and the pending merger with Safeway. After Jim’s speech I watched as he went from table to table shaking hands and thanking the attendees for coming. He is a truly humble man, and his efforts in breathing life into Philadelphia’s oldest and most loved supermarket chain have been worth every minute.
Saint Joseph’s University has a couple of events planned in 2015 that bear noting. On March 12, the SJUCenter for Professional Development and The Network of Executive Women (NEW) will sponsor the first annual summit: “What Women Want – Innovative Approach to Present and Future Workplace Trends for Women” at the Wolfington Teletorium on the SJU campus. For more information contact Marie Strasser a: [email protected]. Also, the second annual Hall of Honor event will take on April 16 on the SJU campus. Nominations are being accepted until December 1. Please contact Eileen Acello at [email protected] for more information.
Speaking of the Network of Executive Women (NEW), the Greater Philadelphia chapter held its fall event on November 6 at the Hershey Lodge in Hershey, PA.Tom Lenkevich, president of Giant/Carlisle, gave a heartwarming speech about the “Courage to Change,” the featured topic of the evening. More than 360 attendees networked during the cocktail hour and then settled in to listen to Tom tell his story. Bobbie O’Hare of JOH and a pioneer of NEW, spoke about how NEW came to be and how Stop & Shop was an early supporter of the group.
The circle of life continues with happy news to report this month. We send out best wishes to Dana Metzger, daughter of our publisher Jeff Metzger on her marriage to Michael Cohen on November 1 in Baltimore, MD. Also tying the knot last month was Tracie Levin, M. Levin Company, who married Ryan Miller on October 18 in Philadelphia. Making a grand entrance into the world recently was Bailey Ann McAleer, new daughter of Courtney Mallowe McAleer of Campbell Soup and her husband Ryan on September 20. Baby Bailey Ann is also the granddaughter of Charles Mallowe, retired from SJU. Premiering on October 9 was Oliver Switaj, first granddaughter of Joe and Miriam Gardyan of Utz Snacks. Baby Oliver is the son of Carly (Gardyan) and her husband Henry. All are reportedly happy and healthy.
Birthday shout-outs for the grateful month of November go out to: Jim Mullen, Giant/Carlisle; Mike Mackin, Schmidt Baking; Curt Gruber, Acosta; Mike Marano, Force One; Pat McCarthy, retired, Ocean Spray; Anthony Maglio, Maglio Sausage Co.; Bernie Ellis, retired, AWI; and yours truly, still crazy after all these years. Buon compleanno a tutti!
As I have said in years past, please take a minute to remember and say a prayer for our troops at home and abroad who continue to sacrifice every day for our way of life as you gather with family and friends to celebrate this most American holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!
Quote of the month: “The tragedy of life is not death but what we let die inside of us while we live.” Norman Cousins
