Greetings everyone and let’s kick it off by saying, congratulations to Linda Doherty and the entire staff at the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) on a stellar in-person Night of Distinction. Member and meeting development coordinator at the NJFC Edie Esposito told us that 530 tickets were sold to the big event held at The Palace at Somerset Park in Somerset, NJ and a majority of that number showed up! After several pandemic fueled “zoom-virtual” conferences, the NJFC now has three live events in the books for 2022 and this one was terrific.
The Palace is an outstanding venue for big events like these and the esprit de corps among all of the food industry attendees could only help the evening to be a huge success. Saluted were Gordon Reid of Stop & Shop, Kevin McConnell of Price Rite Marketplace, Christine Curtis of C&S Wholesale Grocers and Gus Lebiak of Krasdale Foods. Congratulations to all of the recipients on the honor and to the NJFC for a great evening.
GIG Retail, the United Kingdom-based retail media consultancy acquired by Advantage Solutions last year, is expanding its presence and impact in the United States, providing grocery retailers and brands with end-to-end solutions to build out their retail media capabilities and grow their revenues.
GIG Retail provides strategy and execution across all retail media, including digital media, in-store product demos and signage, and curbside signage. The agency offers sales and operational outsourcing, platform development, partner management, data solutions – including data acquisition, architecture, infrastructure and visualization – and return on ad spend reporting, helping retailers to quantifiably demonstrate to brands the value of investing in retail media.
“We’re a proven partner in conceptualizing, operationalizing and commercializing omnichannel retail media propositions, filling the gaps left by third-party marketing service providers and large consultancies,” said Gregory Stevens, general manager of GIG Retail U.S., based in New York. “We’re excited to be working now with next-tier and specialty retailers in the United States to partner with brands who want to connect better with their shoppers online and in stores.” Last year saw 53.4 percent growth in U.S. digital retail media ad spending, which is expected to exceed $50 billion — nearly 20 percent of digital ad spending — in 2023, according to eMarketer. “There is nearly unlimited potential for retailers to grow their media platforms and for brands to engage with and convert shoppers,” Stevens said. “Our technology- and data-driven solutions enable us to glean and act on the audience insights at the heart of retail media innovation and monetization. “As the retail media space explodes with opportunity, there is a real and growing need to measure results, prove return on investment and act quickly so that brand partners can maximize both.”
Attention, retailers!!!! Hobart is celebrating its 125th anniversary with an equipment giveaway valued at more than $60,000! The Hobart 125th Anniversary Celebration Contest includes prize packages of equipment, along with installation and up to one year of preventive maintenance for two lucky winners: one independent restaurant owner and one independent food retail store owner.
Hobart will award the winners based on their local philanthropy and community outreach, as well as how the equipment will impact those initiatives. Contestants will provide this information for the selection process by submitting short narratives through an online entry form.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to give back to the independent owners who give so much to their local communities,” said Todd Blair, Hobart’s director of marketing. “Their creativity in making great food and their compassion for helping those in need is inspiring to us. We want to support them as they continue to serve their communities and do what they love most.”
The prize packages include dishwashing and food prep equipment for both winners, with the addition of weighing equipment for the independent food retail store owner. Both can make their selection of equipment based on a set retail value established by Hobart. For more information and the rules to the contest go to https://www.hobartcorp.com/125-years/contest. Good luck to all entrants!
Congratulations to Bimbo Bakeries USA on receiving the 2022 Energy Star Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and U.S. Department of Energy for its commitment to energy management. The honor is awarded to organizations that have consistently earned partner of the year status. This marks the fifth consecutive year Bimbo Bakeries has won the award.
“Bimbo Bakeries USA recognizes our role as a leader in the baking industry, and the important responsibility to lead in sustainability,” said Ramon Rivera, SVP-operations, Bimbo Bakeries USA. “I am proud of our uninterrupted focus and continued outstanding achievements in sustainability and we are honored to receive Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for the fifth consecutive year.” The Energy Star program honors businesses and organizations each year that have made outstanding contributions to environmental protection through energy achievements, including the production, sale and adoption of energy-efficient products, homes, buildings, services and strategies.
Best wishes to old friend Rick Brown who has landed as vice president-marketing at Nuovo Pasta Productions, which creates artisan handmade pasta with unique culinary inspired fillings from natural and unique ingredients sourced from globally recognized producers. I’m sure with Rick’s extensive CPG background and successes (he was a key component in the beginning of the Ben & Jerry’s national rollout) he will help make Nuovo Pasta a household name. Good luck!
Bingo Wholesale is coming to Long Island. The discount grocer nicknamed the “Kosher Costco,” will open up in the Five Towns area in the town of Inwood. They will operate out of a space formally held by Stop & Shop that was vacated in 2020 when Stoppy moved a couple of miles away to Woodmere (another one of the Five Towns). One of the Bingo Wholesale principals, David Weiss, said, “I want to bring our wholesale prices in the supermarket business to that community.” Bingo Wholesale currently has three other stores – one in Brooklyn, one in Lakewood, NJ and in Spring Valley, NY. The company is affiliated with Israel-based supermarket chain Osher Ad. No word yet on when the Inwood store will open.
Heard from longtime director of security at White Rose Foods and director of quality assurance at C&S Wholesalers, Drew Sander. As many of you may know, Drew was the survivor of severe burns incurred as a child and together with another burn victim friend, Joe Mattis, formed The Sander and Mattis Burn Foundation whose purpose is to make a difference in young burn survivors’ lives by showing them there is a life after being burned. The aim and goal is to assist survivors in getting back to normal lives after a burn injury and making the recovery easier. The non-profit foundation creates scholarships so that burn survivors can attend summer camp with children just like them and also to send children and families to the Phoenix World Burn Congress each year. The group also volunteers significant time and resources at hospitals and continues to give back to the community and front line workers. Like many charitable organizations, The Sander and Mattis Burn Foundation had some difficulties raising funds during the pandemic to assist with their work. If anyone has the resources or wherewithal to help, Drew and Joe and the children and families they help would be extremely grateful. For more information on the foundation and how you can help, go to http://www.thesanderandmatitsburnfoundation.com/.
OmniTalk, the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers, announced a new award (in partnership with Quorso) recognizing the top 20 OmniStar operators.
They claim they have done an audit of how innovative U.S. retailers have been advancing their operations over the last 12 months and identified the star operators at the heart of it all. No biased selection process. No choosing the people they know or like. Just genuine stars, proven by real headlines and tangible results. The candidates had to work at brick-and-mortar retailers and demonstrate the ability to drive omnichannel operations forward. Well, we had a handful of local folks who were recognized with the award and most notably was Steve Henig, chief customer officer of Wakefern.
OmniTalk said, “Steve has been, without a doubt, the flag bearer for grocery innovation among the regional players. Steve and his team have been aggressively investing in technologies that make sure retail associates can focus on the customers’ needs – and this makes him one to watch this year.”
Other singled out who you may recognize were Chris Rupp, EVP and chief customer and digital officer at Albertson’s, Mark Schindele, chief stores officer at Target, Michelle Peluso co-president at CVS Pharmacy and Gabriel Arreaga, SVP and chief supply chain officer at Kroger. Congratulations to all! For the full list of winners go to https://omnitalk.blog/.
That will wrap it for now. We are well into the muck and mire of compiling our annual Market Study issues of Food Trade News and Food World. These issues are, without a doubt, the finest sources of data and research for the eastern United States supermarket and retail food industry bar none.
If you would like to participate in either of these editions give me holler and I’ll fill you in. As always you can reach me at 201.250.2217 or [email protected].