Hello everybody and welcome to the annual Food Trade News Market Study issue! What you now hold in your hands or are viewing at www.foodtradenews.com is the result of the entire Best-Met Publishing team’s months of effort compiling! As most of you are familiar with, these projects are a real task which require months of research and compiling of data and it was a colossal effort to compile. A big thank you to all of the customers, distributors, vendors and friends for your assistance in helping us compile this wealth of information. And once all of that data is in-house, our team here at Best-Met Publishing Company takes over. The collective expertise in organizing projects of this magnitude continues to impress me. The finished project is a result of the attentive work of VP/editorial director Terri Maloney, VP/general manager, Maria Maggio, our office manager and researcher extraordinaire Beth Pripstein, director of marketing/digital strategist Karen Fernandez and finally our publisher Jeff Metzger. I challenge anyone to find this type of cohesive data on one of the most important marketing areas in the country anywhere else. It is a wealth of information and I hope you enjoy it and find it beneficial for your business and information. Kudos to all of my associates at BMP for all of their hard team work and dedication in putting this together and I trust you will find it useful for your business.
I had the opportunity to attend a terrific new trade event when the National Supermarket Association (NSA) debuted the inaugural NSA Women’s Forum 2022 at the TWA Hotel at JFK Airport in New York City. The event was promoted as a networking event to “Inspire-Connect-Empower” women in the food industry and did it ever deliver! The full day encompassed informative panels, award presentations and speakers. The day was emceed skillfully by News 12 meteorologist and television personality Hilda Estevez. Generational Award presentations were made to Ursula Pena, co-founder of the NSA; Sixta Bueno, Key Food owner; and Iris Benzan-Diaz, C-Town owner and NSA member.
Panel discussions were held on health and wellness, women in finance, and women in leadership. The leadership panel highlighted four accomplished women sharing their perspectives on how to guide and lead teams to success. The panel featured Jenny Jorge, Gala Foods and NSA member; Michelle Mendoza, Associated Supermarket Group; Donna Zambo, Allegiance Retail Services; and Mayra Linares-Garcia. Industry Leadership awards were presented to Mayra Linares-Garcia of Coca-Cola and Zulema Wiscovitch, co-CEO and co-President of Associated Supermarket Group. Interestingly, Zulema was also at one point the first female executive director for the NSA which was also acknowledged by the big crowd. Kudos to NSA president Samuel Collado and board member Anthony Pena (as well as the entire NSA board) for spearheading the event, but special credit goes to the first female NSA executive board member Nallely DeJesus for driving the Women’s Forum to excellence. Everyone I spoke with all pointed to Nallely as the one who really made the event as successful as it was. And lastly, it was a touching and surprising moment when Nallely brought longtime NSA administrative assistant Denise Diaz to the stage to recognize her for all of her behind the scenes hard work and dedication to the NSA. A very serving honor for a terrific lady!!!! Well done all around!
Stop & Shop is planning a $140 million capital investment to upgrade its New York City stores, with a focus on enhancing the shopping experience and bolstering the product selection to cater to a diverse urban market. The first location touched was the Bay Plaza Stop & Shop at Bartow Ave. in the Bronx. Operating in New York City for more than two decades, Stop & Shop has 25 stores in the boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island and also offers home delivery in all five boroughs, including Manhattan. At the center of the store updates is a “significantly expanded assortment” that will add with thousands of new items across departments. The Bay Plaza location introduced a new 1,000-item section called “Global Market” that features products from 14 countries and regions, such as authentic West Indian and Caribbean offerings with products specific to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica as well as Halal meat, dairy and grocery items.
Similarly, the remodel of the Stop & Shop store in Maspeth, Queens, will enlarge its product assortment for Chinese and South American shoppers, while customers of the chain’s Sheepshead Bay store in Brooklyn will find more Eastern European and Kosher foods. Other NYC stores will carry hundreds of products made in the metropolitan New York area, such as West African fonio chips from NYC-based Yolélé and Mike’s Amazing vegetable oils and mayonnaise.
In addition, the grocery chain said it will be NYC’s first retailer to offer the free Flashfood mobile app. Flashfood offers shoppers access to exclusive deals on products that are nearing their best-by date.
“We’re proud to make such a significant investment in New York City, and we’re excited to show customers that we can be the one-stop shop for everything they need and that we’re delivering great value, particularly in this current economic environment,” Stop & Shop President Gordon Reid said in a statement. To support the NYC communities it serves, Stop & Shop also has pledged $1 million this year to fight food insecurity across the boroughs. The commitment includes further sponsorship of the Food Bank for New York City’s Mobile Pantry and a new food security initiative in partnership with Montefiore Hospital & Quincy Asian Resources. The food bank’s Mobile Pantry will kick off an eight-week distribution of fresh produce and pantry staples in Queens’ Ozone Park neighborhood on June 24. Stop & Shop said it’s also “significantly expanding” the Stop & Shop School Food Pantry Program in the boroughs. Established to ensure students have regular access to fresh food, the program will support over 30 in-school pantries across NYC by the end of this year. “We’re committed to fighting hunger in the boroughs, and as part of our $1 million commitment, we’re investing nearly half a million in the city’s public schools and colleges to ensure local students have consistent access to healthy food so they can succeed in the classroom and beyond,” Reid commented.
Congratulations to good friend Joe Parisi as he was named president of Gristede’s and D’Agostino’s Supermarkets. You can read more about the specifics on Joe’s new gig in the Local Notes section of Taking Stock.
When I talked to Joe about his promotion, he couldn’t have seemed happier working with the team at Red Apple Group (RAG). One of the more interesting items he mentioned was how the atmosphere at RAG was like a big family. He said that John and Margo Catsimatidis genuinely care for their people and treat them as such. From the long time I have known Joe, I knew that struck a chord because Joe’s family means the world to him. (Just ask him to show you the wedding pictures of his son Joseph’s wedding in Greece a couple of weeks ago! And daughter Gianna’s wedding is planned for next year!) Good luck, Joe, and we know your leadership will help take Gristede’s and D’Ags to new heights!
Lidl’s 22nd store on Long Island opened in a space that Waldbaum’s occupied for nearly 40 years before closing in bankruptcy. The new Lidl opened on Jericho Turnpike in Garden City Park. Lidl has spent more than $6 million on the store, which will employ more than 45 people, the chain said. Lidl entered the Long Island market after it purchased 27 stores in New York and New Jersey, including all 24 on Long Island, from Best Market in January 2019.
The company has said it plans to have 50 stores on Long Island by 2029 and two more stores are expected to open in the next year. The former Best Market in Commack, which was closed, is expected to reopen this fall as a 30,000 square foot store and a new store on Commack Road in Deer Park, the grocer’s first new construction store on Long Island, in early 2023. When those stores officially open we will pass it along.
It’s been nice to get out and attend some of the trade shows kicking back into gear around the area. Perhaps one of the better ones that really generated a lot of good will and networking was the Allegiance Retail Services (ARS) Holiday Food Show at the Meadowlands Expo Center in Secaucus, NJ. I believe every Allegiance member was on hand with full staffs in tow, all tasting, sampling and seeking out deals. A tip of the hat to the ARS staff and especially Samer Rahman for once again coordinating a strong and successful show.
Well, that will do it for now. I hope you all enjoy and utilize our Annual Market Study. It’s been an undertaking to say the least and as always if you have any questions or comments, you can reach me at [email protected] or 201.250.2217. Have a great summer and I hope to see you out at the many events on the trade calendar.