Welcome to the Holiday Season and I hope this finds your registers ringing and final year-end sales topping all projections! A lot of activity was going on before we have to flip the calendar page to 2024 so let’s recap some of the goings-on.
The 5th annual Sumas Family Foundation Holiday Celebration hosted by RDD Associates and Village Supermarkets was held in early December at Bin 37 in Cedar Knolls, NJ. A big group of RDD Associates and Village team members were on hand and were welcomed by Bob Cignarella, chairman and CEO of RDD Associates, followed by updates from Amanda Fischer, marketing/business development manager at Village, and Perry Blatt of Village and president of the Sumas Family Foundation, about the success of the fundraising program. It was also nice to see Village chairman, Bill Sumas out at the event and looking well after battling some health concerns. RDD president Bob Weinmann summed up the evening by stating that the RDD/Village sales and promotional program is an anchor program that continues to grow because all sides are committed to its success. (that and possibly Cig’s 40+ year relationship dating back to Nick and Perry Sumas and continuing to the current generation). The program shifted this year to a quarterly advertising and merchandising effort (from a once-a-year program) in all Village stores and has raised more than $150,000 for the cause. The Sumas Family Foundation was started in 2019 to help local charities such as ALS, Autism Speaks, the Valerie Fund, Connie Dwyer Breast Cancer Foundation and several more, and has been doing tremendous charitable work. Congrats once again to everyone involved with this terrific event.
I think one of the more photographed and interviewed people in our industry is Rafael Toro of Goya Foods. (And all for terrific reasons) Raffy is the national director of public relations for Goya and is the face of the company and all of the outstanding work they do through Goya Cares and Goya Gives. Recently, we saw him on Fox 5 WNYW-TV on Good Day New York when Goya donated 20,000 pounds (or 17,000 meals) to NYC families in need through the Food Bank of NYC. The event was spearheaded by Good Day New York in its annual food drive to provide 40 million meals to needy families across the five boroughs. The food drive will continue through the end of the calendar year and also on hand at the kickoff event was Stew Leonard Jr. and his daughter Chase Leonard donating $40,000 and soup and water to the cause. Also sighted at the kickoff was Toby Usnik of the British Consulate who donated a variety of specialty foods. Well done to all involved!!!
And the good folks at King Kullen recently participated with WALK 97.5 FM in the Thanks for Giving Food Drive benefiting Long Island Cares – The Harry Chapin Food Bank. The food drive was held in November at various King Kullen locations and customers were encouraged to help by purchasing extra food-related items that were collected by Long Island Cares at store exits. “We always knew we had generous, caring customers, but this year’s response was truly phenomenal,” observed Tracey Cullen, Esq., King Kullen vice president of corporate strategy and initiatives. “The drive yielded 17,485 pounds of food and $3,895 in monetary donations. With monetary conversion, the drive raised 20,239 pounds of food, or roughly 10 tons. King Kullen and its customers have a long history of supporting Long Island Cares and I am very proud of this most recent effort.” Great job!!!
While the new Wegmans in Astor Place is crushing it in Manhattan, word came that the first Long Island Wegmans will be delayed until 2025 because of the longer-than-expected wait time to get approval of the subdivision plan. While the opening was originally scheduled for 2024 in Lake Grove, Wegmans spokeswoman Mandee Puleo said, “After receiving all our permitting approvals, we began demolition of the existing building in early November. We are currently evaluating the new food market construction schedule to determine an opening date, but we anticipate it will be early 2025.”
The final trade show of the year was the recent 14th Annual NY Produce show and Conference held at the Jacob K. Javits center in NYC. The show had a record attendance of more than 5,000 attendees and 350 exhibiting companies and I can tell you firsthand that the show floor was busy. Plenty of old friends, and new ones too, were on hand to see what is new in the produce world and how to grab new ideas for their stores. The show is organized by the Eastern Produce Council and Produce Business.
After all the brouhaha (or should we say brew-haha) over the Bud Light saga this past year and the precipitous downfall of their beer sales, perhaps retailers should get ready for the next wave of beverage opportunities. Non-alcoholic ready-to-drink cocktails (mocktails), hemp-infused and CBD beverages are ready to take off in the coming year. We spoke with beverage guru Michael J. O’Donnell of Emergent Beverages who is building a portfolio of emerging brands from around the world that provides retailers and distributors an opportunity to create a “better for you” high-growth category to more than offset the declining beer and alcohol sales. The Emergent Beverages executive team has more than 150 years of combined beverage industry experience and cannabis and hemp law firm services to help guide any retailer or distributor through the ins and outs of getting into the category. Currently the brands they are working with are Calexo, Elevado, Drinkin Buds, Long Coast, and Boldt (Ice Tea Hemp-Infused). These brands are all both hemp-infused and mocktails with no alcohol or hemp. For more information on this burgeoning category contact Michael at [email protected] or give him a ring at 201.384.8017.
And just as we were going to press word came word that Joe Fantozzi was named president and chief operating officer at Allegiance Retail Services, LLC. Joe had been named to the role on an interim basis in September when former president John Derderian stepped down. I’ve known Joe for 30 years, and I can’t think of a better and more qualified person to lead Allegiance into a new and bright future. Best wishes, my friend.
Well, that will about do it for now, everyone. As the Holiday Season is upon us, I want to wish you all peace and joy for this Christmas Season and prosperity and good health for the coming year. Thank you all for your support, comments and partnership during the year, I truly appreciate it. I look forward to working with you all in the New Year and seeing you out in the field. As always feel free to reach me at 201.250.2217 or [email protected].