RETAIL VIEW: Super supermarket investor nabs Pathmark and Wild Oats
Ron Burkle, who has made a fortune buying and selling supermarket stock as well as supermarkets themselves, has made major stock investments in Pathmark Stores and Wild Oats Markets in the past few months, leading to much speculations about the future of those operations.
Culinary Center of Monterey promotes team building
MONTEREY, CA " The Culinary Center of Monterey, here on Cannery Row, is gaining recognition not just for teaching budding chefs how to ply their craft but also for bringing a sense of togetherness to visiting businesses.
In its four-plus years, CCM?s corporate team-building service has attracted clients as diverse as the Pentagon, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc. Mary Pagan, executive chef and owner of CCM, figures that more than 15,000 people have cooked in CCM?s kitchens.
Idaho claims " and government agrees " that Canadian imports have hurt potato growers
A drop in fresh potato prices from an already low five-year average of 4.9 cents per pound to just 3.85 cents per pound for the 2003 season is in large measure a result of a flood of low-priced processed french fries coming into the U.S. domestic market from Canada, according to the Idaho potato industry.
Industry representatives, under the auspices of Potato Growers of Idaho, recently petitioned the federal government for financial assistance in compensation for the losses they incurred due to the depressed markets.
C.M. Holtzinger now exclusive sales agent for Snokist Growers
An agreement that became official April 1 brings together two well-known names in the domestic fruit industry under a single sales roof.
C.M. Holtzinger Fruit Co. and Snokist Growers, both based in Yakima, WA, reached a long-term agreement in which Holtzinger will handle all fresh fruit sales and marketing activities for the Snokist cooperative.
FLORAL FOCUS Pleased to meet you: A fresh face and a fresh start
As the new floral marketing editor and sales manager, it is a pleasure to greet you. I was very flattered when Cindy Long recommended me for this job and very happy when it was offered to me. Cindy took the kernel of an idea for this section and presented it to The Produce News; they liked the idea and Floral Marketing was born.
Under Cindy, Floral Marketing developed into a section that is worthy of being read.
Bollinger leaves Tristone
FRESNO, CA " Loren Bollinger and Michael Jameson, founding partners of Tristone International LLC, here, have parted company, with Mr. Jameson continuing to operate as Tristone and Mr. Bollinger continuing business as Sun Crest-Bollinger International Inc., a company he formed nearly 12 years ago.
The parting was amicable, according to Mr. Bollinger. "I've known Mike for many, many years. We?re still friends."
It's a FACT: The Produce Exchange fine tunes taste
Livermore, CA-based The Produce Exchange has implemented the FACT system, a proprietary taste-profiling process meant to ensure consistently superior-tasting produce, for its "Victory Garden? brand fresh produce.
?We decided that taste was a consumer proposition that people liked to talk about," said Martin Mazzanti, owner of The Produce Exchange, a distribution and marketing company that specializes in tomatoes, melons and dry vegetables such as peppers, chilis and cucumbers. "We wanted to get [taste] out there " to create a consumer brand based on taste."
Myra Gordon: New York trade must have a new market
BRONX, NY " For business to grow at New York?s Hunts Point Terminal Market, the facility must rebuild and expand, according to Myra Gordon, executive administrative director and assistant to the president of the New York Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Association Inc., here.
?To continue to function, we very definitely need to think forward with a plan to build a new facility," Ms. Gordon told The Produce News. She credited the market?s co-presidents, Matt D?Arrigo and Steve Katzman, for being "very forward thinking in understanding the market?s needs."
Rocky's Dominic Russo gives credit where credit is due
Dominic Russo always knew that he was meant for a life in the produce industry. Mr. Russo, 26, has been buying and selling for Rocky Produce Inc. on the Detroit Produce Terminal for almost seven years. Before that, he put in some time at the receiver-distributor, owned and operated by his family, "every day in the summertime and after school ever since I was a little kid."
Participation in Potato Lovers Month display contest doubles previous record
With a March 31 deadline, entries were still coming in for the Idaho Potato Commission?s Potato Lovers Month display contest when The Produce News spoke with Seth Pemsler, the commission?s vice president of retail merchandising, on March 30.
But with two days remaining, "right now we are sitting at 1,573 [entries], so we have basically doubled the best year we have ever had," Mr. Pemsler said.