Deli / Prepared Foods

BOULDER, Colo. -- IZZE Beverage Company, a brand in the emerging sparkling juice category, tapped SoBe founder and former c.e.o. John Bello as a member of the company's board of directors. Bello is also a partner with Sherbrooke Capital, the venture capital group that led the $6.35 million equity-financing round for IZZE this past January.

LONDON -- It's not just U.S. supermarkets that are being affected by growing waistlines and consumers' desires to eat healthier. Sales of popular brands of traditional snack foods and sweets in Britain are suffering from a slump, according to a new study by The Grocer, a British trade publication, based on ACNielsen sales data.

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. -- Note to grocers courting Hispanics: Try to gauge how long your target market's been absorbing American culture. As they acculturate, Hispanics living in the United States develop progressively more Americanized eating habits, a study by the NPD Group here found.

SUNBURY, Pa. -- Weis Markets, based here, celebrated the opening of a new superstore in Boonsboro, Md. over the weekend. Earlier this fall the 158-store chain broke ground for a new superstore in nearby Thurmont, Md.

New focuses on convenience, health, and self-indulgence will help drive dairy department sales.

NAPLES, N.Y. -- This was a year of transition for many packaged goods marketers, paving the way for an extremely active year for new products in 2006, according to global business information provider Datamonitor. New packaged goods rollouts in the United States are up 6.5 percent from last year, though Oct. 31, 2005, as the end of low-carbmania has allowed other health-and-wellness-related trends to take hold.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The number of Americans who've tried organic foods has jumped to 65 percent in 2005, compared to 54 percent in 2003 and 2004, and a quarter of 1,000 people responding to a survey said they're consuming organics more than they did a year ago, said Whole Foods Market here.

Progressive Grocer asked a panel of experts to assess the current state of category management and suggest how it could be improved. Their answers point the way to the next step in the practice's evolution.