News Briefs

In a bid to help shoppers eat more healthfully in the new year, Food City has joined forces with Chicago-based food and nutrition digital technology company Sifter SP Inc. to enhance the Dietitian’s Pick program offered by the Southeast regional grocer.

Sifter’s technology platform enables quick, easy product discovery and shopping, especially for Food City shoppers with special diet needs, ranging from diabetes and heart health to food allergies, food interactions with prescription medications, and lifestyle preferences such as Mediterranean-style and vegan. The platform offers mobile scanning functionality that lets the grocer’s customers scan a product on the shelves and immediately confirm – through a green checkmark for “yes” or a red X for “no” – whether the product meets their preferences.

“We recognize there is no one-size-fits-all approach to eating well,” noted Food City Corporate Dietitian Nicole Pazdziorko. “The beauty of Sifter’s technology is that it places the tool in the hands of the shopper, allowing them to customize their nutrition profile and effortlessly find items in every aisle of the store that suit their unique food preferences, dietary restrictions. and medical needs.”

“A growing number of the population is facing dietary restrictions,” added Food City President and CEO Steven C. Smith. “Food City is committed to continuing to grow our health-and-wellness program by offering services that value our consumers’ and associates’ unique nutrition needs and wellness goals, and empower them to make more informed choices for their families.”

In November, Sifter teamed with nonprofit FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) to help make grocery shopping easier and less time-consuming for the 85 million-plus Americans with food allergies and intolerances.

Food City’s parent company, Abingdon, Va.-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operates 149 stores throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama. K-VA-T is No. 68 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Pizza restaurant chain Zalat Pizza is set to open the second location under a multi-unit development agreement covering select stores in The Kroger Co.’s Houston division. With a grand opening scheduled for Friday, Dec. 16 at Kroger’s Conroe Marketplace, in Conroe, Texas, the new restaurant will offer takeout and third-party delivery, in-store pizza by the slice, retail take-and-bake pizzas, and limited indoor and patio seating. The first location opened at Kroger’s Cypress Towne Lake Marketplace this past October. 

“Kroger is incredibly pleased to expand our partnership with Zalat Pizza through the introduction of a second in-store restaurant, following the continued success of the first location at our Towne Lake Marketplace,” said Liz Colvin, VP, merchandising for Kroger’s Houston division. “We’re certain our Conroe Marketplace customers will be equally hungry for all Zalat Pizza offers.”    

“Kroger is the largest grocery retailer in the world, with more than 2,700 locations among its many iconic brands,” noted Khanh Nguyen, founder and CEO of Dallas-based Zalat Pizza. “We are especially excited that Kroger is interested in us because of our best-of-class quality and dedication to our craft. Our model has always been about maintaining the highest levels of execution at large scale, and we’re excited that Kroger shares our vision.”

The second Kroger Marketplace location marks the 27th Zalat Pizza across the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas. This location will be open Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Friday-Saturday, 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

Serving 60 million households annually nationwide through a digital shopping experience, and almost 2,800 retail food stores under a variety of banner names, Cincinnati-based Kroger is No. 4 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. The company’s Houston division has108 stores in southeast Texas and Louisiana, with more than 15,000 associates.

Data science company dunnhumby has created and filled a new position of president for the Americas. Matt O’Grady will step into that role, reporting to CEO Dan Olley.

O’Grady will spearhead dunnhumby’s growth strategy across North and South America. He brings with him more than 20 years of experience in the media and advertising space, mostly recently as an executive consultant at media and data consulting firm 12th Street Measurement. He worked for 11 years at Nielsen, where he held a variety of leadership positions, including stints as global commercial president of international media and as CEO of Nielsen Catalina Solutions.

[On-demand webinar: "Winning in eCommerce: Insights from the dunnhumby eCommerce Retailer Preference Index"]

“We are extremely pleased and fortunate to have Matt join us to lead our Americas’ operations,” remarked Olley. “Matt brings a wealth of experience working closely with business leaders across the globe to execute innovative data-driven media strategies and technology solutions. Beyond that, he has the leadership skills in building teams of the highest caliber and with a commitment to putting the customer first, the core of dunnhumby’s philosophy and methodology”.

O’Grady expressed his enthusiasm for joining dunnhumby, which operates U.S. offices in Chicago. “I’m excited and honored to be starting the next chapter of my career with dunnhumby, a company that checks all the boxes for me, with its high-caliber management team, its innovative products, its vision for the future, and a parent company that believes in and supports dunnhumby’s mission,” he said.

Manchester, England-based St Pierre Groupe has appointed a new managing director following a successful buyout process that saw the business, which owns the St Pierre Bakery brand, join the Grupo Bimbo portfolio earlier this year.

David Wagstaff will take the reins as managing director, with immediate effect. For the past two years, he has led St Pierre’s U.S. operation as VP North America. In this role, Wagstaff has helped bring authentic French brioche and bakery products to the U.S. marketplace and establish the brioche category as a staple of the in-store bakery for U.S. retailers. He also has more than 30 years of experience in food and drink, holding commercial and management positions with global brands in America, Asia and the United Kingdom.

Appointed to lead the existing St Pierre Groupe management team, Wagstaff will continue to be supported by a leadership team comprising CFO Paolo Benedetto, CMO Jen Danby, Supply Chain Director Brett Rhodes, Quality & Compliance Director Muriel Vanoli, and Procurement Director Yann Neveu.

“I am pleased to say that the leadership team at St Pierre Groupe remains largely unchanged following the acquisition, allowing us to continue to build the brands and drive growth with the unique St Pierre spirit for which our company is known,” said Wagstaff.

St Pierre Groupe now employs more than 90 people across the United Kingdom, Europe and America.

The world’s “digital-native” retailers – newer retailers that initially operated exclusively online – are set to more than double their share of the industry’s revenues by 2030 and triple their share of profits, analysis by Boston-based Bain & Co. has found. However, a focus on profitability, scale and new revenue sources is set to drive a growing convergence between old and new retail players, according to Bain’s “The Future of Retail: The Age of Convergence” report.

According to Bain & Co., retail ecosystem players, such as Amazon, and other online marketplaces, gained considerable momentum over the past decade, capturing about 60% of global retail growth between 2013 and 2021. Its report also found that this trend will continue, with digital-native retailers set to more than double their revenue share from 15% to 35% by 2030 as loss-making retailers fail and disappear from the playing field.

Bain concluded, however, that the fastest phase of growth for digital-first retailers looks likely to be over, as investors expect basic profitability from these businesses and past ample funding dries up. Traditional retailers, meanwhile, will increasingly provide stiffer competition as they continue to invest in digital capabilities and platforms.

The Bain study found that competition for an omnichannel advantage is driving a convergence in both talent and strategy between traditional retailers and digital insurgents. By 2030, Bain predicted that half of retail profits will come from new “beyond trade” revenue sources, including third-party marketplace activity, data monetization (encompassing digital advertising), businesses-to-business services, and consumer financial services. By comparison, traditional retail activities, including the sale of goods, are unlikely to drive even modest profit growth in the years to come.

As a result, retailers are upping their investments in digital, just as digital retailers are looking to acquire brick-and-mortar storefronts. The search for capital to support these transformations will encourage a new wave of deals as retailers look to scale rapidly.

Wholesale distribution cooperative Affiliated Foods Inc. (AFI) has teamed up with grocery automation software company Storewise to give AFI’s 800-plus independent member grocery and convenience stores across nine states access to the Storewise platform delivering analytics and automation, including its newest feature, Dynamic Sales Reporting. Through AFI, participating retailers will have access to Storewise’s Price Analysis (pictured), Risk Reduction and Sales Reporting platform modules. 

[Read more: "New Retail Tech Provides Grocers Instant Sales Insights"]

“We’ve already received great feedback from our members about the Storewise modules,” said Brian Piancino, COO of Amarillo, Texas-based AFI. “We are excited to be working with Storewise, and we’re honored to offer our members not only superior products, but also exceptional partnerships and efficient business solutions that they have come to expect from Affiliated Foods.” 

“We’re thrilled to work with Affiliated Foods and their members,” noted Christopher Greco, president and CEO of Overland Park, Kan.-based Storewise. “Our self-funding software platform truly protects retailer’s profits by delivering important insights and tools that save time, make labor more efficient, and stop malicious and non-malicious loss. The longevity of Affiliated Foods' partnerships and their commitment to service and community are in line with our own core values.”