Trading Partners

Progressive Grocer is recognizing the industry’s leading women in the traditionally male-dominated business in its June/July 2009 issue, available now. The list, “Top Women in Grocery,” consists of 100 females who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and who wield substantial influence in their companies and the industry at large.

MyWebGrocer earlier this month launched a customized Facebook application in 21 countries for premium ice cream manufacturer, Ben & Jerry’s.

With its 820,900 followers, Whole Foods Market (WFM) has more people listening to its tweets than to those of Tony Robbins, “Good Morning America” and Martha Stewart; and it ranks No. 36 overall in number of followers as of June 7, according to Twitter tracker Twitterholic (http://www.twitterholic.com). No other food retailer even makes the top 500.

Over the latest six (4-week) periods ending 5/16/2009, store brand unit sales averaged a 5.7% increase in consumer-packaged-goods departments tracked by Nielsen in food, drug and mass-merchandisers (including Walmart).

Coastline Produce is now the exclusive shipper of Greenettes label leaf lettuce, which will be available in Green Leaf, Red Leaf and Romaine lettuce varieties. Since 1964, the Greenettes label has been a hallmark of fresh, high quality vegetables.

NSF International and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) recently announced their joint roles in administering the Smart Choices Program™ — a new nutritional front-of-package labeling program.

Another consumer-friendly on-package consumer nutrition labeling program has been unveiled, this time by NSF International and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN), which have teamed up to administer the new Smart Choices Program. The nutrition labeling program will aim to provide manufacturers and retailers with a reliable front-of-pack icon plus calorie information that helps consumers recognize smarter food and beverage products within product categories.

In this second of a six-part series, Dave Nazaruk, senior vice president, retail business development for StayWell/MediMedia USA, the world’s leading provider of patient education and consumer health information, examines the role of retail in revolutionizing health care and the economy.