6 Retailers Extend NuVal Contracts

Six retail partners of NuVal LLC -- Hy-Vee Inc., Festival Foods, Big Y Foods Inc., King Kullen, Coborn’s Inc., and Lund Food Holdings Inc. — have signed contract extensions, guaranteeing that their stores will continue to offer the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System, which enables shoppers to locate the most nutritious foods on supermarket shelves.

With more than 200 stores in the Midwest, West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee was one of the first retail chains to offer NuVal Scores, launching the program in its stores in January 2009. Onalaska, Wis.-based Festival Foods introduced NuVal in its 18 stores in August 2010. Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y, with nearly 60 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut, adopted the NuVal System three years ago. With more than 40 stores on Long Island, Bethpage, N.Y.-based King Kullen has offered NuVal Scores since early 2011. Following successful pilot at eight of its stores, St. Cloud, Minn.-based Coburn also launched the program at all 30 of its stores in 2011. Lund Food Holdings, the Minneapolis-based owner of the Lunds and Byerly’s chains, launched NuVal in its 22 stores in 2012.

According to Mike Nugent, general manager of NuVal LLC: “These are chains with a long-standing tradition of exemplary customer service, and they all recognize that the NuVal System is a great, unique way to answer questions that customers have asked for decades: What should I feed my family? What is the best choice? With NuVal, that decision is now quick, easy, and backed by the best science available today.”

Endorsed by the American College of Preventive Medicine (ACPM), the NuVal Nutritional Scoring System rates foods on a scale of one to 100; a high score indicates a highly nutritious food. Scores are displayed on the shelf tag next to the price on store shelves, so consumers can check the nutritional content of an item quickly before purchasing it. The scores can now be found at more than 1,600 stores across the United States.

NuVal LLC is a joint venture formed in 2008 by Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based private brand provider Topco Associates LLC and Griffin Hospital, in Derby, Conn.