News Briefs

  • 4/5/2022

    Wegmans Joins Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative

    Seafood Section Teaser

    Wegmans has joined the Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) as a funding partner. As part of the company’s ongoing sustainability journey, it has focused its efforts on a sustainably sourced seafood supply, partnering only with trusted suppliers that meet its high standards and share its commitment to making a difference. 

    “By partnering with GSSI, we’re able to further our commitment to responsibly sourced seafood while building trust with our customers,” said Steve Philips, Wegmans’ seafood group manager. “Using GSSI’s benchmarking as a foundational tool in our sourcing strategy will help clarify our expectations to our farmers, fishers and suppliers. GSSI is an industry-leading organization, where all its partners share a common goal. We’re excited to join the conversation and help drive the industry forward to a more sustainable future.”

    Based in Haarlem, Netherlands, GSSI is a public-private partnership working together to turn seafood into a driver for good to preserve oceans for future generations and secure more sustainable seafood for everyone. The GSSI Global Partnership is one of the largest precompetitive collaborations in the world, aligning businesses, NGOs, governments and international organizations representing the full seafood value chain. 

    Family-owned Wegmans operates 106 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and North Carolina. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company is No. 35 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top retailers of food and consumables in North America.

  • 4/6/2022

    GrubMarket Acquires Regatta Tropicals

    Grubmarket Logo Teaser

    GrubMarket has acquired Regatta Tropicals, a fresh produce provider that distributes, packs, imports and exports fruits to retail and foodservice customers across the United States and Canada. The full-service produce distribution and wholesale business currently operates in New Jersey and California, and is known as a top U.S. supplier of kiwifruit, persimmons and figs. It also provides shipping, repacking and restyling services.

    As a part of GrubMarket's portfolio, Regatta Tropicals will now use the tech company's WholesaleWare, a software-as-a-service platform that provides food industry wholesalers and distributors with financial management, mobile and online ordering features, inventory management, lot traceability and tracking, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics tools.

    "We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by GrubMarket's robust technology platform and strong e-commerce supply and demand network. We strive to be one of the highest-quality and most reliable fresh fruit distributors for our customers nationwide, and we also seek to further tap into premier grower networks on both the East Coast and West Coast," said Steve Matych, CEO of Vineland, N.J.-based Regatta Tropicals, which will continue to be managed by its current leadership team.

    According to Mike Xu, CEO of San Francisco-based GrubMarket: "Steve and the exceptional team at Regatta Tropicals have scaled the company to tens of millions in annual revenues and have built a strong, defensible business through their repacking and marketing capabilities. In addition, they are mission driven with strong clean-label packing and sustainability practices, which matches GrubMarket's goals and missions. This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen our presence in key markets along both the East and West Coasts, while solidifying our position in the food supply chain industry as a technology-enabler for B2B food players."

  • 4/6/2022

    99 Ranch Market Coming to New York's Long Island

    99 Ranch Market Sign Teaser

    Asian grocery store chain 99 Ranch Market will open its first New York location, at the Samanea New York mall in Westbury on Long Island, according to a published report. Scheduled to open April 9, the 45,000-square-foot store is just the second anchor tenant to come to the mall in more than two decades, The Real Deal, a real estate news outlet, reported.

    The Real Deal noted that 99 Ranch signed a 15-year lease for the store back in April 2020, but wasn’t able to start construction at the former Circuit City space until January 2021.

    “The property at 1500 Country Road recently underwent a $30 million renovation, creating two new main exterior entrances,” the publication reported. “The mall owners hope the latest opening is a sign the mall may be turning its fortunes around.”

    Last June, 99 Ranch entered the Phoenix market with a 44,000-square-foot store in Chandler, Ariz. 

    Meanwhile, Canadian Asian grocer T&T Supermarkets has revealed plans to open a new Toronto store at CF Fairview Mall by the end of 2022. 

    Established in 1984, Buena Park, Calif.-based 99 Ranch operates more than 50 stores in Arizona, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington. The company is No. 86 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. T&T Supermarkets was founded in Vancouver in 1993 and acquired by Loblaw Cos. Ltd. in 2009. Brampton, Ontario-based Loblaw Cos., which operates more than 2,400 stores in Canada, is No. 12 on The PG 100.

  • 4/6/2022

    Kroger Deploys PackIt Fresh Mobile Refrigeration Solution

    Kroger PackIt Fresh Teaser

    The Kroger Co. has expanded its partnership with PackIt by collaborating on an operational pilot supporting the grocer’s growing e-commerce network.

    When contacted by Progressive Grocer for more details on the pilot, a PackIt spokeswoman replied: “The current program is rolling out across multiple regions, including the midwestern and western U.S., through the spring. We expect to expand to even more locations in the back half of 2022.

    “We’re thrilled Kroger has chosen the PackIt Fresh mobile refrigeration solution,” said Melissa Kieling, founder and president of Agoura Hills, Calif.-based PackIt. “Our EcoFreeze totes ensure a mobile, chilled food-safe environment that pickup orders can be directly packed into for fresh, curbside pickup for customers!” 

    The PackIt Fresh mobile refrigeration system aims to create efficiencies through each step of online grocery order fulfillment. Collapsible, freezable, reusable PackIt Fresh EcoFreeze totes enable retailers to meet growing storage, pickup and delivery demands. PackIt’s patented EcoFreeze Technology consists of freezable gel built into the walls of every PackIt Fresh tote. This technology keeps perishables cold and food-safe for 15 hours.

    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. 3 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

  • 4/6/2022

    Blue Apron Reaches Its 2022 Carbon Neutrality Goal

    Blue Apron's Q3 Revenue Climbs 13%

    Blue Apron Holdings, Inc. has officially become carbon neutral, meeting the goal it set out for itself of hitting the milestone by March 31, 2022. The company bought carbon offsets from financial services business Aspiration, which had conducted an initial carbon footprint analysis for the meal kit company.

    The purchased credits cover estimated upstream and downstream emissions, including sourcing, packaging and transporting Blue Apron’s products, and offset Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions as defined by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

    “Sustainability has always been part of our DNA and we believe it’s important to conduct our business in a way that mitigates our impact on the world around us,” said Linda Findley, president and CEO of New York-based Blue Apron. “Achieving our carbon neutrality goal was one of our top priorities. While we are proud of this achievement, we know that there’s more work for us to do, along with others in the industry, to help ensure a better world for future generations.”

    The company is now working toward reaching net zero status through further systematic reductions throughout its operations.

  • 4/5/2022

    eGrowcery Teams With DoorDash Drive

    eGrowcery Logo Teaser

    eGrowcery, an e-commerce software company, has established a partnership with DoorDash Drive, the white-label fulfillment delivery service of San Francisco-based DoorDash, to provide supermarkets and other retailers access to a large delivery fleet. 

    Under the partnership, retailers using the eGrowcery platform will now be able to benefit from DoorDash Drive’s integration and logistics while owning their own shopper data. Because eGrowcery puts control and data ownership in the hands of retailers, they maintain a direct connection with their customers through their own branded apps, which enables them to profitably grow their businesses.

    “The combination of eGrowcery’s intuitive shopping experience and fully integrated fulfillment process with DoorDash’s scale and convenience is very compelling,” said eGrowcery CEO Patrick Hughes. “By teaming up with DoorDash, we are able to offer our retail customers a turn-key solution to help them address their local commerce needs.” 

    Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based eGrowcery, which operates in both the U.S. and abroad, is seeing a growing number of retailers working to establish their own branded e-commerce experiences.

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