Supermarket & Grocery Industry News

DENVER - Greenmont Capital Partners, a new private equity fund established by well-known natural and organic food industry leaders, together with prominent Colorado-based investors, yesterday said it has raised more than $15 million to begin operations. Greenmont will focus on emerging companies in the fast-growing natural and organic food, as well as related products, industries.

WASHINGTON - Ann Veneman, the United States' first female Agriculture Secretary, resigned after four years on a job during which she earned high marks for the handling of the first reported case of mad cow disease on American soil last winter.

More retailers are taking a leading category management role to drive some growth once again into the center store.

Call it aisle management, trip management, store optimization -- the future of merchandising will be built not around products, but around consumers.

TORONTO - At a ceremony last week at Grocery Innovations Canada, the Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers (CFIG) presented three sets of annual awards for retail excellence among independent and franchised stores: Canadian Independent Grocer of the Year Awards, CFIG Master Merchandising Awards, and the Arnold Rands Heritage Award.

ACNielsen's Category Business Planner brings the power of market data right down to the store.

With access to accurate data improving in some quarters, the fresh industry is making real progress in applying category management.

For smaller retailers especially, the discipline can still be somewhat of a mystery.