News Briefs

Discount grocer Trader Joe’s has been selected by consumers as one of nine food brands that they consider innovation leaders. This list is a subset of the 50 brands that merited recognition as innovators in the 2022 Most Innovative Brands survey, conducted by Brand Keys Inc., a New York-based brand loyalty and engagement consultancy.

“The 11th annual survey is the only assessment of brand innovation conducted entirely from a consumer perspective,” noted Brand Keys Founder and President Robert Passikoff. “When it comes to innovation, consumers are the ultimate jury. Their expectations are constantly on the rise, and true innovation takes place within that framework. Expectation is the gateway to innovation.”

Added Passikoff: “It really doesn’t matter to consumers how many promises are made on earnings calls or patents a brand holds or the profits they post. Consumers don’t look at innovation that way. When it comes to the food category, innovation provides social and cultural opportunities for brands to expand into new markets and helps to shape and evolve consumer shopping habits.”

This year’s top food brands, ranked by innovation acumen, were:

1. Beyond Meat
2. Pringles (Kellogg’s)
3. Doritos (PepsiCo)
4. Impossible Foods
5. Coca-Cola
6. Starbucks
7. Trader Joe’s
8. Oatly
9. Amy’s Kitchen

Other food brands that consumers thought of as innovative but that didn’t rank in the top 50 this year included ­Chobani, Pepsi, Puris, Sweetgreen and Tyson. Trader Joe’s was the only grocer to make the list.

This year, 7,420 consumers (50:50 male/female, 16 to 65 years of age) identified companies and brands they saw as the biggest innovators of 2022 for Brand Keys’ survey. The 50 brands fell into eight industry sectors: consumer goods, entertainment, food, health care, social networking, software, technology and transportation.

With more than 500 stores in 40-plus states, Monrovia, Calif.-based Trader Joe’s is No. 27 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Ocado Retail Chief Executive Melanie Smith (pictured) has announced her departure from the U.K.-based company, effective Aug. 31. Lawrence Hene, who previously served as deputy CEO at Ocado Retail and has served on the company’s board as a non-executive director since 2019, will take over the role on an interim basis.

Smith was instrumental in the formation of the joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer, which was established in August 2019. A permanent replacement will be named in due time, according to Ocado Retail.

"The last two years have been extremely challenging with a pandemic to contend with affecting the grocery market in ways that we could never have predicted,” said Tim Steiner, chairman of Ocado Retail. “Mel has steered this business through with incredible energy and I would like to thank her for all she has done. There is no question that Mel leaves the business well prepared for faster growth in the years to come. We wish her well in her future endeavors.

"We are pleased to confirm that Lawrence Hene will take the role of interim CEO, and I know he will bring his extensive knowledge of Ocado Retail and provide the leadership required in these turbulent market conditions,” Steiner continued. “We will now commence the search for a permanent new CEO to take Ocado Retail through the next steps of our growth as a critical part of the strategy for both Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer."

Online supermarket Ocado.com was established in 2000 and is one of Britain’s leading online retailers, and since 2019 is part of a 50:50 joint venture between Ocado Group and Marks & Spencer Group plc.

Mindful that consumers are seeking savings at a time of still-escalating inflation, CVS is offering two weeks of deals for its app users. The annual #ExtraCareExtraThanks event continues through July 23.

Members of the CVS ExtraCare rewards program who link their account to the CVS Pharmacy app can score several daily gifts that are available digitally to redeem online or in-store. This year’s deals include free skin care gifts, beverage gifts, snacks and store-branded immunity support tablets, among other offerings. On July 22, users can earn more ExtraBucks rewards when shopping with their loyalty card.

CVS confirmed that shoppers are indeed adjusting their behavior as they watch their budgets. The retailer reported a 40% increase in coupons sent to its users’ ExtraCare cards from the app over the past year.

With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary operating almost 10,000 locations nationwide, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health is No. 7 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. 

Organic and gluten-free company Bob's Red Mill has brought on Allyson Borozan as SVP of marketing. She is tasked with helping to elevate the brand and optimizing business strategy within the marketing, new product development and customer engagement departments.  

She brings more than two decades of marketing experience to her role at the employee-owned Bob’s Red Mill. Prior to stepping into this new role, Borozan spent 12 years at Kellogg Co., where she is credited with helping the brand grow new product lines in the snack and breakfast categories.

“We are thrilled to welcome Allyson as our new SVP of marketing and to add her as part of the executive leadership team,” said Trey Winthrop of CEO of the Milwaukie, Ore.-based Bob’s Red Mill. “Her consumer packaged goods experience and enthusiastic approach to innovative marketing, along with her deep respect for the brand and our employee-owned culture, makes her the perfect person for this role.” Winthrop stepped into the CEO role earlier this year, promoted from his role as CFO. 

Whole Foods Market is welcoming shoppers to its first store in West Michigan with the impending opening of a location in the Grand Rapids market. The latest Whole Foods at 2897 Radcliff Avenue SE in the suburb of Kentwood will be unveiled Aug. 17.

The 45,400-square-foot store is in a bustling retail area, not far from a Trader Joe’s location. Under construction since late 2020, this is the eighth Whole Foods in Michigan, and the only one west of the state capital of Lansing. 

The retailer promises plenty of local touches, from the décor and furnishings to the assortment of fresh and packaged products. Opening right during the region’s harvest season, this Whole Foods will be stocked with organic, conventional and Sourced for Good produce. Likewise, the butcher counter includes local meat, poultry and seafood selections, chosen by Whole Foods’ Michigan forager Mike Neill.

As with other Whole Foods sites, this store includes an expansive specialty department, with cheese cases overseen by trained cheesemongers, and a bakery with both made-in-store and locally-baked breads and other goods. The prepared foods section also reflects the retailer’s signature offerings, with self-service hot and cold food bars, pizza, sushi and other ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat products. Rounding out the store’s assortment and amenities are a full-service coffee bar and a health and beauty section.

The grocer is celebrating the grand opening by giving away Whole Foods Market Secret Saver cards to the first 500 shoppers and a tote bag to the first 2,000 customers, in addition to providing samples from vendor partners. The retailer is also launching community outreach efforts, donating to local food pantries, schools and non-profit organizations.

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon, which is No. 2 on The PG 100,  Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Food tech company GrubMarket has completed the acquisition of Albuquerque, N.M.- and El Paso, Texas-based Quality Fruit & Vegetable Co. (QF&V ), a fresh produce company that provides high-quality fruits and vegetables to the Southwest, sourced from the United States, Mexico, South America and other parts of the world. QF&V sells tens of millions of dollars worth of produce to hundreds of retail and foodservice customers across the United States and Mexico each year.

Founded more than 35 years ago, QF&V is still run by original owner Nick Delgado. Today, QF&V is a full-service food distribution and wholesale business with warehouse operations covering nearly 70,000 square feet, including state-of-the-art cold-storage and air-ripening facilities. QF&V has an extensive product catalog that includes specialty and seasonal items but is particularly well known for bananas, lettuce and tomatoes. In addition, QF&V has received top food safety certifications from Primus Labs and other organizations. The business will continue to be managed by its current leadership team.

QF&V can now use GrubMarket's proprietary WholesaleWare software suite, the company's software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that provides wholesalers and distributors with financial management, online ordering features, inventory management, lot traceability, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics tools.

”We are also excited about GrubMarket's robust technology platform and strong e-commerce network, which will allow us to tap into a best-in-class grower network across North and South America and become an even more reputable and reliable fresh food distributor for our customers across the U.S. and Mexico," said Delgado, who is also president of QF&V.

"Nick and the remarkable team at QF&V have built an exceptional company that has a well-rounded and diversified customer base and has achieved year-over-year growth in revenue and profits,” said Mike Xu, CEO of San Francisco-based GrubMarket. “This acquisition enables GrubMarket to further strengthen its presence in Texas and officially enter New Mexico, which is a key distribution region for food in the Southwest corridor of the United States."