Frozen Foods

It's hard to imagine a grocer that knows its home state better, or that tries harder to treat everyone like family.

NAPLES, N.Y. -- This was a year of transition for many packaged goods marketers, paving the way for an extremely active year for new products in 2006, according to global business information provider Datamonitor. New packaged goods rollouts in the United States are up 6.5 percent from last year, though Oct. 31, 2005, as the end of low-carbmania has allowed other health-and-wellness-related trends to take hold.

GOODLETTSVILLE, Tenn. -- Discount retailer Dollar General Corp. here said yesterday it plans to open 30 more Dollar General Markets -- its experimental concept that's 50 percent grocery and includes meat, deli, dairy, baked, and frozen foods -- in fiscal 2006.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The number of Americans who've tried organic foods has jumped to 65 percent in 2005, compared to 54 percent in 2003 and 2004, and a quarter of 1,000 people responding to a survey said they're consuming organics more than they did a year ago, said Whole Foods Market here.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The nation's food banks increasingly rely on food retailer contributions to address growing hunger needs, according to a new study from the Food Marketing Institute (FMI).

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Continuing to seek the silver lining among the dark clouds of natural disasters this past season, Wal-Mart said yesterday it will open its first "Wal-Mart Express" store in Waveland, Miss. this weekend, to serve shoppers who live near the site of its damaged supercenter. Wal-Mart called the 57,000-square-foot concept a "prototype," implying that there are more to come.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- As part of its push to up the quality of its offerings, Wal-Mart has begun to carry certified Wild American Shrimp in nearly 900 locations.

READING, Pa. -- Redner's yesterday opened a 52,000-square-foot Warehouse Market at the Whitehall Square Shopping Center in Whitehall, Pa. The new site marks the Mid-Atlantic Grocer's fourth location in Lehigh County.