Nonfoods

Iowa-based Hy-Vee thrives on a culture that values shoppers above all else. Employees are owners with the freedom to make decisions, and friendliness, honesty, and integrity shape the business model.

New products are jolting coffee and tea sales, not to mention consumers' palates.

Retailers here and abroad turn to buying alliances to level their playing field.

Hy-Vee c.e.o. Ron Pearson credits the autonomy of the chain's employees for making it so successful. The corporate culture empowers associates at all levels to make decisions and rewards them for it. The company revolves around its store directors, who are permitted to make all decisions about store operations, including whether to buy from Hy-Vee's warehouse.

As beef prices reach record highs, retailers need to stock up on alternative proteins or risk losing considerable sales and consumer interest in one of the supermarket's most influential profit centers.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it was considering requiring food companies to list nutrition information in its entirety, rather than by serving size, on packaged-food labels to help address the U.S. obesity epidemic, Reuters reports.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - KFC Corp. here is pulling its highly publicized new ad campaign that touted its chicken as being healthy.

ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. - Sales at the nation's grocery stores last month grew 3.4 percent compared to the same period last year, the Food Institute reports. Total sales in October 2003 reached $38.2 billion. Meanwhile, growth at the nation's eating and drinking places is more than doubling the small gain seen at food and beverage stores.