Consumer Affairs & Relations

Supervalu, the owner of Cub Foods, along with four Twin Cities-based independent grocery retailers, have each entered into definitive agreements to acquire select Rainbow Foods grocery stores. In total, they agreed to acquire 18 Rainbow grocery stores, including 13 Rainbow pharmacies and three Rainbow liquor stores in Minnesota.

New York -- U.S. retail and consumer  merger & acquisition activity during first quarter 2014 was primarily driven by five multibillion dollar transactions, with more than half aligned to the food and beverage sector, confirming a positive deals outlook for the year, according to PwC’s U.S. retail and consumer deals insights first quarter 2014 report.
   

Kroger will be the first in Oregon to deploy a fleet of heavy-duty trucks that run on liquid natural gas. The 40 trucks will replace 40 diesel trucks currently in use and are expected to start making store deliveries in the Portland metropolitan area by the end of 2014.

The use of natural gas fuel not only reduces operating costs for vehicles, but also reduces greenhouse gas emissions up to 23% in medium- to heavy-duty vehicles.

By Chris Horacek, VP, BravoSolution, the supply management company

New York -- Consumers have “no regrets” when it comes to dropping national food, beverage and household brand names from their shopping lists. In fact, nine-in-10 shoppers stick to store brands. Those are among the findings of a new survey Deloitte.

According to Deloitte’s American Pantry Study, 88% respondents say they have found several store brands that are just as good as national brands and that allow them to feel as though they are saving money without giving up anything.
 

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreen Co. said that its same-store sales rose 7.6% in April, boosted by Easter-driven growth in front-end sales.

The company’s total sales rose 8.8% to $6.49 billion in the month of April, up from $5.96 billion in the same period of last year. Pharmacy sales accounted for 64.5% of total sales for April.

Minneapolis -- Target Corp. announced on Monday that CEO and president Gregg Steinhafel, a 35-year-company-veteran, had resigned, effective immediately. The news comes nearly five months after the retailer disclosed a massive data breach that damaged its reputation among customers and has derailed its business.
 
Target CFO John Mulligan will lead the company on an interim basis until a replacement is named. Steinhafel will serve as an advisor during the transition.  

The search is under way for a new CEO at Target following the revelation Monday morning that Gregg Steinhafel was no longer chairman president and CEO effective immediately.

On an interim basis, Target CFO John Mulligan will serve as president and CEO and current board member Roxanne S. Austin will serve as non-executive board chair. To advise the board on its search for a new CEO the firm of Korn Ferry was retained.

Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) president and CEO Pamela G. Bailey said that the association will honor retired Walmart president and CEO Mike Duke with the 2014 GMA Hall of Achievement Award, the organization’s highest honor, at its Leadership Forum Aug. 23 at The Broadmoor.

Butterball has named Kerry Doughty as the company's president and CEO.

"Butterball will benefit from Kerry's leadership, vision and passion for customers and associates as he steps into his new role as president and CEO," said Walter Pelletier, president of Maxwell Farms, which shares equal ownership of Butterball with Seaboard Corporation. "Butterball has a strong legacy of providing quality, great tasting products that families enjoy every day, and Kerry is committed to that tradition."