Trading Partners

The malicious attack on Target which resulted in a massive data breach has spawned a “we’re all in this together” attitude among the nation’s retailers with the National Retail Federation spearheading the charge for common sense consumer protection measures.

Foremost among them is usage of the more secure Chip and PIN technology in credit and debit cards that offers better encryption of data than the magnetic stripe cards that are prevalent in the U.S.

Purchase, N.Y. — National Realty & Development Corp. (www.nrdc.com) has promoted Dovid M. Spector and Greg A. Oshins have been promoted to the executive team.

Spector has been promoted to senior VP, leasing. He began his career with NRDC in 2002 as a leasing representative and served as Director of Retail Leasing for the pat six years. Prior to joining NRDC, Spector worked in the Real Estate Business Development division of Morgan Stanley.

Matthews, N.C. – The board of directors has increased the amount of the regular quarterly dividend payment to $0.31 per share, an increase of 19.2% from the preceding quarterly cash dividend of $0.26 per share. The increase will be effective with the declaration of the next quarterly dividend.

Canton, Mass. - Dunkin' Brands Group, Inc., the parent company of Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins, has entered a multi-year marketing partnership with Liverpool Football Club (FC) to support global expansion of the Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins brands. Under the agreement, Dunkin' Donuts will become the official coffee, tea and bakery partner for Liverpool FC, and Baskin-Robbins will become the official ice cream partner.

Boca Raton, Fla. – Office Depot has named Michael A. Steele as VP, investor relations, effective immediately. Steele reports to Stephen E. Hare, executive VP and CFO.

Steele will develop and execute Office Depot’s investor relations strategy, serving as the primary interface for management with the financial community. He plans to relocate to the Office Depot corporate headquarters in Boca Raton in the coming months.

Successful leaders and companies bring more than unique products or services to market — they consistently tap into 10 key growth enablers outlined in a new book by veteran CPG executive and growth strategist Dan Mack.

The Container Store has kicked off a new purpose-driven marketing campaign focused on its values-based approach to business and conscious capitalism with full-page national newspaper ads as well as videos on the company’s new YouTube Channel.

Los Angeles — PizzaRev has signed agreements with four franchisee groups covering territory in five states. The deals will lead to the opening of new units in San Diego and Orange counties in California plus Utah, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota. Here are brief profiles of each group:

Atlanta — Moe’s Southwest Grill has signed a deal to bring 18 new restaurants to Sacramento and Santa Cruz over the next seven years. This is the franchiser’s first push into California.

HKM II is the franchise group behind the California expansion. HKM II owns 42 quick-serve burger restaurants throughout Northern California, Southern Nevada and Arizona.

CHICAGO — Jewel-Osco president William Emmons is retiring less than a year after taking the helm at the grocery chain, which is now part of New Albertsons Inc., according to a Chicago Tribute report.