Supermarket/Grocery

Target is bringing on talent from Walmart and General Mills to accelerate its food and beverage strategy.     Mark Kenny will join Target as VP divisional, meat and fresh prepared food where he will oversee the meat, seafood, deli, bakery and prepared food categories. Kenny joins Target from Walmart, where he most recently was the senior director of private brands, deli and bakery.    

Moody's Investor Services is feeling positive about Amazon's plans to acquire Whole Foods Market.     The ratings agency assigned the deal a Baa1 rating and revised Amazon’s credit outlook to positive from stable, reported Marketwatch. The report also said that Amazon is planning to issue up to $16 million in debt to fund the online giant's acquisition of Whole Foods.  

German discount grocer Aldi is jumping into home grocery delivery.   The retailer announced a pilot program with Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery service. Starting later this month, the service will be available in Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles, with potential for future expansion.  

Costco Wholesale Club has tapped its longtime director as its new chairman.   The company announced the election of Hamilton “Tony” James to the position of chairman. He replaces Jeff Brotman, who co-founded Costco with James Sinegal in 1982. Brotman passed away unexpectedly on Aug. 2.  

Southeastern Grocers has made a temporary appointment permanent.   The supermarket operator, parent company of Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo, Fresco y Más, and Harveys, has appointed Anthony Hucker president and CEO, effective immediately. Hucker has served as interim president and CEO since July 1, 2017.  

Oregon has become the first state in the nation to pass legislation that puts an end to on-call scheduling by guaranteeing hourly employees advance notice of their work schedules.  

Houston-based Fiesta Mart has appointed a retail veteran as its new chief executive.   The Hispanic grocery store chain named Sid Keswani as CEO, effective August 9, 2017. He replaced outgoing chief executive Mike Byars.  

Shopping for groceries online has a long way to go before it catches on with the vast majority of U.S. consumers.   Nine percent of U.S. adults report that their household shop online for groceries at least once a month, including 4% who do it at least weekly, according to Gallup's annual Consumption Habits survey. By contrast, almost all Americans say someone in their family shops for groceries in person at least once a month, with 83% going at least once a week.