Tesco: 'Reducing food waste is a factor in Booker deal'

Last week, supermarket chain Hannaford launched a program to put irregular-looking produce in 15 stores throughout Southern and Midcoast Maine. Maine is the second state where Hannaford has rolled out the program. Last year, Merone launched a pilot program in the Albany region of New York, where 14 stores have so far “rescued” more than 100,000 pounds of produce from the compost pile. (waldo.villagesoup.com)

Woolworths wants to rebuild bridges with suppliers and win more shoppers by giving food and grocery manufacturers unprecedented access to customer data. Woolworths is aiming to sign up most of its 3000-odd suppliers to a new Supplier Connect program by the end of June, after launching a successful pilot scheme with a dozen partners last October. Under the program, suppliers receive free monthly scorecards and commercial reports which analyse and measure their performance against rival brands. (afr.com)

The CFO of Swedish retailer Axfood has announced that she will leave her post at the same time as outgoing CEO Andres Strålman, during the annual general meeting on 15 March. The company said that the search to replace Karin Hygrell-Jonsson as CFO would begin immediately, and that long-time colleague Anders Lexmon will take over in the interim. Hygell-Jonsson said she felt it was time to switch to a more advisory roles. (esmmagazine.com) 

UK supermarkets led the world in saying 'no!' to GM foods and ingredients, writes Liz O'Neill. Please, click here to read the article. (theecologist.org)

The hefty savings that can be made by reducing food waste are one of the factors behind Tesco's 3.7bn pound takeover offer for wholesaler Booker, the British supermarket chain's CEO says. Lewis noted that in Britain more than 20% of all vegetables produced are wasted, reflecting the segmentation of produce into grades for retail, wholesale and catering. Because of the Booker opportunity we’ll now be able to buy across 100% of that crop rather than just the 70% that we could at Tesco, and that means we’ll be able to reduce the food waste," he said. (Reuters)

Botswana retailer Choppies has head-hunted a senior Nakumatt Supermarkets manager to serve as CEO of the struggling Kenyan unit. The Gaborone-based retail giant – which owns 75% of loss-making Ukwala Supermarkets – has hired Vijay Kumar to run the Kenyan business. Mr Vijay previously served as CFO at Nakumatt, a position he held since September 2009. (nation.co.ke)

Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has scaled back an ambitious target to get consumers to halve their household food waste after finding it was more difficult than expected to achieve behavioural change. (theguardian.com)

The initial public offering of Carrefour's Brazilian unit will take place in mid-2017, billionaire Abilio Diniz said on Tuesday, voicing confidence that Brazil's economy is emerging from the worst recession its history. "Carrefour Brazil's IPO willl take place this year. I do not know yet if this will be towards the end of the first half or the beginning of the second half but it will happen." Diniz told reporters. (Reuters)

The US giant online store Amazon has launched its grocery shopping service, Pantry, in Belgium. The retailer offers 3,800 products from 600 brands. Amazon's offer does not contain fresh or frozen produce. (detijd.be)

Spain's DIA Group is embarking on an initiative to revamp more than 2,000 of its DIA Market stores. The goal is to improve customers' shopping experience by providing a wide array of services and products that are tailored to their needs, the company said. The interior space will be transformed into separate zones, with an enhanced selection of fresh produce and baked goods driven by customer demand. (esmmagazine.com) 

Legal challenges have been launched against the plans of German retailer Metro to split into two companies, a source with knowledge of the proceedings told Reuters, potentially delaying the move. A Metro spokesman declined to comment. (Reuters)

Swedish retailer ICA has posted a 0.2% year-on-year decline in February sales figures, citing the calendar impact of the extra day in February 2016. The Swedish retailer posted sales of SEK 8.35bn (€0.88bn) for the month, excluding VAT. For the combined months of January and February, its sales were SEK 17.2bn (€1.81bn), which is a like-for-like increase on the same period the previous year. (esmmagazine.com) 

Tesco has announced it is extending its same day click and collect service, by adding a new slot. Tesco shoppers can now order before 9am and book a two-hour slot to collect the grocery order from midday onwards. The service is now available from over 300 locations in the UK and it now costs between £2 and £4, depending on the time of day and collection. (igd.com)

Kroger Co. is developing a $60m distribution center in Greater Cincinnati. Kroger will use the facility as a replenishment center, servicing the company’s direct-to-store distribution centers across the eastern half of the country. Gary Moore, judge-executive of Boone County, said this is an “impressive investment” by Kroger that “will have a positive ripple effect throughout Northern Kentucky.” (bizjournals.com)

SpartanNash CEO and Chairman of the board of directors Dennis Eidson plans to retire as CEO following the annual meeting on May 23. David M. Staples, president and COO, will succeed Eidson as CEO. Staples was appointed to the board of directors effective March 2. Eidson will continue in his role as chairman of the board following his retirement as CEO. (produceprocessing.net) 

Reitangruppen has reported its 2016 results. The retailer’s discount banner, REMA 1000, which represents the largest share of sales saw turnover increase by 7.05% to NOK 67.8bn (€7.56bn), while operating profit increased by 18.2% to NOK 2.3bn (€256m). Last month, REMA 1000 revealed that its Danish business grew by 8.2% to DKK 12.3bn (€1.7bn). The retailer’s convenience arm, which operates in seven countries, through the Narvesen, Pressbyrån, 7-Eleven and R-kiosk banners, enjoyed a record performance. (igd.com)