Sainsbury's to get 'banana rescue stations'

Italy: police take over four Lidl offices in mafia swoop
Police in the Italian regions of Lombardy and Sicily arrested 15 people and put four management offices of supermarket chain Lidl under state control on Monday as part of a swoop on a mafia gang. Four of the German company's offices, which manage around 200 shops, were taken over as investigators probed links with the Laudani crime family, police said in a statement. Lidl Italia said it was completely innocent regarding the accusations, was not under investigation itself and had offered to help authorities. (Reuters)

UK: Sainsbury's to get 'rescue stations' for bananas
In a bid to tackle household banana waste, Paul Crewe, head of sustainability, engineering, energy and environment at Sainsbury's, said it had launched pop-up 'banana rescue' stations across 500 of its UK stores, where customers can get recipes and advice for using bruised bananas instead of throwing them away. (businessgreen.com)

UK Tesco reports rise in food waste
Tesco has reported a rise in its net food waste by 4,004 tonnes. predominantly from Produce, Bakery and Chilled categories. Overall, the proportion of food wasted against the total weight of food products sold in Tesco’s UK stores was 0.5%, amounting to 46,684 tonnes. (ciwm-journal.co.uk)

Carrefour opens first organic supermarket in Spain
The distribution company has launched a new concept in Spain: Carrefour Bio; an urban supermarket devoted to products that come from organic agriculture and livestock. The supermarket's range features the main Bio brands, as well as products under the chain's own brands: Carrefour Bio and Ecoplanet. All food products sold in the store are certified organic. (expansion.com)

Big C Thailand Q1: total revenues continue to decline
Big C's total revenue from retail sales, rental and service income for Q1 drops to THB 28bn (USD 811mn), -14.9% over the same quarter last year. This is largely driven by a 20% decline in same store sales. Big C has been cutting out unprofitable sales due to deep discounting via cash vouchers and bulk volumes. (igd.com)

Spanish Eroski back in profit after eight years of losses
After eight years of losses, the Eroski group has achieved a positive consolidated result, with a slight increase in sales, as explained by Agustín Markaide, president of the cooperative, in a meeting with the media. Despite not revealing specific data, as they will be presented at the National Securities Market Commission at the end of May, Markaide has assured that "a strategic cycle has been closed with an improvement in the results before taxes; however, the company has not made a positive net profit due to the tax changes introduced by the Ministry of Finance." The retailer said it wants to invest in new stores in the future. (financialfood.es)

Africa: local sourcing
After the recent launch of Shoprite’s ‘Made in Nigeria’ campaign, IGD rounds up what African retailers across the country are doing to support local buying. Please, click here to read more at igd.com.

Dubai: Spinneys “naturally imperfect” fruit and vegetables range
Spinneys is launching a range of “naturally imperfect” fruit and vegetables which will be sold for around 45% less than “pretty” produce from the same sources. The aim of the initiative is to reduce food wastage, with one third of the world’s food – approximately 1.3bn tonnes – heading to landfills each year, the company says. Almost half of this waste is made up of fresh produce. (whatson.ae)

Dia reports loss in Spain, seeks strategic alternatives in China
Grupo DIA has reported gross sales of around €1,376m in Spain in the first quarter of the year, which represents a decrease of 2.1% compared to the same period of 2016. The company explained that this is due to the "closing of stores that yielded unprofitable results." Globally, however, the retailer grew by 2.9% between January and March, reaching €2,503m. The inter-annual improvement has been of 6.8%. Comparable store sales have increased by 4.1%. Regarding the group's business in China, DIA has confirmed the opening of a process "to explore strategic alternatives." (revistainforetail.com)

US: Jewel makes $100M offer for 19 Strack & Van Til stores
Albertsons Cos. Jewel Food chain has been revealed as the mystery bidder for 19 Strack & Van Til stores, parent Central Grocers said in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Central said Jewel’s offer, for $70m plus $30m for inventory, is to be the “stalking horse” in a court-led bankruptcy auction scheduled for June 26. Central, which filed for Chapter 11 protection earlier this month, is seeking to sell all of its assets to raise money to pay back creditors. (supermarketnews.com)

US: Sales of independent grocers down
FMS Solutions Holdings LLC (FMS) and the National Grocers Association (NGA) released their annual “Independent Grocers Financial Survey,” the latest edition covering fiscal year 2016. The study, now in its 12th year, found Independent grocers reported that their sales were down 1.62% in 2016 compared to 2015. Margins held steady at over 27% and expenses came out at 23.04% of sales in 2016. (groceryheadquarters.com)

Aldi to invest $180m in Chicago
Aldi plans to spend about $180m remodeling 130 of its 150 Chicago-area stores by 2020 — part of a broader effort to move its no-frills model into modern times. "The customers definitely want more fresh, healthier alternatives and this expansion is going to help us with that," said Heather Moore, Aldi division vice president. (chicagotribune.com)

Lidl confirms plans in Ohio
German discount supermarket chain Lidl is set to open its first set of U.S. stores this summer, and Ohio is under consideration. Lidl U.S. spokesman William Harwood said yesterday that the company has started looking at sites in Ohio. (cleveland.com)

America’s Food Basket names CEO
America’s Food Basket, a 47-store cooperative based in Lake Success, N.Y., has named David Siegel as its new CEO and Angela Decicco its new VP of merchandising, a spokeswoman said Monday. Siegel, who most recently was VP of sales and merchandising at Ahold’s Stop & Shop New England division, begins May 22. He succeeds Daniel Cabassa who left to pursue other career opportunities. (supermarketnews.com)

Amazon marks 20 years as a public company
Amazon is celebrating two decades as a public company in a big way — as an enterprise worth nearly $460bn. The retail giant, which began as a modest online bookstore, went public on the Nasdaq in an IPO valued at a modest $438m. Today, Amazon has grown into an empire that not only sells books, but has become a major player across categories, including clothing, food, furniture, jewelry, private-label goods and electronics, among other segments. (chainstoreage.com)

Whole Foods teams up with Salted meal kits
Meal kit startup Salted has teamed up with Whole Foods and other grocers to sell meal kits inside stores, rather than going the more traditional direct-to-consumer model, according to Tech Crunch. Salted plans to be in 2,000 stores by the end of next year. Each Salted meal kit includes seven to nine ingredients, and is packaged in a 4-inch-by-4-inch cube. Each kit also includes a recipe and a link to a how-to video. (fooddive.com)

9 industry visionaries discuss the future of organic food
Please, click here to read the article.