October 14, 2022 — Two prominent U.S. grocery store chains will be merging, they announced on 14 October.
Kroger’s acquisition of Albertsons is likely to impact how the retailer sources its seafood products.
Whole Foods, other US grocery chains expanding
May 27, 2021 — Thanks to increased demand for grocery products during the pandemic, several U.S. grocery chains are expanding.
Whole Foods Market plans to add nearly 40 new stores in several states, and has 10,000 open positions across the company, the Austin, Texas-based retailer said in a press release.
Pandemic buying shifts prove a boon for direct-to-consumer online seafood subscription services
March 16, 2021 — Almost exactly a year ago, Ian Amin, the senior director of supply chain for Home Chef, a Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.-based meal kit and food delivery company, was driving to pick up a new puppy in Wisconsin when he received a call from his boss that would change the trajectory of his entire year.
Kroger, which bought Home Chef in 2018, was facing an acute food shortage as a result of panic-buying driven by the rapid spread of COVID-19 across the United States.
Grocery e-commerce surge to continue, despite drop in August
September 16, 2020 — Kroger, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, and other major U.S. grocery chains are experiencing record e-commerce grocery sales. And while total grocery e-commerce sales declined in August, analysts expect stronger future growth.
U.S. grocery delivery and pickup sales for August totaled USD 5.7 billion (EUR 4.8 billion), down from their peak in June, according to the August 2020 Brick Meets Click/Mercatus Grocery Shopping Survey.
US sees e-commerce, retail seafood sales spike in April
May 5, 2020 — Sales of seafood in supermarkets, through e-commerce grocery outlets, and via meal kits continued their strong growth in the United States in April.
Online grocery sales surged 37 percent from March to April 2020 to reach USD 5.3 billion (EUR 4.9 billion), a recent Brick Meets Click/Symphony RetailAI Online Grocery Shopping Survey found. There were also record grocery e-commerce sales of USD 4 billion (EUR 3.7 billion) in March, the research firms revealed.
Retail seafood sales soar, but fresh seafood counters closing across US
March 19, 2020 — Sales of shelf-stable, fresh, and frozen seafood are all soaring in United States supermarket chains in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the U.S. restaurant industry suffers unprecedented losses due to closures and reduced traffic at eateries across the country, retailers have benefited from consumers making panicked purchases over concerns that their access to groceries may be limited by travel limitations imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
An $8 Billion Wind Farm Will Test Virginia’s Resolve to Be Green
September 23, 2019 — Dominion Energy Inc.’s customers have been pressing the Virginia utility giant for years to source more clean energy. On Thursday, the company heeded their call — with a $7.8 billion, ratepayer-backed plan to build the largest offshore wind farm in America.
The proposal is unprecedented. Never has a utility pitched an offshore wind project of this size — big enough to power 650,000 homes — and in such a way that would have its customers shouldering the costs. It still needs the approval of state regulators, and the blessing of others including the region’s grid operator. But the Richmond-based company is already promoting the plan as a major means of curbing its global-warming emissions 55% by 2030.
In proposing the wind project, Dominion Vice President Mark Mitchell said, the utility is “giving our customers what they have asked for — more renewable energy.”
Already, though, some of its big ratepayers are choosing to take another route. Customers including Costco Wholesale Corp. and Kroger Co. applied for the right to bypass Dominion and negotiate directly with independent electricity suppliers for renewable energy. On Wednesday, less than 24 hours before Dominion announced is massive wind project, the Virginia State Corporation Commission gave them what they wanted, ruling that the utility must allow them to seek other options.
FDA warns about eating Kroger yellowfin tuna after illnesses
September 9, 2019 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat raw yellowfin tuna steaks from several Kroger stores after some consumers became ill with scombroid poisoning.
On 4 September, the FDA became aware of multiple scombroid poisoning cases in individuals who consumed tuna steaks purchased from three separate Kroger retail locations in Ohio, the agency said in a press release.
Restaurants could be 1st to get genetically modified salmon
June 21, 2019 — Inside an Indiana aquafarming complex, thousands of salmon eggs genetically modified to grow faster than normal are hatching into tiny fish. After growing to roughly 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms) in indoor tanks, they could be served in restaurants by late next year.
The salmon produced by AquaBounty are the first genetically modified animals approved for human consumption in the U.S. They represent one way companies are pushing to transform the plants and animals we eat, even as consumer advocacy groups call for greater caution.
AquaBounty hasn’t sold any fish in the U.S. yet, but it says its salmon may first turn up in places like restaurants or university cafeterias, which would decide whether to tell diners that the fish are genetically modified.
“It’s their customer, not ours,” said Sylvia Wulf, AquaBounty’s CEO.
To produce its fish, Aquabounty injected Atlantic salmon with DNA from other fish species that make them grow to full size in about 18 months, which could be about twice as fast as regular salmon. The company says that’s more efficient since less feed is required. The eggs were shipped to the U.S. from the company’s Canadian location last month after clearing final regulatory hurdles.
As AquaBounty worked through years of government approvals, several grocers including Kroger and Whole Foods responded to a campaign by consumer groups with a vow to not sell the fish.
Read the full story from the Associated Press at The Washington Post
Alaskan halibut, caught by a century-old Seattle boat, provides a glimpse of Amazon’s strategy with Whole Foods
April 28, 2019 — From the deck of his 106-year-old halibut schooner, undergoing a seasonal overhaul at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle, skipper Wade Bassi has better insight than most into what’s happening at Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, at least as pertains to the product he knows best.
While he doesn’t buy halibut much — he’s got a freezer full of it — Bassi, 43 years a fisherman, keeps an eye on how it’s handled and presented in the grocery stores and fish markets.
“When you look at nice halibut, I mean it is pure white,” he said. “And it is flaky-looking, and it is beautiful. It’s translucent. If you’ve got that in the fish market, people are going to buy it.”
A few days earlier, Whole Foods touted a rarely seen promotional price for halibut as part of its ongoing campaign to revise the grocery chain’s high-cost reputation while maintaining its image for quality and sustainability.
“Whole Foods is one of the better ones, to be honest with you,” Bassi said. “But you know, Whole Foods, whole paycheck. … They usually do charge way more for everything than anywhere else. Which really surprises me that they’re selling this for $16-something a pound, because they’re not making anything on it.”
Whole Foods’ halibut deal opens a window into Amazon’s grocery strategy as it seeks to combine the defining characteristics of each brand, leverage its juggernaut Prime membership program and take a larger share of the grocery business from competitors such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco.