Jan. 12 at 5:01 p.m.
Filed under:
Chicago executives,
Food,
Personnel moves
By Emily Bryson York
Kraft Foods has chosen Sam Rovit to be its executive vice president of strategy. He replaces Michael Osanloo, who is now Kraft’s president of North American grocery.
Starting Jan. 29, Rovit will head Kraft’s strategy team, which works with the company’s various business units, to emphasize growth and savings targets. The team is also charged with improving performance in the company’s brands and its sales in the channels where they are sold, like supermarkets or gas stations.
As a member of Kraft’s executive team, he will report directly to chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld. Get the full story »
Jan. 5 at 6:51 a.m.
Filed under:
Litigation
By Dow Jones Newswires
Kraft Foods Inc. has sued India’s Britannia Industries Ltd. in an Indian court over trademark and copyright violations of its Oreo cookies brand, the Economic Times reported Wednesday. Get the full story »
Jan. 4 at 5:58 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods
From Bloomberg News | Starbucks Corp. is trying to break a 13-year-old deal that ties its single-cup home brewing business to Kraft Foods Inc.’s slow-selling Tassimo machine. Under the terms of the deal, Starbucks can’t put its coffee in the Keurig Home Brewer, which dominates the U.S. market for machines that make single cups of coffee in a minute or less. Get the full story>>
Dec. 29, 2010 at 7:01 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods
From Bloomberg News | Starbucks Corp. denied Kraft Foods Inc.’s claim that the foodmaker has performed “exceptionally well” under an agreement that Kraft claims gives it exclusive rights to sell Starbucks coffee in grocery stores through 2014.
“Starbucks avers that it has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction to Kraft regarding Kraft’s performance” under the agreement, the world’s biggest coffee shop chain said in its answer to Kraft’s complaint. Get the full story>>
Dec. 22, 2010 at 2:29 p.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods
By Dow Jones Newswires
In the ongoing legal spat between Kraft Foods Inc. and Starbucks Corp., Kraft said Starbucks plans to sever a 12-year coffee-distribution deal on Jan. 29, although Kraft is scrambling to block the plan.
“By the week of Feb. 13, Kraft would be out of stock of many products, thereby causing harm to its retail customers in the form of lost sales,” Kraft said in a court filing dated Dec. 17. Get the full story »
Dec. 15, 2010 at 7:53 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods
By Reuters
Kraft Foods Inc. raised list prices on its well-known Maxwell House and Yuban coffee brands in the United States, effective Dec 14, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday. Get the full story »
Dec. 6, 2010 at 7:28 a.m.
Filed under:
Food,
Litigation,
Packaged foods
By Emily Bryson York
Kraft is seeking a preliminary injunction against Starbucks Coffee Co., which has announced plans to sever its agreement with the Northfield-based packaged food company to manage its grocery coffee business. Starbucks plans to assume responsibility of the coffee business March 1.
“Starbucks is proceeding with flagrant indifference to the terms of the contract and customary business practices,” Marc Firestone, Kraft’s general counsel said in a statement. Get the full story »
Dec. 1, 2010 at 9:27 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods,
Retail
By Reuters
Starbucks is prepared to make acquisitions to help accelerate sales of bagged coffee and other consumer products beyond its cafes, Chief Executive Howard Schultz told investors on Wednesday.
The brass at Starbucks Corp says the consumer packaged goods business should grow faster than the company’s retail cafes, which total 17,000 globally.
But Wall Street wants specifics on how it will accomplish that goal, particularly as it works through a messy break-up with Kraft Foods Inc, which has handled sales of Starbucks packaged coffee and tea in supermarkets and club stores since 1998. Speaking at the company’s investor meeting in New York, Schultz said the Seattle-based coffee giant was prepared to buy small and large companies that would help expand its selection of consumer products. Starbucks shares rose 3.3 percent in morning trading. Get the full story »
Nov. 29, 2010 at 5:20 p.m.
Filed under:
Investing
By Associated Press
Kraft Foods said it began a cash tender offer for up to $1 billion of its notes.
The offer, which expires Dec. 27, is for its 5.625 percent notes that are due in 2011 and its 6.25 percent notes due in 2012. Holders who tender their offer by Dec. 10 will get an early tender premium of $30 for every $1,000 in principal amount of the notes they turn over. Get the full story »
Nov. 29, 2010 at 4:10 p.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Packaged foods,
Updated
By Reuters
Starbucks Corp. and Kraft Foods began airing a messy divorce in public Monday, fighting over the dissolution of their partnership selling bags of Starbucks coffee at supermarkets.
Kraft said it had launched arbitration proceedings to challenge Starbucks’ attempt to end the agreement, sending shares of both companies lower.
At stake for Kraft is a partnership with $500 million in annual sales and strong profit margins. Starbucks may have to pay more than $1 billion to buy back the business and run it, a risky move for a company known for operating coffee shops, not selling packaged goods. Get the full story »
Kraft CEO Irene Rosenfeld. (Tribune)
From the Financial Times | Kraft Foods Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld appeared fourth on the Financial Times’ 2010 Women at the Top ranking of the world’s most influential female business leaders. Get the full story>>
Nov. 16, 2010 at 5:55 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food
By Reuters
Sara Lee Corp. will not rush to make acquisitions in the U.S. coffee market, even as it revamps its business to focus on coffee and meat, its interim chief executive said.
Speculation about deals in the U.S. coffee business has circulated since earlier this month when Starbucks Corp said it wanted to end its distribution deal with Kraft Foods Inc, which has sold bagged Starbucks coffee at supermarkets for the past 12 years. Get the full story »
Nov. 16, 2010 at 5:41 a.m.
Filed under:
Labor,
Work culture
By Associated Press
Employees at the Oscar Mayer meat processing plant in Davenport, Iowa filed a class action lawsuit against Kraft Foods Inc. seeking compensation for time they spend putting on and taking off their safety equipment. Get the full story »
Nov. 11, 2010 at 8:56 a.m.
Filed under:
Advertising/Marketing,
Food,
Packaged foods
From Ad Age | Kraft Foods has pulled longtime agency DraftFCB from four key accounts: Jello, Cool Whip, A1 Steaksauce and Bull’s-Eye barbeque sauce.
Nov. 5, 2010 at 11:54 a.m.
Filed under:
Beverages,
Food,
Retail,
Updated
By Emily Bryson York
(Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)
Kraft is apparently steamed by Starbucks’ announcement that it plans to fire the company as its grocery store distributor.
On Thursday night, Kraft Foods Inc. said its agreement to supply packaged Starbucks coffee to grocery stores “is perpetual…if Starbucks decides to exit its relationship with Kraft Foods, the agreement requires Starbucks to pay Kraft Foods the fair market value of the business plus, in certain instances, a premium.”
Starbucks fired back today with a company statement saying, “We consider it unfortunate that Kraft has chosen to make public statements that we believe mischaracterize the nature of the agreement between our companies, including the term of the agreement.” The statement went on to note that the companies’ agreement contains a clause for the resolution of disputes. Both companies maintain that regardless of how their relationship is terminated, customers shouldn’t expect service interruptions.
Get the full story »
