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(Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
Starbucks raised its price for grocery packaged coffee on Friday by 12 percent, on average, due to still climbing coffee commodity prices.
The increase affects both Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee brands and is the company’s first price increase on grocery packaged coffee since March 2008. Get the full story »
Yoplait yogurt at a grocery store. (AP/Dawn Villella)
General Mills said Friday that it has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy a majority stake in French yogurt company Yoplait. General Mills, based in Minneapolis, has licensed the Yoplait brand since 1977, and is Yoplait’s largest licensee. Get the full story »
(Robert Caplin/Bloomberg News)
Kraft Foods Inc. said Thursday that it raised its U.S. list prices for Maxwell House and Yuban ground coffees by 22 percent and its instant coffee by around 10 percent.
The price hikes, which were effective on Wednesday, marked the company’s fourth coffee price hike in a year and came after arabica coffee futures soared to a 34-year high this month. Get the full story »
Diet Coke is now the No. 2 soft drink, behind Coke. (Coca-Cola)
U.S. sales of Diet Coke overtook those of Pepsi-Cola for the first time in 2010, making the diet soda the No. 2 carbonated soft drink in the country behind Coca-Cola, industry data are expected to confirm Thursday.
Occupying the top two rankings would mark a historic win for Coca-Cola Co. in its decades-old rivalry with PepsiCo Inc., which has seen its market share slip in recent years and is trying to retool its marketing. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart will open two more stores on the South Side next year, city officials and the giant retailer announced today.
A store with a grocery and pharmacy will open at the corner of 76th Street and Ashland Avenue in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, said Ald. Latasha Thomas, 17th, said in a news release.
Christopher Artinian, CEO and president of Morton's . (Nancy Stone/Tribune)
By Robert Channick | Upscale Chicago-based steakhouse chain Morton’s Restaurant Group announced Wednesday that it is exploring a possible sale.
Morton’s is still struggling to recover from the recession that cut into its business. It said it is exploring “strategic alternatives” to enhance shareholder value. The board has retained Jefferies & Company as its financial advisor to assist in the process.
No timetable has been set for a possible sale, which is being pursued with the support of affiliates Castle Harlan and Laurel Crown Partners, the company’s largest shareholders. Get the full story »
A rising tide of global forces is supporting the surge in prices for important food staples such as meat, dairy and grains, commodity experts said at the Reuters Global Food and Agriculture Summit on Tuesday.
“This is a pretty sustainable increase. … A number of factors have been building over time in terms of the commodity increase: world economic growth, rising crude oil prices, increased Chinese import demand all have conspired,” said Bill Lapp, president of Advanced Economic Solutions, a commodity analytical firm based in Omaha, Neb. Get the full story »
More than 10,000 pounds of Lean Cuisine frozen spaghetti and meatball dishes have been recalled because of the possible presence of foreign materials, the Department of Agriculture said late on Monday.
The "Priscilla Queen Of the Desert cupcake" at Magnolia Bakery in New York City earlier this month. (Jemal Countess/Getty)
Magnolia Bakery, the New York chain credited with starting the cupcake craze, plans to open its first Chicago store at the Block 37 shops in the Loop. The bakery signed a lease for 2,550 square feet on the first floor of the indoor shopping mall. The shop is slated to open in June. Get the full story »
Creme Eggs move down the line at the Bournville production plant. (Christopher Furlong/Getty)
Executives from Kraft Foods Inc. appeared at a parliamentary hearing Tuesday over the company’s 11.9 billion-pound acquisition of confectioner Cadbury a year ago, but the absence of Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld drew criticism from lawmakers.
U.K. lawmakers on the Business, Innovation & Skills committee are discussing with Kraft — maker of Oreo cookies, Philadelphia cream cheese and Maxwell House coffee — the commitments it made a year ago following the takeover, as well as seeking reassurances on jobs and investment into research.
Last April, lawmakers said in a report that Northfield-based Kraft acted “irresponsibly” and “unwisely” during its acquisition of Cadbury and damaged its reputation in the U.K. Get the full story »
PepsiCo Inc has developed a bottle made from plant-based, renewable resources that is fully recyclable, and will start using it in a test program next year.
The company’s new “green” bottle is currently being made from materials such as switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. In the future, components for the bottle may include orange and potato peels, oat hulls and other byproducts left over from the company’s food business. Get the full story »
Timothy McLevish. (Kraft)
Kraft Foods Inc. announced Monday that its chief financial officer Timothy McLevish will leave the company mid-year “to pursue opportunities in general management.”
David Brearton, currently serving as executive vice president of operations, will step up as CFO at the Northfield-based packaged foods giant. Get the full story »
Dr Pepper’s 10-calorie soft drink may debut across the United States by the end of the year due to blockbuster reception in six test cities, the head of Dr Pepper Snapple Group said Monday.
“It’s just blowing our projections away,” Chief Executive Larry Young told the Reuters Global Food & Agriculture Summit. Sales to repeat customers are “stronger than Dr Pepper Cherry when we launched it.” Get the full story »
Sara Lee Corp. will raise overall prices in the high single-digit percentages this fiscal year, with increases on everything from Jimmy Dean sausage to frozen pies, an executive said at the Reuters Global Food and Agriculture Summit Monday. Get the full story »
Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo SAB, the second largest bakery company in the world by revenue, may issue debt in the U.S. or Mexico to help finance its $959 million acquisition of Sara Lee Corp.’s fresh bakery assets in North America.
According to Armando Giner, director of investor relations at Bimbo, market conditions are favorable at the moment and the company is analyzing the possibility of issuing debt in both countries, as well as using bank financing. Get the full story »
