Supervalu Inc. has agreed to pay $3.2 million to 110 workers to resolve allegations it systematically terminated disabled employees at Chicago-area supermarkets, one of the largest such settlements under the Americans With Disabilities Act. Get the full story »
Inside these posts: Grocery stores
Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Jewel-Osco parent sees shares fall after downgrade
The stock price of several grocers fell in trading Tuesday following a downgrade by a BMO Capital Markets analyst.
Analyst Karen Short lowered her price target for Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu Inc. to $11 from $13 and lowered earnings estimates, citing the company’s inability to drive traffic in its stores. Shares of Supervalu dropped 62 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $8.99 in afternoon dealings. Get the full story »
Starbucks-Kraft spat brewing since January
A feud between Starbucks Corp. and Kraft Foods Inc. over supermarket coffee sales has been brewing since at least January — far longer than Kraft has acknowledged — according to email exchanges between their top executives provided by Starbucks.
The rift became public last month, when the Seattle coffee company said it wanted to end its 12-year-old distribution deal with Kraft, which sells bags of Starbucks coffee in supermarkets and other stores. Get the full story »
Kraft seeks injunction against Starbucks
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 »
Kroger fuels supermarket sector price war jitters
Kroger Co. cut some prices in its latest quarter, fueling worries that the slow U.S. economic recovery will cause another flare-up in the supermarket industry’s intense and profit-denting price war. Get the full story »
Wall Street wants more on Starbucks’ grocery plan
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 »
Conflict between Kraft and Starbucks escalates
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 »
Walgreen Co. sues Wegmans in logo dispute
Walgreen Co. is suing the Wegmans supermarket chain, claiming the New York-based grocery’s logo is too similar to its own. Get the full story »
Battle brewing after Starbucks burns Kraft
(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.
Shares of Whole Foods rise on good 4Q results
A Whole Foods in Santa Rosa, Ca. (John Burgess/Tribune)
Whole Foods Market Inc. more than doubled its fourth-quarter net income as sales rose, prompting the grocer to raise its full-year outlook on Wednesday.
The news sent natural and organic grocer’s shares soaring in after-hours trading.
Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, reported that its net income available to common shareholders rose to $57.5 million, or 33 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Sept. 26. That’s up from $28.7 million, or 20 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Jewel-Osco parent posts steep 2Q loss
Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu says it had a steep loss of $1.47 billion in the fiscal second quarter due to charges tied to a labor dispute at its Shaw’s chain and employee-related costs. Adjusted to exclude the charges, earnings totaled $59 million, or 28 cents per share. That is a penny shy of the 29 cents a share analysts expected. Get the full story »
Dominick’s parent earnings down on lower prices
Dominck’s parent Safeway Inc. said lower prices drove its third-quarter profit down 5 percent, from a year ago, to $128.8 million.
Sales fell slightly, to $9.4 billion from $9.5 billion. The Pleasanton, Calif. company’s same store sales fell 2 percent, excluding fuel sales. Safeway pointed to lower prices for the same-store sales decline. Get the full story »
Family Dollar outlook tops view, plans more stores
Family Dollar Stores Inc. forecast profit for the current fiscal year that would beat most analyst estimates and said it will speed up the pace of new store openings, sending its shares up 2.5 percent. The retailer, which prices most of its goods under $10, has attracted consumers struggling in a weak economy. It expects to reap the sales benefit of longer store hours, introduced earlier this year, and an overhaul to give more room to fast-moving items like food. Get the full story »
Wal-Mart offers $4 billion for S. Africa’s Massmart
Wal-Mart is in talks to buy South Africa’s Massmart, a $4 billion deal that would give the U.S. retailer a big presence in fast-growing Africa and boost its emerging markets strategy. Get the full story »
Dominick’s to introduce online coupon program
Dominick’s is rolling out an online coupon program today that sorts, organizes and personalizes offers for its loyalty-card members.
The program, called “Just For U,” is designed to create a centralized location for customers to store coupons. Members will receive personalized offers based on purchase history, gleaned use of Dominick’s Fresh Values Card. Get the full story »
