Pundit’s Mailbag — Carrefour Hires Tesco Exec While Deloitte Says Tesco Loses 3rd Place Global Retailer Ranking To Metro
Today’s Mailbag brought a note from a distant friend: Greetings from Indonesia. Two interesting bits of info that I wanted to pass on. I know that you have occasionally mentioned Carrefour even though they are not active in the United States. But I thought, especially in light of your attention to Tesco, you would find […]
Story of Seald Sweet And
Sotomayor-Kirk Is One Of Global Outreach
A glowing portrait of Mayda Sotomayor-Kirk makes the cover of Florida Trend magazine. The piece, titled Seald Sweet Successfully Goes Global, tells the story of how a traditional agricultural cooperative moved international and uses the rise of Mayda to CEO as a kind of parable in which the cultural growth symbolized by Mayda’s ascension to […]
Trevor Suslow Of UC Davis Speaks Out: The Truth About Consumer Reports, Bacteria And Packaged Leafy Greens
First we received a press release from Consumers Union, titled Packaged Salad Can Contain High Levels of Bacteria: Consumers Union Urges FDA to Set Performance Standards for Greens YONKERS, NY — Consumer Reports’ latest tests of packaged leafy greens found bacteria that are common indicators of poor sanitation and fecal contamination, in some cases, at […]
The End Of The Sam Walton Era At Wal-Mart: Navigating A New Business Model
There is no question that we have written many articles on Wal-Mart. Recently, however, we have written four pieces focused on change that is transforming produce procurement at Wal-Mart: SPECIAL EDITION: Wal-Mart’s Global Food Sourcing Initiative Closes The Peterson Era And Threatens Sustainability Of Agricultural Base Flaws In Wal-Mart’s Produce-Procurement Thinking Wal-Mart’s Blind And Costly […]
Space: The Final Frontier For Fresh Produce?
Just before Christmas, NASA sent a note: Irradiated smoked turkey, thermostabilized yams and NASA’s own special stuffing recipe can mean only one thing — holiday season aboard the International Space Station. Station Commander Jeff Williams and Flight Engineer Maxim Suraev are currently the sole residents aboard the complex. They will spend the holidays with three […]
PR In The Produce Industry
It is frustrating to work in public relations as PR Professionals often do their best work under the radar. It might be the story that wasn’t published because of their deft hand or it could be that they put their client front-and-center and kept themselves out of the story. We know that when the industry […]
Pundit’s Mailbag — Help Haiti
By Purchasing Haitian Mangos
Thanks for running the piece Haiti Earthquake Relief Underway But Much More Needed. I did not know about the Prevor family history tied into the Haitian mango industry. It is quite astounding that you manage to have such deep connections with so many topics of importance to our industry. Who knew you knew all about […]
Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Is No More Popular In Real Estate Than In Produce
We have written extensively about Tesco and, specifically, its effort to establish a foothold in America under the name Fresh & Easy. You can review this extensive coverage here. One of the themes that came out is that in all the perishable areas and especially in produce, Tesco entered the market with an attitude that […]
Supreme Court Ruling May Push Political Donations Toward Trade Associations
If you value freedom of speech, you have to be pleased that the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, decided Citizens United v. Federal Election Committee in a way that overturned restrictions on a corporation to engage in political speech. The specifics of the case were that an organization produced a movie attacking Hillary Clinton, […]
Wal-Mart Produce Procurement
‘Set Up For Devastating End’
We have written a great deal about Wal-Mart. Recently our focus has been on the effectiveness — or lack thereof — of a procurement model Wal-Mart has been testing in Washington State on apples. We’ve written three pieces on this subject: SPECIAL EDITION: Wal-Mart’s Global Food Sourcing Initiative Closes The Peterson Era And Threatens Sustainability […]
