Golf season is in full swing (pun intended) and the annual AMR/MAFTO event kicked it off on May 2 in style. Held each year at the LuLu Country Club in North Hills, PA, the golfers and their guests enjoyed an overcast but rainless day followed by a sumptuous filet mignon dinner. Bill Carter, Knauss Foods, and his committee did an excellent job once again with a generous prize table. Taking golfing honors for the day were many industry veterans. Closest to the pin: hole four – Pete Kostick, Utz; hole two – Brad Dix, Herr Foods; hole 15 for the ladies – Bridgett McGinley, Burris; hole 15 for the men – Tom Keene, Tasty Baking; hole five – Larry Alderfer, US Cold Storage; and hole 13 – Lou Coltabiano, Ritter Poultry. Low gross scores were: third – Mike Nardella, US Cold Storage; second – Frank Hubmaster, free agent; and first – Matt Walsh, Acosta.
Low net sores were garnered by: third – Ryan Horvath, US Cold Storage; second – Jeff Obrien, US Cold Storage; and first – Pat Ammons, Ammons Family Shop Rite. The most honest golfer award went to Mike LaMendola, US Cold Storage. Also, the honoree the organization’s 7th annual dinner dance was announced. This year Redners will be honored in Atlantic City the weekend of November 4-6, so save the date for this fun filled weekend!
DiversityBusiness.com has announced the “Top 50 Organizations for Multicultural Business Opportunities” list for the 11th year. Ahold USA has been named to that list with a ranking of 47 in the United States. Ahold USA was honored at a special awards ceremony at DiversityBusiness.com’s 11th Annual Multicultural Business Conference, April 19-21 in Washington, DC. The 11th annual list was produced by DiversityBusiness.com, the nation’s leading multicultural B2B online website. “Diversity plays a vital role in business today and we are honored to be recognized by DiversityBusiness.com for the opportunities we provide,” said Jeff Martin, EVP-merchandising and marketing for Ahold USA Retail. “Supplier
diversity is an integral part of our business and we embrace it with a proactive commitment to developing business opportunities with small, local diverse vendors.”
For the past four years, Ahold USA and its supermarket divisions have hosted a supplier diversity/regional and small business trade show with a goal of strengthening the connection between agricultural, minority and retail industries. Participants have an opportunity to meet with Ahold USA’s procurement teams to discuss future business opportunities with the company.
As part of its chain-wide program to reduce energy usage and conserve resources, Weis Markets’ distribution center, located in Milton, PA, recently upgraded its lighting system with low watt fluorescent and LED lighting, which lowers the 1.1 million square foot facility’s energy usage and costs by 30 percent. This new lighting system replaces metal halide and high pressure sodium lighting systems, which annually used 6.4 million kilowatt hours (KWH). The new lighting system will use 1.3 million kilowatt hours a year. The total cost of the program is $870,000. The project is also expected to benefit from PPL Electric Utilities’ E-Power rebate program, which helps companies become more energy efficient. “Our sustainability and conservation initiative is based on practical programs and systems that are good for the environment and helpful to our business,” said Kevin Small, VP-construction and development. “With the help of PPL, we’re able to reduce our distribution center’s carbon footprint and lower our lighting system’s annual kilowatt hours usage by 80%. This lowers our center’s overall energy usage and costs by 30 percent, which translates into nearly half a million dollars in annual savings. The energy we save could power three of our supermarkets for an entire year and is also the equivalent of three months energy usage for our distribution center.” Weis Markets recycled 47 million pounds of cardboard and 1.6 million pounds of plastic bags in 2010. It is currently building three superstores which will incorporate technologies and systems reducing store refrigerant charges (usage) to 60 percent less than a typical supermarket, thus decreasing their impact on the ozone layer and climate change. Going green is catching on!
I had a unique and exciting opportunity while covering the Wakefern specialty food show at the Raritan Center in Edison, NJ a couple of weeks ago. One of my favorite chefs, Lidia Bastianich, was signing cookbooks and talking with attendees. I had the chance to sit and chat with Lidia for a few minutes. She is one of the originals. A not quite native New Yorker, she has been involved in many food businesses beginning with opening a restaurant in Queens when she was just 24. Fast forward to the 1981 when she opened one of my favorite Manhattan restaurants, Felidia on East 58th Street. Still going strong, Felidia is among the top Italian restaurants in the US.. Not satisfied to rest on the laurels of Felidia, Lidia went on to host her own cooking show and open up restaurants in other parts of the country, including Eataly, the new gastronomic sensation in the Flatiron district of Manhattan. Lidia told me that food is basic. It doesn’t have to get too involved to be good. “Americans,” she said, “got too involved in the technology of cooking and now we’re going back to the basics.” When asked about the current celebrity chefs, she said, “For the most part it’s entertainment, but these shows have awakened the interest in food in America. People now say ‘I can do it’ and putting food on a table and cooking at home is improving.” Meeting and talking with her was indeed a treat!
Foodtown, Inc. has announced another new store opening on May 6th. This Foodtown is located in the Bronx, New York. The store was previously a Met Food store that has been converted to a Foodtown by owner and operator, Bernabe Carbera. Foodtown of White Plains Road is Foodtown’s seventh location in the Bronx.
Ahold USA is also enthusiastic about the opening of their second Giant To Go, a 4,000 square foot convenience store, in Manheim Township, PA on May 19. “We gained valuable customer insight from our first Giant To Go location, and this new Giant To Go will deliver an expanded fresh variety of food coupled with all the traditional convenience store offerings,” said Sean Michael, store manager. “Time-starved customers will find fresh and healthy meal alternatives prepared especially for them.”
The New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) has made a change in the time of the
Trade Relations Conference scheduled for May31 at the Borgata in Atlantic City, NJ. The new time is 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.. Please be sure to take note of this.
Condolences go to out to AWI president Bernie Ellis and his family on the recent death of his mother, Helen; and to Cento Foods founder Al Ciccotelli and his family on the passing of his wife, Anna.
It’s college graduation time! We send our best wishes to: Matthew Hallinan, son of Joe Hallinan, Brown’s Family Shop Rites, Shippensburg State with a BS in business management; David Patragnoni, Wellshire Farms, St. Joseph’s University with an MBA in food marketing; Peter Endrigian, son of George’s SNB owner George Endrigian, St. John’s University with a BS in advertising/marketing; and Christian Henry, son of Jim Henry, CSI Material Handling, Saint Joseph’s University with a BS in political science. Onward and upward! Let me know if you have any college or high school graduates you would like to congratulate this June at mmaggio@best-met.com.
Wedding bells rang for Herr Foods’ Ray Nemeth and his bride Amy Green on May 7. The couple will honeymoon in St. Thomas after school lets out as the new Mrs. Nemeth is a teacher. More happy news came on April 22 when Jessie Scaduto, Food Circus Foodtown and Michael Riley welcomed their first child, Dylan Thomas Riley, into the world. Everyone is doing fine and we hear that the baby is adorable.
Birthday shout outs for the beautiful month of May go out to Doug Buchanan, Brandywine Brokerage; Paul Messina, IRG; Jan Gabriel, Mid Atlantic Impact; George Endrigian, George’s Shop ‘n Bag; Anthony L. Maglio, Maglio Sausage; Phil Marfuggi, the Ambriola Company; Best-Met’s office manager, Beth Pripstein; retired Food World salesman Lou Rosenthal; Walt Rubel, formerly of Acme; and last but certainly not least to BMP co-founder, Dick Bestany. Buon compleanno a tutti! Celebrating marital bliss this month are: Bill and Diana Schlosky, Utz; and Mark and Donna Tarzwell. Congratulations!
Don’t forget to reserve space in our annual market study issue coming next month. This issue is still the most definitive word in the retail food industry about the Mid Atlantic market. Your company will be seen all year long as this issue is held on to by everyone who reads it. There’s still time, so hesitate to call or email us!
Quote of the month:
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill
