Industry News

10/03/2019 Progressive Grocer Schnucks is the latest grocer to stop selling tobacco products in its stores St. Louis-based Schnuck Markets Inc. will no longer sell any tobacco products in its grocery stores, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The new policy includes cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, chewing tobacco and snuff, as well as e-cigarettes and vaping products, which the retailer already doesn’t sell. Schnucks will sell through its existing inventory through the end of the year. Starting Oct. 15 and continuing indefinitely, Schnucks will offer double Schnucks Rewards points on all over-the counter smoking cessation products, an effort by the retailers to support smokers who want to quit tobacco. “Tobacco products are certainly a profitable part of our business, but our company’s mission is to nourish people’s lives,” said Schnucks Chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck. “Tobacco products directly contradict our core mission, and that means that they simply don’t belong in our stores.…

Quartz With over 1,000 cases and 18 deaths attributed to a mysterious vaping-related pulmonary illness (VAPI) in the United States, a growing number of teens have been going to the family doctor with concerns about their e-cigarette vaping habits.  The young patients are worried about developing VAPI themselves, or they’re feeling anxious about their dependence on nicotine. With more than a quarter of US teenagers having vaped in the last 30 days, the number of apprehensive visits to the pediatrician are only likely to increase—especially if the number of VAPI cases continues to grow and the Trump administration makes good on its plan to ban flavored e-cigarettes. The trouble is, there are currently no US guidelines—from federal organizations or medical groups—on how doctors should help young patients who want to quit vaping. The American Academy of Pediatrics is currently working with doctors to develop guidelines for national distribution. But for…

Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar October 3, 2019 The Age A detailed external audit shows that the high-end restaurant business that runs Chin Chin in Melbourne and Sydney underpaid staff by $340,000 in a single year, with one-fifth of the company’s workforce affected. The audit by accounting firm Stannards measured actual staff wages for the 2017-18 financial year against the award at The Lucas Group Services Pty Ltd- a company owned by prominent restaurant owner Chris Lucas. The audit showed that in one financial year alone, 134 staff – or about 20 per cent of the workforce – were paid less than the minimum rates of the award, the wages safety net. Through lawyers, Mr Lucas “vehemently” denied there were underpayments and said workers had been repaid in full – a claim disputed by a number of staff members interviewed by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Mr Lucas…

ROSIE LEWIS OCTOBER 5, 2019 The Australian Regular use of cannabis doubles the risk of psychotic symptoms ­including schizophrenia and is closely associated with anxiety disorders, depression and ­psychosis, says official advice to the Morrison government triggered by the passage of new laws in the ACT. The briefing paper prepared for Health Minister Greg Hunt reveals extensive links between cannabis use and adverse mental health affects, which have “broadened considerably” as marijuana is decriminalised. In the three-page brief obtained by The Weekend Australian, the Health Department lists five “key issues” or research findings to consider after the ACT Legislative Assembly passed a ­private member’s bill allowing adults to possess 50gm of cannabis and grow two plants. Individual households can have up to four plants. The department notes there has been a sizeable body of work analysing the adverse physio­logical and mental health effects of recreational cannabis use, des­pite marijuana being…

News.com.au As concern mounts over an outbreak of vaping deaths in the United States, reaction is being felt in Australia. Legalise Vaping Australia says vape shop owners have noticed a 30 per cent drop in business, as the death toll in the US rises to 17. On Wednesday, Alabama announced the state’s first death due to lung disease associated with vaping, a day after Virginia and New Jersey health officials confirmed other vaping-related deaths. The Alabama Department of Public Health said the latest death was an adult man in the eastern part of the state. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last week it was aware of 805 confirmed and probable cases of lung injury associated with e-cigarette use in 46 states and the US Virgin Islands. While a cause is yet to be concluded, officials believe the prevalence of THC in products could be to…

Jennifer Gould Keil September 29, 2019 New York Post Big Apple restaurants are feeling the heat from minimum-wage hikes, cutting staff hours and even closing kitchens as they struggle to shoulder the extra payroll costs. Gabriela’s Restaurant and Tequila Bar, a margarita and taco staple on the Upper West Side for the past 25 years, is closing at the end of September — and it has been a long, painful road downhill, according to its mom-and-pop owners. Since the $15-an-hour minimum wage hit New York City in December, Liz and Nat Milner say, they’ve been forced to slash their full- and part-time staff to 45 people from 60. Quality has suffered, they admit, and customers have noticed: They’re not coming in like they used to, and when they do, they’re spending less. “We started by having to let go of the ladies who hand-made our tortillas. It’s certainly better when…