Jun 25, 2013 CSNews NORTHFIELD, Ill. — Kraft Foodservice, a division of Kraft Food Groups Inc., launched Bev1 Brands, a platform that unifies Kraft’s hot and cold beverage brands. The purpose of Bev1 Brands is to provide operators with everything they need to meet their demands, including products, equipment, merchandising and service support. The Bev1 Brands umbrella includes the following Kraft brands: Capri Sun juice pouch drinks Country Time lemonade Crystal Light non-carbonated, sugar-free drink mix General Foods International café-style coffee beverages Gevalia premium coffee Kool-Aid Maxwell House Tang Tassimo Pro specialty coffee beverages Yuban 100-percent, premium arabica coffee In addition, Bev1 Brands’ National Equipment Center will ensure equipment runs at peak efficiency with routine service updates and maintenance. Foodservice operators will have access to 24-hour customer service representatives and a national network of approved service companies to ensure immediate solutions and complete support, the company stated. Kraft Foods Group…

Melissa Kress Jun 25, 2013 CSNews NEW ORLEANS — In the fast-changing world of convenience retailing, it has become more important than ever to stay on top of trends, and the “key to the puzzle” is better understanding the consumer. Those were the words of advice given by Scott Ramminger, president and CEO of the American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA), to open the AWMA C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum in New Orleans this morning. Using current industry data to see where convenience store categories stand today and where they are heading is one tool for staying in sync with consumers. But in order to translate those insights into growth, he said the players in the supply chain need to build stronger partnerships. That is the key goal of the AWMA C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum — getting distributors, manufacturers and retailers under one roof and providing timely and relevant information,…

Valerina Changarathil June 26, 2013 The Advertiser AUSTRALIA could become the mecca for online businesses with more web stores opening up and more average online spending here than anywhere else in the world, new research shows. The research, released today, found there was a 200 per cent jump in the rate of new stores opening from 2010 to 2012. Australian shoppers were also spendthrifts online, shelling out close to $142 per order last year – up from $118 in 2011 – compared with the global average of $116 per order. The research by online systems and services provider Bigcommerce comes from an internal survey of 35,000 internet-based stores it has helped set up since 2009. Bigcommerce said the stores have now sold $2 billion worth of goods and made 17.4 million transactions. “Economists need look no further to prove that e-commerce is thriving,” Bigcommerce co-founder Eddie Machaalani said. The research…

John von Radowitz June 27, 2013 AAP JUNK food really could be addictive and stimulate cravings in much the same way as an illicit drug, a brain scanning study shows. The findings suggest that limiting “high-glycaemic” carbohydrates that cause blood sugar to surge could help curb over-eating and obesity. Scientists investigated how food intake is regulated by the brain’s “pleasure centres” which are known to be linked to addiction. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to observe the brain activity of overweight and obese volunteers for four hours after a meal. This crucial period has been shown to influence behaviour the next time a meal is eaten. Twelve men were given test meals designed as milk shakes that tasted the same and were matched for calories. One milk shake contained rapidly digested high-glycaemic index (GI) carbohydrates, often found in junk food, while the other was made with low GI…

Melissa Kress Jun 26, 2013 CSNews NEW ORLEANS — It is said talk is cheap. But when it comes to the retailer-supplier-manufacturer relationship, talk can be very profitable. At the closing session of the American Wholesale Marketers Association (AWMA) C-Metrics Convenience Industry Outlook Forum in New Orleans yesterday, panelists from all branches of the supply chain stressed communication as a key component to any successful retail relationship. Better communication among all three main players — retailers, suppliers and manufacturers — will help build new product launches, fill voids in inventory and get the right merchandise mix inside a convenience store, the panelists said. Joe Hamza, vice president of sales and marketing at Tedeschi Food Shops Inc., explained that an improved dialogue about new products would spell success for the retailer. “New products are what drive growth in any category. They are important for retailers,” he said. “However, there is a…