Industry Advice-Ask The Buyer By Gene Fieldstone
Dear Gene, I arrived early for my 8:30 am appointment after flying in on the red eye. By 10:15 I had finished two expense reports and compiling notes for the launch of our new Chipotle Wasabi Merlot Mustard Zing Sauce. An hour later the buyer emerged and yelled “What the &*%$ are you still doing […]
New York Times On Clorox Green Works
Maybe once again we expect too much from the media. But it seems like common sense that a piece in in today’s New York Times in a section called Greening Business discussing Clorox’ new Green Works line of soap and cleansers, would have to devote more than just give a mere passing mention to the company that started it […]
Westport Whole Foods Shoppers Remind Us How Much Wild Oats Missed the Mark
Two weeks ago, we spent a few hours in the Westport Whole Foods Market that was formerly Wild Oats. Actually, it used be a terrific independent store that was then bought by distributor United Natural Food’s NRG retail group . Wild Oats bought it from UNFI and when the Safeway right next door closed, they knocked down […]
CNNMoney on Wal-Mart and Seventh Generation
In an otherwise run-of-the-mill story on green consumer goods, CNNMoney reported on opportunities for Seventh Generation to sell products in Wal-Mart. The story money.cnn.com/news/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-23786283.htm reported that Wal-Mart has contacted Seventh Generation about selling its products. Notably, the piece glaringly failed to mention http://naturalbusinessnews.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/clorox-goes-natural-with-burts-bees-and-green-works Clorox’s recent entry into the biodegradable cleaning segment, which left us thinking it […]
Celebrity Pantry Features Author John Berendt
Anyone who’s knows me knows that there are two things NBN can’t get enough of. Chocolate is one, and attention is the other. Well if you can’t get it yourself, why not talk to those who do? So we’ve decided it’s time to find out what’s in the pantries and refrigerators of the famous and […]
Whole Foods Revitalizes Former Westport Wild Oats in Connecticut’s Gold Coast
Regular readers know that one of NBN’s favorite pastimes used to be reporting on Wild Oats in areas where they were competing head to head with Whole Foods. Louisville, West Hartford , and a few others showed what everybody knew, namely that Wild Oats may have had heart, but the rest of the formula for […]
Whole Foods Market Shareholders Give Mackey Big Thumbs Up
As reported Sunday a dissident group of Whole Foods shareholders was fighting hard to have company Chairman and CEO John Mackey relinquish one of this two leadership roles. Yet as reported in the Austin American-Statesman,stockholders affirmed Mackey’s role and rejected the proposal 73% to 27 %. Buttons spouting Mackey’s face surrounded by the phrases “Can’t Argue with Success” […]
Hain Celestial Continues Expansion, Buys Nspired Foods and A Turkey Too
Hain Celestial Foods announced the acquisition of Nspired foods, makers of Sunspire, Cloud Nine and Tropical Source brands of candy, Maranatha nut butters and O’Coco’s baked chocolate crisps. Unlike many previous acquisitions, where Hain purchased brands in segments the company already competed in, the Nspired purchaseprovides Hain with entry into two new segments, candy and nut […]
Is Good Eating Good Enough? Pollan, Supplements and Health
Maybe we missed the memo, or accidentally erased a voice mail, but somehow we never got the word that Americans eat so well that they don’t really need to supplement their diet with nutrients. Eating a well-balanced diet is all you need. Of course in theory we agree, yet in a nation of over processed […]
Hartman Group’s Tinderbox Dampens Tesco’s Heat
Among the many newsletters we get, one of our favorites is Tinderbox, an effort produced by the Hartman Group. In the current issue they prove NBN—and many others— wrong in our assessment of Tesco’s mighty punch. Their early looks suggest that despite Tesco’s fat wallet, filled with the increasingly valuable British pound, the UK Giant […]
