Ralph Bigwig Eats His Oats
Is Ron Burkle Just Sewing His Wild Oats Or Is This A Marriage Worth Rooting For? Billionaire grocer and Democratic Party donor Daddy, Ron Burkle, purchased 2.6 million shares or 9.2% of Wild Oats, and according to reports, may start issuing orders to the Oats Board of Directors. Burkle, ranked by Fortune Magazine as 51st […]
Senate Proposes Changes on Organic Rules
Is It Like Putting the Fox in Charge of Guarding The Henhouse More and more granola minded soccer moms are buying organic nut butters, gallons of Odwalla juices and Amy’s Organic frozen dinners at big box stores. No surprise here. In San Francisco, I know lots of folks who load up their Volvos at Whole […]
Corporate Arm Wrestling: Hain Spectrum Deal Not Finalized
Word from the street (some call it gossip) is that Spectrum Organics is still in negotiations over final details of the company’s sale to the Hain Food Group. While no one suggested that the announced purchase by Hain is on the rocks, some folks wonder if the independent minded (some call it stubborn) Phillips is […]
While Wall Street Licks Its Chops, Union Works To Protect Albertson’s Workers
While we weren’t surprised by the recent announcement that Albertson’s is looking for buyers nor the news of so many investment types anxiously throwing their hats into the ring of potential buyers, we were happily caught off guard by the fact that Supermarket News noted the United Food & Commerical Workers union’s concern over the […]
Organic Trade Association Executive Director DiMatteo Steps Down
The Organic Trade Association announced that that Katherine DiMatteo will be stepping down next spring. DiMatteo, the OTA’s Executive Director for 16 years has been a leader in the creation of numerous victories for those committed to organic food, most notably the often contentious and sometimes mind-numbing bureaucratic battle for the USDA National Organic Program […]
UNFI Posts Huge Growth for Fourth Quarter
United Natural Foods released strong figures for the fourth quarter that leaving analysts and others yelling the equivalent of “VA va va voom, baby, shake it!” UNFI sales increased 22% for the quarter and 23% for the fiscal year, with yearly earnings of $41.6. on over $2 billion in sales. UNFI cited increased sales from […]
NBTY Revisits the Past In Effort To Bolster Solgar, Rand Skolnick To Consult
Good news for those concerned that new owners, Nature’s Bounty might muck up 58 years of quality. NBN has heard from our good friend, San Francisco natural foods retail pioneer, Rob Mitchell, that Nature’s Bounty has hired former President, and son of the Solgar’s founder, Rand Skolnick to serve as a consultant. While Skolnick’s tenure […]
Gardenburger, Seeks Buyers Former Veggie Burger King Continues Struggling
Not too long ago, when someone said ‘veggie burger,’ they meant Gardenburger. Today the company’s is synonymous with that familiar story: the industry leader and innovator becomes the industry loser, a has been, as the company rapidly loses sales to those that followed in its wake. So it is with no surprise that the long […]
Wild Oats Stock Gains Amidst Analyst Upgrade
Are California Store Sales Enough Reason for Hope? Wild Oats stock rose 7% on Friday on word that RBC Capital Markets graded Whole Foods poor stepsister to outperform based on their expected growth in sales for Southern California stores. Quarterly results will be released August 4th and while NBN hopes that Wild Oats stocks remains […]
Barbara’s Bakery In Wedding Talks with Tony The Tiger, Captain Crunch
Weetabix Close to Dealing Off American Cousin According to a report in the Times of London online edition, Weetabix is reportedly days away from signing a deal to sell leading natural cereal maker and a private label portion of it’s business in an effort to focus on it’s Weetabix and Alpen and Ready Brek lines. […]