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SEG Donates $160K to Southeast Food Banks

Southeastern Grocers Inc., parent company and home of Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, together with the SEG Gives Foundation, has donated $160,000 to eight Southeast food banks to help combat food insecurity among families during the summer months.

According to Feeding America, 1 in 8 children across the United States may experience food insecurity and millions of children count on school meal programs to provide their daily nutrition. However, during the summer break, many children worry about where their next meal will come from as they lose access to these crucial programs while school is not in session.

Raymond Rhee, chief people officer for Southeastern Grocers, said, “With children at home during the summer months, the struggle to put enough food on the table for many families is often magnified. Through our donations to local food banks and our ongoing community hunger-relief initiatives, we are proud to support the tireless work of our regional partners to bridge the nutrition gap for our neighbors in need. We are dedicated to providing families with the nourishing food they need for a healthy life, and we remain committed to strengthening the communities we serve – today and every day.”

The five states SEG serves, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi, rank in the top 20 for highest child poverty rates in the country, with three states falling within the top ten2. With these somber rankings further highlighting the critical need, SEG and the SEG Gives Foundation are steadfast in their commitment to support organizations that alleviate the burden on families in local communities. The following local food banks will each receive $20,000 to help fight hunger this summer:

Brighter Bites – Southwest Florida
Community Food Bank of Central Alabama
Feeding Northeast Florida
Feeding South Florida
Feeding Tampa Bay
Feeding the Gulf Coast
Food Bank of Greater Baton Rouge
Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida

The grocer continues to support neighbors in need throughout the year by giving back to local initiatives working to nurture underserved communities. Last month, the grocer donated $20,000 in groceries and vital funds to New Orleans Community Fridges, a local mutual aid effort to provide free food to community members in need. SEG is also partnering with Pie in the Sky Community Alliance, through the end of the year, to deliver 100 cartons of fresh eggs each month to more than 550 seniors in St. Johns County, Fla. In 2022, SEG and the SEG Gives Foundation donated more than $700,000 and 14 million pounds of food to organizations combating hunger throughout the Southeast, including Feeding America network food banks.

Additionally, with inflationary pressures continuing to affect people across the country, SEG is committed to helping every customer save on their grocery bills. In addition to shopping weekly specials, customers can maximize savings by using the grocer’s loyalty program with the Fresco y Más, Harveys Supermarket and Winn-Dixie apps. The rewards program offers additional winning deals, digital coupons and points that can be redeemed for money off groceries. The program also provides points multipliers and personalized rewards offers as well as the grocer’s new Big App Deal, which allows customers to score a free item or bonus points. Through July 18, shoppers who activate the Big App Deal within the app will earn $5 in rewards points when purchasing SE Grocers Ground Coffee.

SEG also lowers prices on more than 150 commonly shopped items each season to help customers stretch their grocery budget year-round. Through the grocer’s “Down Down” program in Winn-Dixie stores, customers can save more than 15 percent on average at their neighborhood store when shopping items marked by the red hand on signs and tags throughout the store. Similarly, items marked in yellow and green signage at Fresco y Más and Harveys Supermarket are part of the “Low Price” and “Low Low Price” programs providing customers with deep discounts on their family’s grocery trip.

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US Foods Completes Renzi Foodservice Acquisition

US Foods Holding Corp. has successfully completed the previously announced acquisition of Renzi Foodservice, a broadline distributor located in Watertown, N.Y. The transaction closed July 7. The acquisition enables US Foods to further expand its reach into central upstate New York where the company does not have a distribution center.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. To learn more about the Renzi Foodservice acquisition, please view the company’s May 19, 2023 press release announcement here.

US Foods is one of America’s largest food companies and a leading foodservice distributor, partnering with approximately 250,000 restaurants and foodservice operators to help their businesses succeed. With 70 broadline locations and more than 85 cash and carry stores, US Foods and its 29,000 associates provides its customers with a broad and innovative food offering and a comprehensive suite of e-commerce, technology and business solutions. US Foods is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill.

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Pepsi Bottling Ventures Suffers Security Breach

Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC has revealed that a security breach occurred in December that may have involved some personal information provided by current and former employees and contractors of PBV.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures is an independent, privately-held bottler. No information owned by PepsiCo was affected.

On Jan. 10, Pepsi Bottling Ventures learned that unauthorized activity was reported on certain internal IT systems. PBV took prompt action to contain the incident and further strengthen the security of its networks. Based on its investigation, an unknown party accessed those systems on or around Dec. 23 and downloaded certain information contained in the accessed IT systems.

As of Jan. 19, PBV has detected no unauthorized activity.

The impacted information varies by individual, and may have included: first and last names (including individual and/or parents’ legal surname prior to marriage); home address; email address; financial account information (including a limited number of passwords, PIN codes or other access numbers); state and federal government issued identification numbers such as driver license numbers, ID cards, Social Security numbers and passport information; digital signatures; and information related to benefits and employment, including certain limited medical history, health and health insurance claims, and health insurance information such as policy numbers.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures promptly reported the incident to law enforcement, suspended all affected systems and investigated to understand the scope and impact of the incident. At this time, the company said it not aware of any identity theft or fraud involving an individual’s personal information.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures has secured the services of Kroll to provide identity monitoring at no cost for at least one year for those impacted. Identity monitoring services include credit monitoring, a current credit report, web watcher, public persona, Quick Cash Scan, $1 million identity fraud loss reimbursement, fraud consultation and identity theft restoration.

For those who may have been affected, the company advises promptly change username(s), password(s) and security question answer(s) for any accounts or account information maintained with Pepsi Bottling Ventures and take any other appropriate steps to protect all other online accounts that use the same username, password or security question answer.

Those seeking additional information may contact a toll-free call center at (866) 674-3149, Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time, excluding major U.S. holidays.

“PBV values the security and privacy of the information entrusted to us and deeply regrets this incident,” the company said in a statement.

Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC is a privately held manufacturer, seller and distributor of some of the most recognized beverage brands in the world. Headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., PBV has 19 locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware.

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