Gourmet News

DoorDash Adds 2 California Specialty Grocers to Platform

Published December 11, 2023

DoorDash announced the availability of Gus’s Community Market (a family-owned San Francisco staple) and New Leaf Community Markets (a Santa Cruz-based natural and organic grocer) for on-demand delivery on the DoorDash platform.

With the addition of these iconic California grocers, DoorDash continues to expand its grocery delivery options, now offering over 100,000 non-restaurant retailers on the platform and unlocking even more locally-sourced and quality selections for consumers.

What makes these partnerships unique:

Both are beloved local merchants in their communities.
For over four decades, Gus’s Community Market has been serving San Francisco with four locations, providing fresh groceries, great selection, and neighborly service.
New Leaf – the first B Corp Certified grocer in California – provides all-natural grocery items, high-quality body care, and wellness products from six locations along the Central Coast.

This announcement continues DoorDash’s swift acceleration in the grocery category, following recent news of multiple new partners – from the largest national grocery partners to beloved local favorites and specialty shops – as well as the addition of SNAP/EBT as a payment method on the platform.

Consumers can order delivery from these grocers on the DoorDash app or website. To celebrate the announcement, shoppers can receive:

20 percent off all eligible Gus’s Community Market orders $45+ (up to $15) with promo code GUSLAUNCH20.
Members of DashPass, DoorDash’s membership program that offers members $0 delivery fees from thousands of restaurants, grocery, and convenience stores nationwide, will receive 30 percent off all eligible orders $60+ (up to $25) with promo code GUSLAUNCH30.

In addition, starting Dec. 22 to Jan. 4, consumers can enjoy the following deals from New Leaf:

Free delivery from all New Leaf Community Market locations.
DashPass members will receive 20 percent off $50 (up to $15) off all eligible orders with promo code NL20.

You can find more information about Gus’s and New Leaf on DoorDash here.

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Unilever, Accenture Collaborate on Next Generation AI

Published December 7, 2023

Accenture is joining forces with Unilever, the consumer goods multinational whose 400+ brands are used by 3.4 billion people every day, as part of a strategic initiative to leverage Unilever’s AI research and implementation of technologies that enhance productivity, drive efficiencies, and accelerate disruptive and AI-powered innovations at scale.

The work will kick-off from Unilever’s global AI Lab “Horizon3 Labs,” recently opened in Toronto—a city recognized for its concentration of AI expertise and home to one of Accenture’s six Gen AI studios in North America.

The two companies will explore new applications to scale generative AI; for example, assets from Accenture’s AI Navigator or its proprietary “switchboard,” which allows a user to select a combination of models to address the unique business context.

“This collaboration builds on our relationship of more than three decades with Unilever, which continues to raise the bar as a digital powerhouse and industry leader,” said Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture. “The combination of Horizon3 Labs’ disruptive innovation with Accenture’s deep expertise and strong ecosystem partnerships will help Unilever scale AI and generative AI more rapidly and responsibly across its business and discover new pathways to value.”

“We are excited about building on our long-standing partnership with Accenture to step up our innovation agenda and drive value for our consumers, retailers, and distributors. Horizon3 Labs is a unique platform for collaboration and co-creation, and we look forward to working with Accenture and other partners to take our investment in AI to a new level,” said Steve McCrystal, chief enterprise and technology officer, Unilever.

This initiative will leverage the industry solutions and accelerators within Accenture’s previously announced $3 billion investment in data and AI. As part of these efforts, Accenture will connect Unilever with its top data and AI experts, and help capitalize on Accenture’s ecosystem partnerships, ventures, and strategic investments within its Center for Advanced AI, which includes more than 1,450 pending and issued patents in Accenture’s AI solutions and learnings from more than 300 generative AI projects.

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General Mills Announces Senior Leadership Team Changes

Published December 7, 2023

General Mills, Inc. has announced several changes to its senior leadership team to further advance the company’s enterprise strategy, Accelerate.

Jon Nudi is appointed to a new role as group president, pet and international, where he will be accountable for the two largest growth areas for the company. Since 2016, Nudi served as group president, North America retail. Under Nudi’s leadership, NAR significantly accelerated its growth in organic net sales and segment operating profit, while driving consistent market share gains across its priority businesses. Ricardo Fernandez, newly promoted to segment president, international, will report to Nudi, with Fernandez also joining the company’s senior leadership team. Fernandez has served as President, U.S. Morning Foods operating unit, since 2021 where he expanded the company’s leadership in its important U.S. cereal category. Earlier in his career, Fernandez held leadership roles for General Mills businesses in Europe and Latin America.
Dana McNabb is promoted to group president, North America retail, General Mills’ largest and most profitable segment. Since 2021, McNabb served as chief strategy and growth officer, where she was responsible for the company’s enterprise growth capabilities. Earlier, McNabb served as group president, Europe & Australia segment, as well as president of the U.S. Cereal operating unit, notably achieving U.S. cereal category leadership for the first time in 15 years and accelerating growth in net sales and operating profit.
Bethany Quam is appointed president, U.S. Morning Foods, and will join the NAR leadership team, reporting to McNabb. Since 2019, Quam served as Group President, Pet, and led the segment to double-digit compound annual top and bottom-line growth.
Kofi Bruce, chief financial officer, will oversee the Strategy and Growth organization on an interim basis while the company conducts an external search for a new chief strategy and growth Oofficer.

All senior leadership changes are effective Jan. 1.

“We are making these strategic changes to best position General Mills for today’s dynamic landscape,” said Jeff Harmening, chairman and CEO. “These moves enable us to best match our deep bench of senior talent to fast-growing and important consumer areas and occasions. I am confident this will help us advance our next chapter in our Accelerate enterprise strategy.”

In addition, the company also announced that Sean Walker, who serves as group president, international, will retire after more than three decades of service, effective Feb. 28.

“I also want to recognize the impact Sean Walker has had across our business and culture,” Harmening said. “Sean identified big bets for our International business and has been instrumental in our most recent launch of Blue Buffalo in China. For more than three decades, Sean has been a positive driving force at the company, and we wish him nothing but the best as he starts a new and exciting chapter in life.”

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