Gourmet News

Better Foods Attracts Investment From Cleveland Avenue

Published January 17, 2024

Better Foods and Shinsegae Food CEO Song Hyun-suk (left) and Cleveland Avenue Founder & CEO Don Thompson pose after signing the investment agreement at the head office of Shinsegae Food in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. (Photo: Shinsegae Food)

Better Foods, Shinsegae Food’s subsidiary specializing in plant-based products, announced investment attraction from Cleveland Avenue, a U.S. venture capital.

Shinsegae Food established Better Foods, in the United States in 2022 to strengthen the global competitiveness of plant-based products, which the company is fostering as a future growth engine, and to target the U.S. market. Since its establishment, Better Foods has set up a local operating organization for business expansion and discovered partners to increase production and online and offline sales.

Based in Chicago, Cleveland Avenue is a global venture capital established in 2015 by Don Thompson, the former president & CEO of McDonald’s. Cleveland Avenue is investing in lifestyle consumer brands and technologies that lead to growing markets in positive ways. The key investment targets are Bear Robotics, a self-driving serving robot company, and Bemyfriends, a global fandom business company, as well as Beyond Meat, a meat substitute startup in the U.S.

Cleveland Avenue decided on the investment after it highly evaluated Better Foods for its R&D capacity for plant-based products, such as not only meat substitutes, but also milk and cheese substitutes, using the company’s independent technologies, and future growth potential. In particular, Cleveland Avenue positively evaluated the steady business growth achieved by Shinsegae Food, the parent company of Better Foods, through the application of meat substitutes in various fields including food manufacturing, bakery, meal service and restaurant business.

In addition to monetary investment, Cleveland Avenue also agreed to actively cooperate with Better Foods for its global market entry as a strategic investor. Based on the cooperation, Better Foods will develop plant-based products including milk and cheese substitutes for which it is conducting R&D, perform consumer marketing activities, and expand their business in the U.S. market.

“This investment holds great significance as it indicates that Better Foods has won recognition for its growth potential in the U.S., the largest market for plant-based products,” said a Shinsegae Food official. “We will develop Better Foods as a company specializing in plant-based products that leads the global market through R&D on a variety of plant-based products including meat substitutes.”

Better Foods is a global alternative food company established in the United States by Shinsegae Group, Korea’s leading distribution group, in 2022. Under the vision of “We Dream Big to Make a Better World with Better Foods,” various activities are being carried out to develop and promote various alternative foods and to continue innovation for a better future.

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H-E-B Tops dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index for Third Time

Published January 17, 2024

H-E-B has been named the top U.S. Grocery Retailer in the seventh annual dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index, a comprehensive, nationwide study that examines the approximately $1 trillion U.S. grocery market. H-E-B is the first grocery retailer to be recognized three times as number one in the RPI ranking surpassing Amazon and Trader Joe’s who both ranked as top grocer twice. Amazon (2) and Costco (3) round out the top three grocers in the U.S. for a second year in a row.

The seven other retailers in the top 10 are: 4) Market Basket, 5) Sam’s Club, 6) Wegman’s, 7) Aldi, 8) Shoprite, 9) Walmart Neighborhood Market, 10) Walmart. Retailers in the top quartile of the RPI have a five year CAGR of 8.5 percent compared to 3.6 percent for retailers in the fourth quartile. In addition, 59 percent of customers of first quartile retailers have a strong emotional connection with retailers compared to 41 percent of customers of fourth quartile retailers.

“Knowing your customer and your competitive positioning regarding customer needs will be critical for retailers to scratch out any organic growth in 2024. Customers are re-evaluating their opinions of retailers more than ever and that will only intensify in the coming months due to the economic headwinds facing consumers,” said Matt O’Grady, dunnhumby’s President of the Americas. “In this year’s RPI, we illuminate how the consumer views the grocery market, and how different retailers are meeting the general population’s needs as well as the needs of different consumer segments.”

The dunnhumby RPI is the only approach to ranking grocers that combines financial results with customer perception. It includes the largest 65 retailers in the industry that sell everyday food and non-food household items. The financial data used in the dunnhumby model comes from Edge Ascential, and the customer perception data is sourced from dunnhumby’s annual survey of more than 10,000 American grocery shoppers. The five drivers of the customer value proposition are in order: 1) Price, Promotions, and Rewards, 2) Quality, 3) Digital, 4) Operations, and 5) Speed and Convenience.

Key findings from the study:

dunnhumby forecasts the U.S. grocery market sales growth will be 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent in 2024– one of only three times in the last 30 years with growth below 1 percent and the slowest growth rate since the Great Recession of 2009. This slowdown is due to the economic headwinds still facing consumers – slowing disposable income growth, lower savings rate, higher debt, cost to service consumer debt, and the drying up of pandemic related savings buffers.
Competitive intensity is at an all-time high in this fourth year of economic uncertainty. Customers are re-evaluating retailer value propositions more than ever, ensuring those value propositions align with their needs. The average retailer ranking in a value proposition changed by six spots, higher than any previous year.
Savings through low base prices and highly personalized promotions and rewards remains the strongest driver of better long-term retailer performance, followed by maintaining high quality assortment. Market Basket (1), Winco (2), and Aldi (3) are the top three in the RPI’s “Price, Promotions, Rewards” pillar, due to the strongest combination of mass and personalized pricing levers. Wegman’s (1), Trader Joe’s (2), and The Fresh Market (3) are the top three in the “Quality” pillar. Wegman’s has held the top position in the “Quality” pillar every year of the RPI.
H-E-B topped the RPI ranking because they have the strongest customer value proposition for the long-term. This is due to their superior ability to deliver a combination of better savings and better experience/assortment, supported by time savings through superior digital capabilities.
Amazon has been in the top three every year of the RPI and has ranked first twice. They are doing this with a segmented approach, rather than building a customer value proposition that equally attracts different segments of the general population.
Two Kroger banners (Kroger and Fry’s) made it to the top quartile for the first time in the history of the RPI. The Kroger banners’ move into the first quartile can be explained by improvements they drove in overall price perception in 2023, a year when saving customers money mattered more than any year in this study, prior to 2022. Two other Kroger banners (Fred Meyer and King Soopers) were also among the biggest climbers in this year’s RPI ranking. These latter two sit in the second quartile, just outside of the first quartile.

The full dunnhumby Retailer Preference Index report can be downloaded.

Retailers included in the RPI that are interested in receiving their individual banner profiles can speak with their dunnhumby account executive, or contact dunnhumby at: https://www.dunnhumby.com/contact/. dunnhumby will also be attending and exhibiting at NRF 2024 in booth #1553.

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Save a Lot Donates 124K Bags of Pantry Staples for Holidays

Published January 17, 2024

With the help and generosity of its valued customers, Save A Lot, one of the largest discount grocery chains in the United States, has donated 124,000 bags of much-needed, high-quality food to local charities fighting hunger as part of its Bags for a Brighter Holiday effort. Throughout November and December, Save A Lot customers across the country supported their local communities by purchasing pre-assembled bags of food that were donated to local food charities and pantries.

To further amplify the program’s impact, Save A Lot is donating an additional $10,000 in gift cards to help 50 of the participating charities with groceries.

In total, the approximately $630,000 worth of food and gift cards will feed families in need. Each bag was stocked with private label and brand name food items, including pasta, stuffing mix, canned vegetables and other pantry staples from Save A Lot. A total of 528 Save A Lot stores participated in the food donation program with 22 stores selling more than 1,000 bags, including:

Scottsville, KY (1407 Galletin Rd.) – 3,591 bags
Tampa, FL (2271 E. Bearss Ave.) – 3,153 bags
Chillicothe, OH (1700 Western Ave.) – 2,660 bags
Tyrone, PA (111 W 13th St.) – 2,245 bags
Dyersburg, TN (1480 US Hwy 51 Bypass E) – 1,980 bags
Whitwell, TN (13205 Highway 28) – 1,913 bags
Hagerstown, MD (1161 Maryland Ave.) – 1,749 bags
Blairsville, GA (117 Murphy Hwy) – 1,535 bags
Sparta, TN (179 Mose Dr.) – 1,422 bags
Mt. Vernon, KY (910 W Main St) – 1,414
Hazard, KY (52 Grand Vue Plaza) – 1,330 bags
Cumberland, MD (66 Queen City Dr) – 1,245 bags
Morgantown, KY (723 W GL Smith St) – 1,213 bags
Pickens, SC (529 Hampton Ave Hwy B) – 1,171 bags
Lexington, TN (421 S Broad) – 1,166 bags
Lafollette, TN (2010 Jacksboro Pike) – 1,165 bags
Ontario, NY (1250 SR 104) – 1,118 bags
Denver, CO (4860 Pecos St) – 1,115 bags
Hardinsburg, KY (996 Old Hwy 60 East) – 1,045 bags
Williamsburg, KY (1645 S Hwy 25 W) – 1,044 bags
Lafayette, TN (415 HWY 52 Bypass East) – 1,026 bags
Jamestown, TN (407 North Main St.) – 1,015 bags

“I’m blown away each year by the generosity of our customers,” said Mark Kotcher, senior vice president of sales & marketing. “The passion for helping others in their communities put food on the table through our annual Bags for a Brighter Holiday program is a motivator for us throughout the year. Our stores’ ability to partner with customers and charities make this huge impact possible.”

Save A Lot stores, which are locally owned and operated, are passionate about making a difference. From supporting local charities to sponsoring in-store fundraisers, product drives and events for customers, locations are committed to doing A Lot of Good. For stories and examples on ways stores are giving back year-round, please visit SaveALot.com/ALotofGood.

For more information about Save A Lot or the Bags for a Brighter Holiday program, please visit www.savealot.com.

Founded in 1977, Save A Lot is the largest independently owned and operated discount grocery store chain in the U.S., with approximately 800 stores in 32 states. True to its mission of being a hometown grocer, Save A Lot provides unmatched quality and value to local families. Customers enjoy significant savings compared to traditional grocery stores on great tasting, high quality private label brands, national brand products, USDA-inspected meat, farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, and other non-food items. For more information on becoming a Save A Lot independent retail operator, visit ownasavealot.com.

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