- D’Agostino’s Supermarkets, the 23-unit chain based in Larchmont, NY, announced that it is switching wholesalers, from Supervalu to C&S Wholesale Grocers.
- Marsh Supermarkets announced that it has gone into the restaurant business, opening a foodservice facility called Trios Di Tuscanos near its Noblesville, Ind., Life Style store.
- John Catsimatidis, chairman and CEO of Gristede’s Foods, announced that he is taking the company private. However, he said that the company could go public again in the event of a big acquisition.
- Krispy Kreme reportedly will form a partnership that will allow it to bring its doughnut shops to Japan. The move will be the company’s first into Asia…though it does have stores outside the US – in the UK, Australia, Canada, and Mexico.
- Kraft Foods said yesterday that its CEO, Roger Deromedi, was suffering from a viral infection accompanied by acute dehydration, was making a complete recovery, and will return to work on May 10.
- Wine Spectator reports on how the US government has decided to permit the labeling of calorie and carbohydrate counts on alcoholic beverages – “as long as the statements are truthful and specific.”
However, the labeling standards will be voluntary, not mandatory.
- Newsday reports that Wal-Mart has pulled out of a plan to donate as much as $1.5 million to the effort to reopen the Statue of Liberty, which has been closed to visitors because of security concerns since September 11, 2001.
The reason? The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation is being probed for its plan to raise the necessary $7 million needed to reopen the monument through private donations rather than use its $30 million endowment.
"Wal-Mart totally supports the reopening of the Statue of Liberty," Wal-Mart said in a statement. "However, regrettably, we will not be doing any fund-raising or corporate match until the current investigations are complete. Pending the outcome of those investigations, we will then re-examine our decisions."
