French Gourmet and ShellsbyDesign announce merger

WEST DES MOINES, IA — Midwest Growth Partners, a private equity firm specializing in succession planning and growth capital investments in food and agriculture, announced the merger of Sparks, NV-based French Gourmet and Garner, IA-based ShellsbyDesign.

French Gourmet manufactures artisanal croissants, Danish pastries, dough shells and puff pastries, serving an assortment of foodservice businesses, including hotels, cafes, and independent and in-store bakeries.

“French Gourmet’s extensive product offerings and market reach will enable us to execute on the vision I’ve had for our company since co-founding the business 15 years ago,” said David Lichtenstein, co-founder of ShellsbyDesign. “We look forward to joining forces with the French Gourmet team to support our combined customers’ success with enhanced premium product offerings.”

As part of the merger, Lichtenstein will continue to serve as director of operations at the Iowa facility.



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Omaha Steaks now official protein provider for Kansas City Chiefs

Omaha Steaks is kicking off its first-of-its-kind professional sports partnership with the world champion Kansas City Chiefs as the team’s official steak and protein provider. This collaboration is designed to both enhance player performance through access to high-quality protein and elevate the fan experience for all of Chiefs Kingdom, offering fans exclusive promotions on Omaha Steaks premium products both in stadium and at home.

As part of the multiyear agreement, Omaha Steaks is introducing the new Strips 4 Steaks Promotion – anytime a Chiefs player causes the opposing team to fumble and the Chiefs recover the ball at GEHA Field Arrowhead Stadium, fans will receive four free Bone-In New York Strips (10-ounce) on a $99 or more purchase on OmahaSteaks.com/ChiefsNYStrip. The player who stripped the ball will also be rewarded with a colossal 36-ounce King Cut Strip Steak.

“Great football is made even better with great food, which makes our new partnership with the Kansas City Chiefs the perfect pairing,” said Nate Rempe, president and chief executive officer of Omaha Steaks. “We’re excited to bring the Omaha Steaks ‘Strip’ Steaks Promotion to Chiefs Kingdom. It’s an unbelievable offer – 40 oz. of free New York strip steak – that will have fans around the country waiting anxiously for the Chiefs to force and recover a fumble.”

Omaha Steaks will maintain a significant presence at GEHA Field at Arrowhead with in-stadium signage, branded signage in the Tailgate Suites presented by TFL, a dedicated concession stand on the CommunityAmerica Club Level and Omaha Steaks products available stadiumwide. The partnership will also be amplified on TV, social media, Chiefs.com and the Chiefs mobile app, along with inclusion in segmented emails to Chiefs Kingdom Rewards Members, offering fans exclusive promotions on Omaha Steaks premium products.

“We’re delighted to welcome Omaha Steaks to the Chiefs family,” said Kim Hobbs, vice president of partnership strategy and development for the Chiefs. “Their commitment to quality and their appreciation for our unrivaled fanbase aligns perfectly with our organization. Together, we look forward to enhancing the Chiefs Kingdom experience with their premium products.”

The Omaha Steaks partnership with the Kansas City Chiefs kicks off at the first home game of the season on Sept. 5 at 7:20 p.m. Central.

Source: Omaha Steaks



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Mr Gatti’s Pizza announces key executive promotions

Mr Gatti’s Pizza announced today the promotions of two key executives: Travis Smith has been promoted to executive vice president and Ryan Morris has been promoted to senior vice president of real estate and general counsel.

“Travis and Ryan have demonstrated incredible dedication and played key roles in our brand’s success,” said Jim Philips, CEO of Mr Gatti’s Pizza. “With Travis focused on increasing the brand’s presence and revenue and Ryan leading our Walmart project, we know we are in great hands. These promotions are a testament to our trust in their abilities to help build a strong future for Mr Gatti’s Pizza.”

As the new executive vice president, Smith will lead the brand’s overall expansion strategy, concentrating on increasing sales and optimizing operations. Since joining Mr Gatti’s in June 2019 as Vice President of Marketing, Smith has revitalized the brand’s marketing strategies. His proven track record and deep industry knowledge will be key to driving the brand forward. 

In his new role as senior vice president of real estate and general counsel, Morris will spearhead the brand’s recently announced strategic partnership with Walmart to open 92 new locations within their stores. Morris, who joined Mr Gatti’s nearly five years ago as corporate counsel, will now oversee all legal and real estate aspects of this significant expansion. 

These executive promotions underscore Mr Gatti’s commitment to growth and innovation as the brand continues to build on its legacy as a pizza household name, one slice at a time.

Mr Gatti’s Pizza, originally launched as The Pizza Place in Stephenville, Texas, in 1964, underwent a transformation when it relocated to Austin in 1969. Along with the move came a significant rebranding, adopting the name “Gatti” in homage to the maiden name of founder James Eure’s wife. The 1970s marked a period of rapid expansion for the chain, as it pioneered the combination of high-quality dining and entertainment under one roof. Today, Mr Gatti’s is a beloved name in the regions it operates, embodying James Eure’s vision across more than 230 active and forthcoming locations in Texas and the Southeastern U.S. For more details, visit mrgattispizza.com or contact us at 817-546-3500.



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Aldi hiring more than 13K new employees

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Dive Brief:

  • Aldi US announced Wednesday that it plans to hire more than 13,000 store and warehouse employees.
  • The discount grocer will also raise its national average hourly pay for associates with starting wages for store and warehouse roles being $18 and $23 per hour, respectively, based on market and position. 
  • The hiring surge comes ahead of the holiday season and store openings the discount grocer has in the pipeline, according to the press release.

Dive Insight:

Aldi currently employs more than 49,000 associates and operates just shy of 2,400 U.S. locations. 

As part of its hiring push, Aldi noted that all employees working more than 30 hours per week have access to healthcare insurance and paid time off, the announcement noted. 

The grocer added that it aims to set up its associates for long-term employment and success. Seventy percent of Aldi’s assistant store managers and more than 30% of store managers started as store associates for the company, and all of its executive leaders began their Aldi careers in one of the discounter’s stores, according to the press release. 

Interviews for the open positions will take place during National Hiring Week, which runs from Sept. 9-15. 

Aldi has seen rapid growth stateside this year, starting with an announcement in March that it plans to open 800 new stores in the U.S. by the end of 2028 as part of a goal to increase its U.S. footprint by 30%. This news followed Aldi’s announcing in August 2023 plans to acquire Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket from Southeastern Grocers

During its inaugural supplier event in May, Aldi executives announced that the discounter is adjusting how it typically works with supplier partners in preparation for its store expansion plans.



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Marble Slab Creamery Canada Debuts New Technology

NEWTON, Ma. and CALGARY — Paytronix has partnered with Marble Slab Creamery Canada to launch an enhanced guest experience, beginning with a new mobile app, website and Marble Slab Rewards loyalty program.

Marble Slab Creamery has been an innovator in the ice-cream space, dreaming up the frozen slab technique 40 years ago in Houston. Global expansion brought the homemade, small-batch ice cream to Canada in 2003, with more than 100 locations now operating coast to coast in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia, plus franchise expansion underway to add 40 more stores.

Mobile and online ordering continues to grow and Marble Slab Canada is ensuring a seamless customer experience for guests engaging with the brand at any touchpoint. The new website and mobile app make it easy to choose from more than 50 flavours of ice cream and unlimited Mixins for the legendary frozen slab. Marble Slab Rewards, the new loyalty program, makes it easier to earn and redeem rewards, and learn about new promotions or special offers.

Marble Slab began its technology overhaul by moving all Canadian operations to the latest point of sale system from Toast. Tight integration between Toast and Paytronix established a foundation for Marble Slab to then partner with Paytronix, putting the guest experience first in re-designing the website, loyalty program, mobile app and the rest of the tech stack.

“By leveraging Paytronix’s innovative guest-engagement solutions, we’re enhancing the way we connect with our customers, offering them a more personalized and rewarding experience,” says Cam Inglis, president, Marble Slab Creamery Canada. “This collaboration allows us to better understand our guests’ preferences, ensuring that every visit to Marble Slab isn’t just delicious but also uniquely tailored to the guests.”

“This is about much more than upgrading technology for Marble Slab, it’s a tech-enabled platform to differentiate the brand and establish a one-on-one relationship with guests,” says Andrea Mulligan, Chief Customer Officer at Paytronix. “Marble Slab has created an amazing personal experience even when guests begin their engagement with the brand through the app or website, leveraging each interaction to personalize loyalty campaigns and reward offers at scale. Marble Slab is advancing the industry with a tech infrastructure that engages customers and provides a competitive advantage to its store operators and franchisees.”



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Goodway Technologies Launches DIB-2500 Dry Ice Blaster



Goodway Technologies has launched the DIB-2500 dry ice blaster, a chemical-free and completely dry method for difficult cleaning applications in food and beverage production facilities. 

Dry ice blasting technology uses frozen dry ice crystals – that instantly vaporize on contact – to quickly and easily remove very difficult-to-clean soils such as polymerized oil, baked-on carbon and heavy caked-on debris, leaving the surface clean, dry and residue-free.

Ideal for dry cleaning and chemical-free environments, dry ice cleaning technology is a completely waterless, non-abrasive, non-toxic and non-corrosive solution to clean equipment surfaces and leave them and their surroundings clean and dry. Propelled by compressed air, the DIB-2500 fires tiny dry ice pellets at super high speeds to instantly remove debris from surfaces. The pellets turn from a solid into a gas form on contact, a process called sublimation, leaving the surface clean and dry.

“Developing dry cleaning technologies for food and beverage cleaning and sanitation needs has been a strategic focus for us in recent years,” says Tim Kane, president and CEO of Goodway Technologies. “Adding dry ice technology will be a game changer for customers looking to increase their cleaning ability without the need for water or any moisture. The feedback has been extremely positive.”  

The DIB-2500 unit is fully portable and can easily be used across multiple production lines or facilities.



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How NotCo’s Giuseppe AI Has Evolved Over the Past Decade

Almost a decade ago, while others experimenting with AI focused on algorithms for trading, diagnostics, or digital advertising, a company called NotCo was experimenting with AI by the name of Giuseppe to create plant-based foods that could match the taste and texture of their animal-based counterparts.

According to Aadit Patel, SVP of AI Product and Engineering at NotCo, the company’s founders (Patel would join a couple of years after the company was founded in 2015) realized early on that, in order to build an AI model that could help create plant-based products mimicking the taste, texture, and functionality of their animal-based counterparts, they would need a whole lot of data.

The problem was, as a startup, they didn’t have any.

When I asked Patel in a recent interview how the company overcame the infamous “cold start” problem—the challenge many embryonic AI models face before they have built large datasets on which to train—he told me they found the solution in a very public place: the U.S. government’s website.

“In the early days, when we had no money, we literally scraped the USDA website,” said Patel. “If you go to the USDA website, there’s a bunch of free data materials for you to use. And I guess no one had actually joined it together to create a comprehensive dataset… So the first versions of Giuseppe were built on that.”

This cobbled-together dataset formed the foundation for Giuseppe’s recommendations, leading to the creation of products like NotMilk, which uses unexpected combinations like pineapple and cabbage to replicate the taste of dairy milk.

As NotCo grew, so did Giuseppe’s capabilities. New analytical labs in San Francisco and Santiago, Chile, gave the company a wealth of new data on which to train its AI. Over time, the model’s ability to create innovative food products also improved.

One of the biggest hurdles in food development is the fragmented nature of the supply chain. Data is scattered across various entities—ingredient suppliers, flavor houses, manufacturers, and research institutions—each holding critical information that contributes to the success of a product. Over time, the company realized that to create an AI capable of building innovative products, it couldn’t rely solely on NotCo’s datasets. Instead, Giuseppe would need to integrate and analyze data from across this complex web of partners.

“What we’ve done with Giuseppe is figure out a way to incentivize this very fragmented ecosystem,” Patel said.

According to Patel, pulling together these disparate datasets from across the product development and supply chain would result in a more holistic understanding of what is needed for a successful product that is better aligned with market realities.

“We realized that if we just made an AI system that’s specific to CPG, we’d be losing out,” said Patel.

Generative AI and Flavor and Fragrance Development

One recent expansion of Giuseppe’s capabilities has been the exploration of new flavors and fragrances using generative AI. While GenAI models like ChatGPT have become infamous for creating sometimes strange and off-putting combinations when designing recipes and new food product formulations, Patel explained that the company has been able to overcome issues with general LLMs by creating what he calls a discernment layer. This layer filters and evaluates the multitude of generated possibilities, narrowing them down to the most promising candidates.

“Discernment is key because it’s not just about generating ideas; it’s about identifying the ones that are likely to succeed in the real world,” Patel said. “With generative AI, you can prompt it however you want and get an infinite amount of answers. The question is, how do we discern which of these 10,000 ideas are the ones most likely to work in a lab setting, a pilot setting, or beyond?”

The discernment layer works by incorporating additional data points and contextual knowledge into the model. For instance, it might consider a formulation’s scalability, cost-effectiveness, or alignment with consumer preferences. This layer also allows human experts to provide feedback and fine-tune the AI’s outputs, creating a process that combines AI’s creativity with the expertise of flavor and fragrance professionals.

Early tests have shown positive results. When tasked with creating a new flavor, both the AI and the human perfumers receive the same brief. When the results are compared in A/B tests, Patel says the outputs of Giuseppe’s generative AI were indistinguishable from those created by human experts.

“What we’ve built is a system where AI and human expertise complement each other,” said Patel. “This gives us the flexibility to create products that are not just theoretically possible but also market-ready.”

CPG Brands Still Have a Long Way to Go With AI-Enhanced Food Creation

Nearly a decade after building an AI model with scraped data from the USDA website, NotCo has evolved its AI to create new products through a collaborative approach that results in a modern generative AI model incorporating inputs from its partners up and down the food value chain. This collaborative approach is being used for internal product development and third-party CPG partners, many of whom Patel said approached the company after they announced their joint venture with Kraft Heinz.

“Ever since our announcement with Kraft Heinz and signing a joint venture, there’s been a lot of inbound interest from a lot of other large CPGs asking ‘What can you do for us?’ and ‘What is Giuseppe?’ They want to see it.”

When I told Patel I thought that big CPG brands have come a long way over the past twelve months in their embrace and planning for using AI, he slightly disagreed. He said that while there’s a lot of interest, most big brands haven’t actually transformed their business to fully create products with the help of AI.

“I would say there’s strong intent to adopt it, but I think there hasn’t been put forth like a concrete action plan to actually develop the first AI-enabled R&D workforce,” said Patel. “There is room, I think, for new AI tech for formulators, and room for best practices and lessons learned of adopting AI.”

You can watch my full interview with Aadit below.

The NotCo team will be at the Food AI Summit talking about their new efforts using generative AI to develop flavor and fragrance, so make sure to get your tickets here.



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UK cold chain adds £14bn to the UK economy

Reading, UK: The UK’s cold chain industry adds £14bn to UK GDP, supports 184,000 jobs and provides £3.7bn in tax revenue, according to a new report by Oxford Economics.

But rising energy costs, up 46% in 2023 compared to 2022, weigh heavily on the sector despite over a quarter of cold stores running on renewable energy.

The report, Cold Chain Report 2024, launched at the federation’s Cold Chain Live! event this week, updates statistics on cold storage and temperature-controlled distribution.

The cold chain supports economic activity across all regions of the UK due to the geographically widespread nature of the sector. Jobs supported by the cold chain were concentrated in the East Midlands (23,000), East of England (22,000), North West (21,000).
 
The report identifies little change in maritime trade use of refrigerated shipping containers. Last year, 342,425 were imported into UK ports, which was no change from 2022. London Gateway is the busiest port, with 51% of all traffic. The sector saw a 9% decrease in exports.
 
Other key numbers include:

  • The number of cold stores operating blast freezers increased by 3% in 2023, when compared to 2022
  • The use of CO2 as a primary refrigerant in cold stores increased by 4%, whilst ammonia and HFCs each reduced by 2%
  • The cost of diesel used in truck and fridges increased by 4% in 2023

The report highlights the cold chain’s vital role supporting UK manufacturing, facilitating £53bn in chilled and frozen food, beverages, and pharmaceutical sales in 2023.

International trade supporting £12bn in UK exports and £32bn in frozen and chilled goods imports.

Regional economies driving economic activity across all regions with significant job concentrations in the East Midlands, East of England, North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber.

The report reveals that nearly half (49%) of all food and beverages produced in the UK – valued at £50bn – require chilling or freezing. This underscores the importance of the cold chain for sectors like food and beverage processing and pharmaceuticals.

The study also highlights the crucial role of the cold chain in the UK’s horticultural sector. Since all horticultural products require temperature-controlled storage and transportation, the cold chain contributes to the production of £1.7bn worth of ornamental plants in 2023.

Prof Toby Peters, professor of cold economy, University of Birmingham, said: “The cold chain has a critical role to play in a future sustainable and prosperous UK and this Report helps shines a light on the criticality of supporting cold chain development and will help ensure the sector finally gets the recognition it deserves.

“The landscape in which the UK’s cold chain operates has undergone profound change in recent years. In the face of a multitude of pressures from external factors such as rapidly changing consumer demands and trade flows following Brexit, the industry is also adapting to a changing climate and the need to be sustainable. There are promising signs of progress but much more still to be achieved.”
 
 Tom Southall, deputy chief executive, Cold Chain Federation, said: “The Cold Chain Report 2024 unequivocally demonstrates the cold chain’s status as a cornerstone of the UK economy, from supporting millions of jobs to facilitating billions in trade, this sector is a vital engine of growth. We urge policymakers and industry leaders to recognise the cold chain’s immense potential and invest in its continued development.”
 



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Nordstrom pulls back on Pacific Northwest omnichannel center plans

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Dive Brief:

  • Nordstrom ceased the build-out and planning of a leased omnichannel center in the Pacific Northwest, the company announced in a Q2 earnings call.
  • The company has improved its operations and found it can serve customers more efficiently with its existing supply chain network while avoiding the added costs of building out the facility, CEO Erik Nordstrom said on the call.
  • Some improvements the company previously touted included a 5% increase in click-to-delivery speed and lower fulfillment costs, according to a Q1 earnings call.

Dive Insight:

Nordstrom identified supply chain optimization as a top priority back in Q4 of 2022. Now, the retailer is seeing improvement along its supply chain, causing it to move away from its Pacific Northwest omnichannel plans.

“Logistics networks have recovered from the supply chain challenges that began during the pandemic, and we’ve improved our supply chain operations over the last few years,” Nordstrom said.

In addition to previously noted enhancements, the retailer is seeing faster processing times for its inbound merchandise enabling faster returns, the CEO said.

The company also said it is rolling out RFID tags across its fleet. Nordstrom is starting to “get the benefits that that insight gives us,” CFO Cathy Smith said on Q2 earnings call. The inventory accuracy provided by the technology also enhances the customer experience, Smith added. 

Even with recent improvements, Nordstrom is still making supply chain enhancement a priority. The company announced it plans to relocate operations from its fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California, to its omnichannel center in Riverside, California, during a Q4 2023 earnings call. The transition will help the company further leverage the Riverside facility’s warehouse automation. 

“We’ll continue to look to leverage our existing supply chain network, always balancing the best customer experience we can with speed and cost,” Smith said.

As it shifts its supply chain strategy, Nordstrom’s board of directors is currently considering a $3.8 billion offer from CEO Erik Nordstrom, President Peter Nordstrom and Mexican retail company El Puerto de Liverpool to buy the company.



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