Food

Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo has made another important step towards its expansion in Belgium: it has founded the company "bvba Jumbo Belgium".

Trade unions and management have finally reached an agreement at Carrefour Belgium, which will be presented to the employees later this week. An early retirement scheme has however shocked some of the political parties.

Belgian discounter Colruyt is going to open a store of its premium chain CRU in a top notch location: on the Groenplaats in the heart of Antwerp's city centre. Colruyt had acquired the location for a Spar store, but decided that it fitted better with its up-market format.

French chains Carrefour en Système U have agreed upon a five year partnership for purchases of large national and international brands, forming France's largest purchase alliance. According to both, the French agricultural sector should also benefit from the collaboration.

Belgian start-up Peas&Love has secured 1.2 million euro in investments to develop 150 urban farming projects... on rooftops. Currently the company has developed two urban roof top farms in Brussels and two in Paris.

Are the best days over for hard discount as a format? French price breaker Leader Price, Groupe Casino's hard discount chain, is yet another chain that changes its course: "Low prices are not sufficient any more. Old style discounting is dead."

Online sales are detrimental to the business model of physical stores. That is the conclusion of financial specialist Marshoek, who however claims that supermarkets just have to go through with it.

With nearly 17,000 euro in turnover per sqm, Colruyt only has to admit defeat to Esselunga’s supermarkets (Italy) and Aldi’s Irish stores. What do the most successful retailers have in common? 

Qatar’s royal family acquired most of founder Jean Galler’s shares in his own chocolate company. In the long run, it will obtain all shares.

Sandwich formula Pret a Manger is now part of JAB, which also owns Douwe Egberts and Krispy Kreme. The company paid 1.7 billion euro for the chain and targets international growth.

Belgians bought slightly fewer eggs in 2017, but that was not entirely because of the Fipronil crisis. Its expenditures did grow because of a higher average egg price and a continued shift to organic.

Salmon prices are on the rise: Norwegian salmon has become 300 % more expensive in the past five years. Growing Asian demand is the culprit, even though the farmers also had several setbacks.

Albert Heijn needs to innovate more rapidly in order to remain relevant in thirty years’ time, CEO Wouter Kolk said. A hot meal delivery service and a dashboard to show customers how healthy they are shopping, are both in the works.

French supermarket chain Franprix is trialing home grocery deliveries when no one is home: the courier will come into your home. In the future, the chain even wants to place the order straight into the fridge.

Both Nestlé and Kraft Heinz have just announced new research and development investments. The major brand manufacturers are feeling the heat from innovative start-ups and want to speed up.

Food multinationals are not doing enough to make their products more healthy, according to Access to Nutrition Foundation. Nestlé, Unilever and Danone are top of the class.

Ahold Delhaize’s American division will found a new company focused on digital innovation: Peapod Digital Labs will become a lab for new digital, eCommerce and personalization strategies. 

Carrefour has not found a buyer for hundreds of its former Dia stores in France yet. That may force nearly 230 stores to shut down.