The confectionary giant Hershey has launched a new range of travel retail exclusive products including Hershey’s Kisses, Hershey’s Nuggets chocolates and Reese’s and Hershey's Miniatures.

The conical-shaped Hershey’s Kisses will be packaged in multiple variants designed for formal and informal gifts. Four varieties of the product will be offered in both box and pouch packaging. Hershey’s Nuggets chocolates are now being sold in a travel retail exclusive format initially in one v...

Source: just-food.com

Following its study of 18 countries and 18000 consumers, Deloitte concludes shoppers in western Europe are each set to spend, on average, €190 on food over the seasonal period, a fall of 3.5 per cent on 2008 figures. And reflecting the challenging economic climate, cost is the number one criteria.

"Price and value for money are far and away the prime concerns for consumers this Christmas," Deloitte partner Gilles Goldenberg told a press conference in Paris. Further, the consumer is prepar...

Cash-strapped consumers might not be hitting the malls with the same gusto they did pre-recession, but an expected uptick in food and beverage sales is likely to salvage the 2009 holiday shopping season, according to new research from Los Angeles-based research firm IBISWorld.

"The recession has caused people to go back to family values as opposed to simply buying presents," IBISWorld Senior Analyst Toon van Beeck explained. "Consumers just don't have the money to fork out on unnecessary gif...

Confectionery dollar sales slowed considerably during the four week period ending October 4, 2009.  This is a result of industry price increases that took place in the fall of 2008.  Current sales beginning with the September period are reflecting the comparison of prices against last year’s higher prices.  If you recall, a number of industry price increases took effect in August and September of 2008 due to a run-up in commodity prices which have remained at high levels or are even higher,...

The European Food Safety Authority’s scientific panel on additives, the ANS Panel, has lowered the Acceptable Daily Intakes for the artificial food colours Quinoline Yellow (E104), Sunset Yellow FCF (E110) and Ponceau 4R (E124) - three of the food colours linked to hyperactivity in the "Southhampton Study" As a result, the Panel concluded that exposure to these colours could exceed the new ADIs (acceptable daily intakes) for both adults and children.

The Panel found that the currently avai...

Tesco is planning to open approximately 13 new stores in various formats in Poland by the end of February 2010, Polish media reports. This will help the company to complete its development project in the country for the current fiscal year with the opening of 25 new hypermarkets. At the moment Tesco has already opened 12 hypermarkets in Poland this year.

Tesco hopes to double the size of its convenience store empire — in a move sure to strike fear into the hearts of independent corner shop o...

Hershey Co., the chocolatier from US and Ferrero SpA, the Italian chocolate manufacturer are said to be considering a joint bid for Cadbury which is the target of a hostile bid from Kraft according to a recent Reuters news..

Inside sources  say there is no direct contact yet, but Cadbury may  welcome such a joint offer. However nome equity analysts claim that neither Hershey nor Ferrero is financially strong enough for such a bid and this is unlikely.

My interpretation of such news is that  som...

UK convenience group Uniq has sold its Dutch businesses to Gilde Equity Management for an enterprise value of GBP18m (US$26.8m). The divestment furthers Uniq's goal to become a UK-focused business. The company previously sold its other continental operations in France, Germany and Poland. The deal is subject to shareholder, works council and competition approvals.

Proceeds from the sale, which will total approximately GBP2m after costs, will be used to reduce debt, address the group's pensio...

Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported in 17 November issue that family-owned Ferrero might be considering an offer with friendly investors for an alliance with UK confectioner Cadbury, the subject of a hostile bid from Kraft.

It is understood that the Italian chocolate maker has been approached by Mediobanca SpA about the partnership, the publication said.

Pietro Ferrero and his brother Giovanni, both chief executive officers, are said to both see a merger as an “opportunity”.

Ferrero ...

Kraft Foods is investing EUR 15m in a new European biscuit development facility in France. The new European Centre of Expertise for Biscuits will open in 2011 to develop the firm's biscuit brands that include LU, Mikado, Prince and TUC. It will be the 12th Kraft Food research and development centre globally.

Researchers, product and packaging designers will move from current offices leased at Danone's research and development centre that is close to where the new plant will be built in Saclay...

Formerly "All Candy Expo" will be " Sweet and Snacks Expo 2010" for this year and will be realised on May 25-27, 2010 in McCormick Place West Chicago.



To be notifies for the registrations when started  you may enroll here

Global beverages group, The Coca-Cola Company, has told investors and analysts of their plans to more than double revenue by 2020.

The company outlined the “6 Core P’s” of its vision, which will be the focus for the coming decade. These include: profit, people, portfolio, partners, planet, and productivity. Included within these categories are goals to more than double system revenue by 2020 while increasing margins, be the leading nonalcoholic RTD business in every market and every ca...

Lindt & Sprungli, the upmarket Swiss chocolate maker, is the sector’s “obvious” takeover target and could be snapped up next year, one analyst has claimed - with Nestle seen as the favourite to buy the business. Jon Cox, an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets in Zurich,  cut his estimate for Lindt’s share price in 2010, citing the pressure rising cocoa costs will put on margins. In August, Lindt reported a slump in half-year profits and Cox argued that the company could issue a profit w...

The European Commission has set a one-month deadline to rule on the possible hostile takeover of Cadbury by US food giant Kraft, the EU competition regulator said on Wednesday.

Almost every morning before going to work, I work the "USA Today" crossword puzzle. Some days, I find that the puzzle seems to solve itself. Other days, I struggle with each and every answer. More often than not, I will get a few of the clues correct and when I return later, the answers to the very clues that eluded me before seem to present themselves. Once I get one answer completed, often it provides me with the letters that I need to solve the other clues.

I have fo...

Steps You Can Take to Slowly Return to Higher Profitability

By Chris Dickey

Published: November 10, 2009

Chris Dickey