Supermarket giant ALDI opened its latest store in Queensland yesterday at the newly renovated Redbank Plaza, Brisbane. The new Redbank plaza store joins 280 ALDI stores operating across the Australian eastern seaboard in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. The privately-owned German-controlled ALDI group has developed a very successful Australian operation. During a federal government enquiry in 2008 into the level of supermarket competition in Australia’s... ...Read more »

 7-Eleven, Australia’s leading convenience retailer, has won 3  awards at the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS) gala dinner in Melbourne last night: - Winner – AACS Major Retail Franchised Store of the Year 2012 - Winner – AACS Major Retailer Head Office of the Year 2012 - Winner – Peter Jowett Industry Award for the retailer category Eddie and Nina Yakou, Franchisees of 7-Eleven Mickleham Road Tullamarine, took home the first award of the night – a tied AACS... ...Read more »

Australian major supermarket group Woolworths is expanding its insurance range of products for marketing to its customers. Woolworths is expanding into the Car and Travel Insurance market backed by the Hollard Group, a leading international insurance provider and Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest re/insurers. The Woolworths Insurance division was formed in August 2011 by initially offering Pet and Life Insurance products and is soon to launch into Homes and Content cover. The latest move will... ...Read more »

With the opening of another Melbourne store set for late 2013, the retailing giant Costco’s commitment to using local Australian produce will see a demand for additional new suppliers. This is a welcome opportunity for Australian food businesses. A substantial number of local producers are already benefitting from Costco’s arrival in Australia. For example, Costco’s highly commended beef is a grain-fed premium product coming out of Swift Australia’s Beef City feedlot in Toowoomba, Queensland.... ...Read more »

Leading UK grocery retailer Tesco is facing some tough decisions after ratings agency Standard & Poor changed its outlook from “stable” to “negative” due to concerns about “weakening” profits at the supermarket giant.  Standard & Poor said it was also re-considering the supermarkets current credit rating. In a statement the ratings agency said “that in light of currently difficult industry conditions, a trend of weakening profitability and low top-line... ...Read more »

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Senator Christine Milne has foreshadowed a new Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) Bill to be introduced into Federal Parliament by the Greens. The proposed Accurate Country of Origin Labelling for Food (Competition and Consumer Act Amendment) Bill 2012 will be introduced with a view to changing the Food Standards Code and Part 5-3 of the Competition and Consumer Act to create “a new, clear food-specific” country of origin labelling framework. The labels will be... ...Read more »

Private-label products in Australia will increase strongly in the coming five years. Business information research firm IBISWorld forecasts the share of private-label products will account for over 30% of Australian supermarkets sales by 2017-18. According to IBISWorld General Manager (Australia), Ms Karen Dobie, private-label products have been one of the supermarket industry’s fastest growing segments over the past decade. “In 2007-08, private labels accounted for just 13.5% of total supermarket... ...Read more »

Frozen foods continue to grow in popularity in the UK and Australia. The British Frozen Food Federation values the industry at just under 5.4 billion pounds, with a growth of 6.1% year on year. The British Frozen Food Federation said that the frozen meat and poultry sector was leading the way as consumers ‘are switching to frozen meat and poultry from fresh as they try desperately to manage their diminishing household budgets.’ The details from British Frozen Food Federation March 2012 statistics... ...Read more »

Three varieties of Kamfen brand noodles  that have been found to have microbial contamination. The brand-owner EKO Australia Pty Ltd has voluntarily issued a consumer-level recall today. The three recalled Kamfen products are: •Kamfen Buckwheat Noodles: 340g in plastic packaging •Kamfen Beijing Noodles – Abalone Chicken Soup Flavour: 160g in plastic packaging •Kamfen Sichuan Noodles – Abalone Chicken Soup Flavour: 160g in plastic packaging Date markings: •Kamfen Buckwheat Noodles:... ...Read more »

New research has outlined the likely growth industries within the Australian food and beverage sector for the next few years, with water, coffee and ice cream forecast to be among the leading lights. Private label goods, meanwhile, are likely to steadily increase their market share as retailers push their own brands harder than ever before. Private label is not as well developed as in many European countries but has been a growing feature of the market, Leatherhead’s Global Food Markets research... ...Read more »