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Business Beat
Daily News • Saturday, February 28, 2015
Business Beat runs every Saturday and is designed to provide stories and photographs about our advertisers. To suggest a story or photograph for this page, contact your advertising representative or Features Editor Ryan Schlehuber at (616) 754-9301/ scoop@staffordgroup.com.
Briefly
As tastes change, big food makers try hipster guises
Forever Fabrics Raises $356 for Fundraiser
From staff and wire reports
Hasson named new publisher for Journal
By Candice Choi
AP food industry writer
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A veteran newspaper executive credited with increasing online readership and digital advertising has been named publisher of The Providence Journal. Janet Hasson will be the second female publisher in the 185year history of Rhode Island’s largest newspaper. Hasson has been serving as the president and publisher of the Gannett-owned Journal News Media Group in White Plains, New York, since June 2011. She replaces Bernie Szachara, who was named interim publisher when the paper was purchased by Gatehouse Media and longtime publisher Howard Sutton retired after 15 years at the helm Szachara says Hasson knows how to transform the business to meet changing customer needs and recognizes the role the paper plays for Rhode Island. The 55-year-old Hasson was previously senior vice president of audience development at the Detroit Media Partnership.
U.S. growth estimate cause stocks to slip
Courtesy photo
Shellee Jensen and Stewart Jensen, the daughter-father duo owners of Forever Fabrics, held a fundraiser throughout the month of November to support awareness of pancreatic cancer, raising $356. The money will go towards the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, a residential facility for adult cancer patients in Grand Rapids. The awareness campaign is a personal objective for the Jensens, as Shellee’s mother, Judy Jensen, died of pancreatic cancer almost five years ago. Those who donated had their names placed on a paper footprint that was displayed at the store. Forever Fabrics also did a quilt raffle for the fundraiser.
The stock market is mostly lower in midday trading following news that U.S. economic growth slowed more sharply than previously estimated in the final three months of the year. The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 27 points, or 0.2 percent, to 18,187 as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time Friday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 was flat at 2,110 and the Nasdaq composite slipped six points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,981. The Commerce Department said the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.2 percent in the October-December quarter, weaker than last month’s initial estimate and a big drop from the third quarter. J.C. Penney slumped 6 percent after the department store chain reported a surprise loss. Bond prices rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.01 percent.
Chamber Check-up By Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce
March Business After Hours
Don’t miss this evening of great networking in a fun and relaxed environment at our March Business After Hours hosted by Isabella Bank of Greenville. The BAH is from 5 to 6:30 p.m., Thursday, March 19.
Meet potential new customers, strengthen ties with existing customers and clients, have fun and win prizes.
Greenville Area Chamber 2015 Golf Outing May 29 Save the dat for a fun day on the course. Join us Friday, May 29 at Cedar Chase Golf Course. More details to come.
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Community Image Book
The Greenv ille Community Image Book is publishing this spring. Don’t miss the chance to maximize your business presence in this community marketing tool. The image book is printed and distributed bi-annually. Call the Chamber at (616) 754-5697 to reserve your ad space.
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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — At a taco shop in Southern California, milkshakes are served in mason jars and a chalkboard menu lists “The 1%er” made with lobster meat. The logo is a pink skull and instead of buzzers, customers are given license plates so servers can identify them when bringing out orders. Nowhere is it evident that the U.S. Taco Co. is an outpost of a chain better known for cheesy gut bombs: Taco Bell. Major companies are testing whether it would pay to tuck away their world famous logos in favor of more hipster guises: PepsiCo, for instance, introduced a craft soda called Caleb’s last year and McDonald’s opened a cafe that lists lentils and eggplant on its menu. The stealth efforts reflect the pressures on the country’s biggest food makers, which are contending with the surging popularity of smaller brands that position themselves as decidedly less corporate. For big food companies, the low-key efforts are a way feel out changing tastes and cozy up to new customers, particularly those in their 20s and 30s. Among that age group, marketing experts say there’s a growing preference for qualities like “real” and “authentic.” Additionally, millennials aren’t as impressed by big brands when it comes to food, and instead take pride in discovering and sharing new places and products with friends on social media networks. As such, Allen Adamson of Landor Associates, a brand consulting firm, said companies should keep the images for their latest efforts smaller and more niche:
“You don’t want to scream from the mountain top that you’re Pepsi.” Unlike Pepsi cola — which has suffered sales declines since 1998, according to Beverage Digest — PepsiCo’s Caleb’s Kola comes in a glass bottle and is sweetened with cane sugar instead of highfructose corn syrup. There are no signs the drink is from the maker of Mountain Dew and Gatorade, and the bottles bear the words “Honor In Craft.” Nick Hammit, who heads Caleb’s Kola at PepsiCo, said Caleb’s was the creation of a group of “Kola Nuts” at the company who were passionate about making a cola that “takes pride in every little aspect.” McDonald’s also decided not to use its name recognition when it opened The Corner late last year. The restaurant in Australia has a minimalist white exterior and serves dishes like Moroccan roast chicken, chipotle pulled pork and lentil and eggplant salad. The only sign it’s owned by McDonald’s is the “McCafe” in small print at the bottom of the restaurant logo. McDonald’s spokeswoman Becca Hary said in an email the location is a “learning lab” for testing “new and different food and beverages never before seen in our restaurants.” The Corner comes as McDonald’s suffers ongoing sales struggles, with global sales down 1 percent last year at established locations as customer visits declined in regions around the world. For its part, Taco Bell said in an emailed statement that U.S. Taco’s opening was the result of a “segmentation study” that found some people just don’t want to eat at traditional fast-food chains.
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