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Quick Looks
- Grants for the Industry
- Merger Lawsuit Starts
- Rust to Renaissance
- September is Family Meals Month!
- Listeria Update
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Message from Mike:
Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day is to celebrate the achievements of workers. The grocery industry is full of hard workers, spending early morning and late nights in the store, warehouses, or offices to make sure everyone has the food they need. Here at the WGA we appreciate everything you do!
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Mike Semmann
President & CEO
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Condolences: Patrick Alan Kautza, known affectionately as Pat, passed away at his home surrounded by family on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, at the age of 84. Born on February 22, 1940, in Eau Claire, he spent his formative years in Omro.
Pat's early career involved various odd jobs. He later found his true calling after his father's passing as the owner of Sherm’s grocery stores, where he was well-respected and beloved by the communities of Omro, Princeton and Redgranite.
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Pat's family visited the store Pat had built in Omro in 1968. to honor him, there was a display of pictures and even Mr. Pig was there. So many stories were shared that day. Pat treated his employees as family and was generous to the cities his Pig stores were located.
Pat was known for his generous spirit, often insisting on picking up the tab, embodying his kind, loving, and generous nature. His legacy is carried on by his loving wife, Jean Kautza; daughter, Joyel Barnard; son, Bart (Kim) Kautza; step-children, Jeff and Danielle Zarling; sister, Kay Ann Heavener; brother, Tim (Lisa) Kautza; brother-in-law, Bill (Gail) Miller.
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Round-Up for the VFW: Watertown Piggly Wiggly recently held a week-long round up for the VFW Post 3709. With the help of their amazing customers, $1800 was donated to the VFW.
Pictured Left to Right: Oliver Cole, Gary Winkler, Tom Brennecke, Brian and Rachel Wohlfeil
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Grants for the Industry: The UNFI Foundation has awarded $1.5 million in grants to 61 nonprofits focused on improving access to quality food while creating a sustainable and equitable food system. Groups in Wisconsin that received funds are Eco Center Justice Inc., Hunger Task Force Inc., and REAP Food Group.
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Cooking for Teachers: Viking Village Foods was honored to cook for the Reedsburg School District’s teachers & families at the "Welcome Back Kickoff" for the new school year picnic! They were thrilled to bring in from retirement Bryan Yaeger & Mick Kneeland to help out.
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Helping Build a Memorial Trail: During the month of June, Jahnke’s Piggly Wiggly held a round up for the Gold Star Memorial trail, which aims to connect Mayville to Beaver Dam via a mostly off-road bike trail in remembrance and honor of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The round-up raised $2,741 for the project.
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First Annual Golf Outing: On Monday August 19th, Sendik's Food Markets hosted their first annual Sendik's Invitational Golf Outing at the Club of Lac Labelle benefiting Feeding America Southeastern Wisconsin.
A day of wonderful weather and camaraderie culminated in a donation of over $60,000 to feed hungry families in local communities. This amazing donation was made possible through the generous support of Sendik's valued suppliers and the Balistreri Family.
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Merger Lawsuit Starts: Court hearings for Kroger and Albertsons against state and federal regulators began this week. The fate of the pending $24.6 billion merger is in the hands of the courts — both federal and state. The first case with the Federal Trade Commission starts in Portland, OR, marking the first major step in what will likely be a lengthy legal process.
Currently, Kroger and Albertsons are gearing up for three upcoming legal face-offs between the Washington state attorney general, the Colorado state attorney general and the Federal Trade Commission. Each court case — federal or state — has the potential to block Kroger and Albertsons’ merger claiming that it would negatively impact industry competition nationwide and hurt essential workers.
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October 15 & 16
Madison Marriott West,
Middleton, WI
| Use code "EARLYBIRD" for buy one get one free on Full Registration. | |
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Educational Seminars
Join us for some great educational seminars and speakers for the Innovation Expo this year!
Tuesday October 15th
1:30pm - International Selling, Nick Lenzi, Lipari Foods
2:30pm - Food Traceability, Jay Ellingson, Kwik Trip
3:30pm - Workforce & Labor Panel
Wednesday October 16th
9:00am - Alcohol Laws, David Casey & Mark Meyer, Department of Revenue
10:20am - Grow Your Business with Data, Meagan Nelson, SPINS
11:10am - 4 Ways to Boost Margins with Recipe Merchandising, Katie Hotze, Shopii
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The Fall of Pumpkin Spice: A recent survey of 2,000 Americans by Talker Research found a shift is consumers fall favorites. About 39% of Americans ranked cinnamon as their favorite, 37% favored salted caramel, 36% choosing candy apple, and pumpkin spice in fourth place at 32%. Other flavors mentioned as fall favorites are maple, s’mores, pecan, toasted marshmallow, sweet potato, and cranberry.
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The Habits of Cheese Buyers: Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW) conducted a study of what Mike Edge, the group’s marketing director, called the “shopper journey” of Heavy Specialty Cheese Buyers (HSCB). The study found that 6 in 10 HSCBs believe that the specialty cheese case has “a major impact” on their overall perception of a store’s quality.
The study also found that, once shoppers are in the store, 92% actively seek out information in the specialty cheese section, 75% notice signage and wayfinding and almost 40% seek out cross-merchandising — resulting in 65% purchasing complementary items.
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Staying with the Packers: Kwik Trip and the Packers announced a multi-year renewal of their partnership. Read more about the partnership here.
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Selling Popcorn: Campbell Soup Company announced the completed sale of the Pop Secret popcorn business to Our Home, an independent better-for-you snack company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. | |
Unemployment Rates Pull Back in Wisconsin: July unemployment rates decreased or stayed the same in nine of 12 metropolitan areas over the month, and rates decreased or stayed the same in six areas over the year. | |
Rust to Renaissance: In a new study about the recovery of the Rustbelt, Wisconsin has been one of the states to show the best recovery. In Wisconsin, Madison witnessed the highest increase of its commercial (13%) and housing stock (16%) and Kenosha leads the commercial real estate inventory expansion with a 67% hike. | |
Listeria Update: The Boar’s Head plant in Virginia has been linked to the Listeria outbreak. Records show instances of mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings, and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment. Read more about the 69 logged instances here. | |
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September is Family Meals Month! Help share the importance of Family meals in with FMI - The Food Industry Association toolkit! Find resources, graphics, and more here.
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Cutting Tobacco: Over in the Northeast, Stop and Shop plans to end all sales of tobacco at all 360 stores by August 31. | |
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Grocery Prices = Cost Increases: The grocery industry has been in the news a lot the past few weeks with accusations from some politicians that stores are engaging in price gouging as consumers continue to grapple with stubborn inflation. Greg Ferrara, president and CEO of the National Grocers Association, explained that grocers' net profit margins are being squeezed by higher labor costs and inflationary pressures that ripple through the supply chain. “Labor is a huge component" of high prices hitting consumers and added: "We've seen significant wage increases since before the pandemic, but we've also seen enormous increases in commodity prices and while those have come down a bit, they are absolutely elevated." The WGA has created a toolkit on price gouging that you can find here.
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The Economy and Wisconsinites Vote: PBS Wisconsin investigated the major factors for the 2024 election and found inflation and rising prices are at the top of the list. Mike Semmann, president & CEO of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, sat down and talked about the grocery side of things, “You’re seeing a pretty good increase in both grocery prices, but also prices as a whole.” Find the full story here. | |
Worker Struggles: 3 in 5 U.S. workers reported living paycheck to paycheck according to PNC Bank’s second annual Financial Wellness in the Workplace report. Meanwhile, 78% of the more than 500 U.S. employers surveyed said their workers were financially stressed, up from 71% in 2023. But access to financial planning benefits doubled from the previous year, jumping from 14% to 28%. | |
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Biden Coming to Wisconsin: On September 5th President Joe Biden will be visiting small towns in Southeast Wisconsin to discuss his policies to lower costs and encourage renewable energy and advance manufacturing. Read more about his planned visit here.
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Thank you Kemps!
President Letter's Sponsor
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Congrats to everyone at Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly who celebrated a work Anniversary! See everyone celebrating here.
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Congrats to Perry on your retirement! He has been working with Krueger Wholesale Florist for 37 years!
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Happy 5-year anniversary to Annalyn May, Trig’s Rhinelander floral designer!
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Share your celebration occasions in the
WGA President's Letter!
Send your work anniversaries, birthdays, and other happy events to share in this section to lbarnes@WisconsinGrocers.com
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Share your news with the WGA!
Do you have a story to tell about a customer, employee, or an event? Send it to the WGA and we’ll help tell that story far and wide.
Send it to Lauren Barnes at lbarnes@wisconsingrocers.com
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