Flash! Frozen

Ric Alvarez, president and CEO of Ruiz Foods, Dinuba, Calif., recently resigned his position, including his seat on the Ruiz board of directors. The company has already begun its nationwide search for a new president and CEO, with Fred Ruiz, chairman and co-founder and the management team leading the company in the interim...AgriLink, Rochester, N.Y., announced that its net sales for the fiscal year increased $143 million or 12.3% to $1.3 billion, compared to $1.2 billion last year. The increase is due to improvements in the frozen vegetable category which its includes Birds Eye brand. "By remaining focused on our market strategy and utilizing innovative new products, such as the recent introduction of Birds Eye Simply Grillin, we have been able to increase our frozen vegetable market share 1.6 percent to 31.4 percent of the total market," says Dennis Mullen, president and CEO... Information Resources, Inc., Chicago, Ill., announced that its new InfoScan Advantage service will be available to track Wal-Mart sales information starting in September, despite Wal-Mart's recent announcement that it will no longer share its U.S. point of sale scanner tracking data with market research companies. IRI's InfoScan will obtain Wal-Mart data from a large sample of households in its proprietary InfoScan multi-outlet consumer panel. The panel was recently increased by IRI to 65,000 households and is designed to include Wal-Mart shoppers. Full customer roll-out of the new service is scheduled for completion over the next few months... Shareholders of Dean Foods Co. recently voted to approve the company's proposed buyout by Suiza Foods Corp. Approximately 63% of the shares outstanding voted in favor of the merger, and of the shares voted, 96% were in favor of the deal. The $10 billion deal is expected to close by the end of the year... Founder of Stater Bros. Markets, Cleo Stater, passed away in early September. Cleo and his twin brother founded the now 155-wide chain of supermarkets in 1936...Wholey International, Pittsburgh, Pa., a seafood company importing, processing, and distributing products nationwide, signed a long-term supply agreement with the Pacific Seafood Group of Portland, Ore. The agreement increases Wholey's ability to supply Wholey Whiting, its most popular product, to the West coast..Winn-- Dixie Stores, Inc., is recalling some of its Prestige Caramel Coyote Ice Cream for possibly containing undeclared peanut butter which can cause reactions in people allergic to peanuts. The halfgallon packages have the code date Jan. 24 2002 and were distributed to Winn-Dixie, Thriftway, Jitney Jungle, Save Rite and Snack & Save stores in Ala., Fla., Ga., Ind., Ky., La., Miss., N.C., Ohio, Okla., S.C., Texas, and Va...British supermarket Tesco launched its "biggest ever" discount campaign in mid-September, cutting prices on 3,500 grocery items by a collective $147.1 million. Tesco will publish the new prices on its Web site in order to prove to consumers that it really is cheaper than the competition...Japan's No. 4 supermarket chain, Mycal, has filed for bankruptcy protection. The Osaka-- based chain is $11.7 billion in debt, making this the fourth-largest Japanese corporate crash in the post-war era. The filing caused shares of another heavily indebted Japanese retailer, Daiei, to fall, as investors shifted yen to healthier companies like Ito-Yokado and Aeon...The State of New Mexico is fighting Furr's bankruptcy plan. Furrs owes New Mexico $4 million but, under the retailer's chapter 11 reorganization plan, would be behind banks and Furr's management in the line to be paid. New Mexico wants a Federal Bankruptcy Court to change Furr's filing to a chapter 7 liquidation... Wall's ice cream company, a U.K.-based supplier, will stop printing jokes on its ice pop sticks, marking the end of a long tradition. British humor, it seems, does not travel well, and Wall's has been gaining increased distribution acrosss Europe... New York City schools have enlisted a new weapon in the fight against truancy: ice cream. Under a plan announced in September by NYC school Chancellor Harold Levy, ice cream will now be served on Mondays and Fridays, the two days with the highest absentee rates, as part of a program to use "yummier" foods to lure kids to school...H.J. Heinz announced its quarterly dividend on the company's common stock was raised 3.2% to 40 1/2 cents, for an annual rate of $1.62 per share. The dividend which was raised again for the 34th consecutive year, will be paid in early October..Bridgford Foods Corp. announced a 1 % increase in sales for the third quarter of its 2001 fiscal year. Sales increased to $36.7 million, up $400,000, while net income decreased 52% to $900,000, as compared to the same period last year. The company sites higher costs for commodities, labor, fuel and utilities, in addition to a lower demand in a weakened economy and lower interest income on investments for the decrease in earnings..H.J. Heinz reports a $200 million profit in Q1, saying that increased sales of its new colored ketchups and recovering tuna profits were the reason. The company's earnings were down slightly from $204 million for the same period last year. Heinz said that it would add a purple ketchup to its line and increase prices 3% across the entire company this year to offset declining margins.