The National Grocers Association (NGA) and FMS released the results of their joint 2013 Independent Grocers Financial Survey. Showing their resilience and business savvy, independent grocers capitalized on the improvements in the economy and posted an average net profit before taxes of 1.65 percent in fiscal year 2012, up from 1.12 percent in 2011. They also grew inflation-adjusted same-store sales and improved gross margins across key store categories.As unemployment, consumer confidence and other key economic indicators improved, so did the financial results of independent grocers.

“Fiscal year 2012 was quite the comeback year for independent food retailers,” says Peter Larkin, President & CEO, NGA. “We found vast improvements in financial performance, much higher levels of store development, stabilized payroll and lower levels of theft-related shrink for the majority of respondents.”

Independent grocers pushed through one of the worst economic downturns in our nation’s history and are coming out better and stronger. The report reviews the top 25th percentile in net profits, the “profit leaders,” that once again showed a strong performance with an average net profit of 4.01 percent through superior expense control, margins and sales.

“However, in 2012, the pack fought back,” says Robert Graybill, President and CEO of FMS. “The profit leaders continued to do well, but the rest of the industry significantly reduced the gap between the best and the rest by tightly managing costs and margins. Independents also closed in on the publicly-traded grocery chains.”

Some key report findings include:

• Fiscal year 2012 same store sales were +1.46 percent before adjusted for inflation. Inflation-adjusted same-store sales were +0.2 percent, up from -2.2 percent in 2011. Fewer independent grocers reported sales gains below the rate of inflation at 49.2 percent versus 72.7 percent in 2011.
• Many retailers improved margins in key categories leading to a slight increase in the total store margin to 26.48 percent.
• The net profit for all companies increased to 1.65 percent from 1.12 percent in 2011. Additionally, only 1.9 percent of companies reported negative profit numbers versus 13.5 percent in 2011.
• On the cost side, healthcare costs continued to increase at a rate of 7.6 percent in 2012, with 81.8 percent of retailers expecting higher costs in 2013. With lower energy prices, utility costs did come down as a percentage of sales, as did rent expenses.

In addition to sales distribution and gross margin data by department, the report also provides detailed financial information by region, store sales volume and profit leaders. The general section of the report includes a thorough review of the nation’s economic and political landscapes and how they impact independent food retailers. The 2013 Independent Grocers Financial Survey is based on data from 146 independent grocers and was conducted by 210 Analytics, LLC. Purchase the report »

As San Franciscans, we care deeply for the environment. Together, we’ve shown the world that hybrid cars, composting, rooftop solar panels and reusable bags work to solve environmental problems. Soon, our first-in-the-nation plastic-bag ban will cover restaurants, and San Francisco will be the biggest U.S. city completely free of plastic carry-out bags. With Los Angeles’ plastic bag ban, a third of Californians will soon be bag free. But until our state legislators follow San Francisco’s example, plastic bags from other cities will continue polluting San Francisco Bay.

It’s time for California to ban single-use plastic bags statewide.

Plastic bags are an environmental blight and a direct threat to wildlife. A Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association study found that plastic shopping bags are 8 percent of the garbage volume washing into our bay.

These bags are one of the four most common garbage items on California beaches, according to Ocean Conservancy. In 2010, volunteers picked up over 65,000 plastic bags during just one statewide cleanup.

Less than 5 percent of these bags are recycled, and too many pollute our beaches, the bay and the Pacific Ocean.

Translucent and bell-shaped, plastic bags are too often mistaken for jellyfish and eaten by sea turtles. Leatherback sea turtles, which swim off our shores as far north as Mendocino County, feed almost exclusively on jellyfish. A recent review of 370 autopsies found that 1 in 3 leatherbacks have plastic in their stomachs. Most often, it’s a plastic bag. Leatherback turtles have died off by 95 percent since the 1980s from a combination of causes.

Birds, fish and at least one baby sea otter found by Save Our Shores are often entangled in plastic bags. Once trapped, the animal can drown, suffocate or be strangled as it outgrows a plastic noose. Nearly 16 percent of all entangled animals found during Ocean Conservancy’s 2010 cleanup were caught in plastic bags. This was the largest impact after fishing line and fishing nets, which entangled 30 percent and 27 percent of recovered animals, respectively. Not a good comparison for plastic bags, a product never designed to capture wildlife.

In a few short years, nearly 80 California cities and counties have banned plastic bags. With Los Angeles’s bag ordinance, nearly 1 in 3 Californians will live somewhere with a plastic bag ban. Banning plastic bags has become the new normal, but too many bags still reach the bay, where they drift out to sea through the Golden Gate.

The most recent attempt to pass a statewide plastic bag ban fell just three votes short in the state Senate, closer than ever before. San Francisco has shown that plastic bag bans work to clean up parks and beaches and protect the bay and our ocean. With a third of the state covered by local bans, California is clearly ready for this change. The Legislature must act. Let’s ban plastic bags statewide.

Supervisors John Avalos and David Campos sponsored San Francisco’s expanded plastic bag ban.

Reprinted from the San Francisco Chronicle (8/16/2013)

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published a new regulation defining the term “gluten-free” for voluntary food labeling. This will provide a uniform standard definition to help the up to 3 million Americans who have celiac disease, an autoimmune digestive condition that can be effectively managed only by eating a gluten free diet.

“Adherence to a gluten-free diet is the key to treating celiac disease, which can be very disruptive to everyday life,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The FDA’s new ‘gluten-free’ definition will help people with this condition make food choices with confidence and allow them to better manage their health.”

This new federal definition standardizes the meaning of “gluten-free” claims across the food industry. It requires that, in order to use the term “gluten-free” on its label, a food must meet all of the requirements of the definition, including that the food must contain less than 20 parts per million of gluten. The rule also requires foods with the claims “no gluten,” “free of gluten,” and “without gluten” to meet the definition for “gluten-free.”

The FDA recognizes that many foods currently labeled as “gluten-free” may be able to meet the new federal definition already. Food manufacturers will have a year after the rule is published to bring their labels into compliance with the new requirements.

“We encourage the food industry to come into compliance with the new definition as soon as possible and help us make it as easy as possible for people with celiac disease to identify foods that meet the federal definition of ‘gluten-free’” said Michael R. Taylor, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine.

The term “gluten” refers to proteins that occur naturally in wheat, rye, barley and cross-bred hybrids of these grains. In people with celiac disease, foods that contain gluten trigger production of antibodies that attack and damage the lining of the small intestine. Such damage limits the ability of celiac disease patients to absorb nutrients and puts them at risk of other very serious health problems, including nutritional deficiencies, osteoporosis, growth retardation, infertility, miscarriages, short stature, and intestinal cancers.

The FDA was directed to issue the new regulation by the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA), which directed FDA to set guidelines for the use of the term “gluten-free” to help people with celiac disease maintain a gluten-free diet.

The regulation was published August 2, in the Federal Register.

FDA News Release »