Gourmet News

FMI Supports Credit Card Competition Act

Published August 1, 2022

FMI – The Food Industry Association endorsed the bipartisan Credit Card Competition Act sponsored by Sens. Dick Durban (D-IL) and Roger Marshall (R-KS) to guarantee merchant choice in payment routing by requiring at least two processors on credit cards.

“Americans are rightfully concerned about the impact of higher prices on their budgets for the items they need for their families,” said jennifer Hatcher, chief public policy officer and SVP government relations. “Despite this inflationary environment, credit card companies continue to dramatically increase the hidden processing fees that grocers and ultimately consumers are forced to pay for accepting/using credit cards for payments. These fees and increases contribute to higher prices for consumers, costing the typical American family an average of $900 per year, according to Nilson Report.

“We appreciate Sens. Durbin and Marshall for introducing this important bill as a critical first step in bringing greater competition to the credit card market and much needed financial relief to grocers and American families during these extremely challenging economic times.

“These fees charged by credit card companies in the U.S. are some of the highest in the world and account for many retailers’ largest operating cost after labor,” Hatcher said. “In 2021, merchants’ card processing fees totaled $137.8 billion, per Nilson Report, up over 112 percent from the previous decade. As an industry historically operating on 1 to 2 percent profit margins, excessively high credit swipe fees reduce the ability of grocery stores to invest in their businesses and keep prices as low as possible for their customers.

“FMI strongly supports this legislation to bring competition and transparency to the credit card market by requiring more than one network option to route financial data on a credit card – just like most cities have more than one road leading into the city. Requiring more than one routing network would bring down the cost of swipe fees, increase transparency for retailers accepting credit card payments and encourage competition on innovative services and fraud protection.”

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Independent Brewers Open Membership, Launch Awards

Published August 1, 2022

The Society of Independent Brewers is expanding membership with three new member categories launching in 2022, starting with International Brewing Membership, which opened Aug. 1.

SIBA membership is open to independent breweries anywhere outside of the United Kingdom and includes a range of membership benefits, including access to the newly launched SIBA International Beer Awards.

“SIBA will offer our new International Brewing Members a variety of brewery business tools, U.K. promotional opportunities for their beer and brands, professional advice on essential business areas such as marketing or UK legislation, and free delegate tickets to BeerX – the U.K.’s biggest beer and brewing trade event – where our new International Awards will take place,” said Neil Walker, SIBA head of comms & marketing.

Only SIBA members will be eligible to enter beer into the SIBA International Beer Awards, with a broad variety of internationally recognized style categories judged by some of the U.K.’s most experienced beer judges, beer sommeliers and master brewers.

The awards include Belgian, French and Trappist styles, among others, alongside pale ale, IPA, speciality & sour beers, as well as more traditional British styles such as bitter and stout. The judging and awards presentation will take place as part of BeerX UK in March.

“Our new SIBA Independent Beer Awards are a truly unique competition and a first for the U.K. We’re really excited about bringing in craft breweries from across the globe and can’t wait to see who comes out on top. All of the judging and the awards presentation will take place at BeerX – the U.K.’s biggest beer and brewing trade event – so winners will get to accept their awards on the UK’s most prominent beer industry stage,” Neil said.

The trade association will bring amateur brewers into the fold, offering advice on turning professional, as well as the opportunity for technical Q&As with well-known craft brewers, a quarterly printed magazine, brewing tools and guidance, plus a new homebrew competition – again set to take place at the flagship BeerX event.

The final new member category, launching by the end of 2022, is to open SIBA membership to bottleshops – offering advice, guidance and Government lobbying support, as well as access to an exclusive retailer showcase at BeerX and more.

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Alaska Airlines Cooks Up Vegan, Plant-Based Options

Published July 30, 2022

Alaska Airlines’ Soy Meets World vegan salad includes roasted broccoli, fresh cucumber slices, scallions, pickled carrots, fried tofu and brown rice served over a bed of crisp romaine and baby lettuce greens, topped with roasted cashews, fried onions and paired with a Tamari Chili-Lime dressing.

This summer, Alaska Airlines guests can veg out on board with more gluten friendly, plant-based and vegan meal options available in all cabins. The new vegan option, “Soy Meets World,” is a vegan salad developed in partnership Evergreens, a West Coast-based company that makes gourmet, freshly chopped salads.

“We’re thrilled to offer our guests more healthy and nutritious choices when they fly with us,” said Todd Traynor-Corey, managing director of guest products. “We built our menu thoughtfully to offer more plant-based, vegan and gluten-free options, which include a range of fresh, bright flavors inspired by the West Coast and ingredients that are authentically healthy by nature such as roasted broccoli, crisp romaine and baby lettuce greens, quinoa, fresh fruit and more.”

Alaska Airlines offers three meal options in First Class, including its Signature Fruit & Cheese on flights as short as 550 miles.

It also offers ample food options in Premium Class and Main Cabin, which include up to four fresh options on flights over 1,100 miles and up to five snack items on flights over 223 miles, such as the Mediterranean Tapas Pack (vegan and gluten-free).

Now through October, guests can enjoy fresh summer flavors that include berries, summer squash, corn, citrus and tomatoes. To see all of our food and beverage offerings, visit alaskaair.com.

Travelers can enjoy fresh ingredients inspired by the West Coast, from snacks to freshly prepared meals, by pre-ordering favorites ahead of a flight using the reservation on the airline’s app or alaskaair.com.

Meal orders can be made starting 14 days before the flight, and up to 20 hours before departure.

Snacks and Picnic packs do not require pre-order and are available on board most flights over two hours. Mileage Plan members can store a method of payment in their Mileage Plan account for touch-free inflight purchases, including food and beverages.

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