Kingswood Acquires Save Mart Companies
Kingswood Capital Management LP has acquired the Save Mart Companies. Kingswood is an operationally focused private equity firm based in Los Angeles, with significant experience in the retail sector. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Headquartered in Modesto, The Save Mart Companies is committed to sourcing a wide variety of local products across approximately 200 stores and serves communities throughout California and Northern Nevada. The company operates stores under the banners of Save Mart, Lucky California and FoodMaxx. In addition to its retail operation, the company also operates SMART Refrigerated Transport and is a partner in Super Store Industries, which owns and operates a distribution center in Lathrop, and the Sunnyside Farms dairy processing plant in Turlock.
“The Piccinini family did a tremendous job in fostering a commitment to innovation and service as they built and grew this company in the Central Valley and throughout California,” Save Mart CEO Chris McGarry said. “As a result, we have great stores and a committed team of 14,000 employees who provide fantastic local products and are wonderful stewards of the communities in which they live and work. While this change in ownership will be transparent to our team and customers, we know that this investment will benefit them and the communities we serve.”
With the addition of The Save Mart Companies, Kingswood is expanding its existing Northern California presence. It already owns Alameda-based Cost Plus World Market, which it acquired in January 2021 from Bed Bath and Beyond, and Mare Island-based Lind Marine, a diversified marine services business headquartered north of the San Francisco Bay, which it recapitalized in January 2022.
“At Kingswood, our goal is to make good businesses even better, and The Save Mart Companies presents us with a great opportunity to do so,” said Alex Wolf, managing partner and founder of Kingswood. “Their 70 years of history in the Central Valley provides a strong foundation for future profitable growth, and we look forward to working with Chris and the team to position these iconic grocery brands for the future.”
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SEG Donates $1.1M+ in Supplies for Ukraine Relief
Southeastern Grocers Inc. is extending additional support for Ukraine relief with a donation of more than $1.1 million worth of cleaning and sanitation supplies, personal protective equipment and nonperishable food items to humanitarian nonprofit organization Mission 823.
“At Southeastern Grocers, we always put people first, whether they are in our five-state footprint or across the globe,” said Anthony Hucker, president and CEO. “We refuse to stand idle when the people of Ukraine are in urgent need. As a grocer, we know how important it is for our communities to have access to basic yet essential products, and through our partnership with Mission 823, it is our hope we can help provide some sense of comfort to the Ukrainian people. SEG stands with Ukraine.”
SEG’s donation will benefit Mission 823, a humanitarian nonprofit organization on the ground in Ukraine that seeks to help and protect at-risk children, including orphans and those on the streets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and childhood traumas felt in war-torn areas. The organization also works with local task forces to help rescue children from human trafficking.
Shawn Sullivan, founder of Mission 823, said, “We are grateful to Southeastern Grocers for their generous contribution in support of the Ukrainian people. It’s because of compassionate, people-forward companies like SEG that we’re able to provide essential aid to evacuees and other at-risk groups. The situation in Ukraine continues to worsen and among the most affected are children. Thanks to SEG, we will be able to help more people during the most trying time of their lives.”
This donation of more than $1.1 million in supplies and nonperishable food items builds upon SEG’s support to the citizens of Ukraine. The grocer was among the first retailers to provide immediate aid with its charitable foundation’s donation of $250,000 to the International Committee of the Red Cross to support Ukraine and its citizens as they fight to defend their country. SEG also has committed 100 percent of the proceeds from its private label Ukrainian vodka to the cause through March 31.
To learn more about Mission 823 and its efforts to help the people of Ukraine, or to make a donation, please visit www.mission823.com.
Has your specialty foods industry company donated funds or supplies to Ukraine relief? Gourmet News would like to know. Please email Senior Editor A.J. Flick, aj_f@oser.com, with your news.
Study: Americans See Food Inflation Rate Higher Than Reality
The ninth wave of the dunnhumby Consumer Pulse Survey was conducted from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, just past the peak of a major outbreak of coronavirus, driven by the omicron variant.
“Americans’ belief that food prices are rising more than twice as fast as they actually are should concern retailers, manufacturers and the government alike,” said Grant Steadman, president for North America at dunnhumby. “We not only see this mismatch between sentiment and reality in the U.S., but also in every country we surveyed.
“Consumers are now more concerned with their finances and the country’s economy than they were five months ago. We need to revise our thinking about how consumers consider inflation. Likely, we have not yet seen the full extent of how consumers will react to food price increases. This could diverge further, particularly if the security situation in Europe worsens and further impacts energy and commodity prices globally.”
Key findings in the food inflation study include:
- Fifty-one percent of U.S. shoppers surveyed are concerned that their money doesn’t go as far as it used to due to rising prices, marking a 10 point increase since September 2021, and a 12 percent increase since May 2020. Eighty-three percent said food prices have gone up some and half say they have gone up by a lot.
- The majority of U.S. consumers (58 percent) believe the economy is weak, a three point increase from September 2021, and the same percentage from February 2021. And 40 percent of consumers continue to report their own finances are weak, consistent with the prior two waves of the dunnhumby study in 2021.
- Walmart was again cited for providing the best value for the money by 54% of respondents, an increase of 25 points from September 2021. Aldi (18 percent), Kroger (10 percent) and Amazon (10 percent) finished in the top three for best value.
- Americans’ worry about the pandemic is at an all-time low (13 percent) and 20 points below consumers’ worry in Chile, the country with the highest Worry Index. The continued reduction in worry comes at the same time as more Americans than ever now know someone personally who has had COVID, at 44 percent compared to 37 percent in September. The U.S. remains in the lower half of countries that are not very worried about COVID-19, followed closely by Slovakia, Denmark, France, and China all tied at 11 percent. Countries that remain very worried about the pandemic include Chile (33 percent), Japan (31 percent), Brazil (29 percent), Portugal (27 percent), Malaysia (27 percent) and Mexico (25 percent).
- The surge in cases from the Omicron variant slightly reduced the number of trips consumers made to stores in late January through early February and reversed consumers’ belief from September 2021 that things were starting to return to normal. Only 19 percent of consumers reported that things were returning to normal in stores compared to 24 percent in September.
- While online shopping numbers have varied from wave to wave, they are essentially flat from where they were in May 2020. Thirty-three percent of U.S. respondents have ordered more online since Covid-19 began. Fifty-five percent of respondents made at least one online shopping trip during the week they were surveyed, up 17 percent since March 2020. Consumers also reported they make an average of one trip per week using click-and-collect making that channel as popular as delivery.
- Only 39 percent of U.S. consumers surveyed are satisfied with the instore shopping experience, a 3 percent drop since September 2021. Only 36 percent of those surveyed felt stores are doing a good job with COVID. Although consumers’ satisfaction with how stores are addressing the virus is low, it is nearly triple the approval rate U.S. consumers have for how government has dealt with the pandemic (22 percent). In every country surveyed, consumers felt stores are doing a better job than the government.
- Although economic pressures have increased over the last five months, the percentage of respondents using key value-seeking strategies has remained flat (53% of respondents compared to 52 percent in September 2021). Value seekers see inflation rates as even higher (18.4 percent) than those not actively seeking value (16.9 percent).
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