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The Orange County Register, Calif., Grocery Briefs Column

Posted on: Sunday, 30 April 2006, 18:00 CDT

By The Orange County Register, Calif.

Apr. 28--'LIFESTYLE' STORES BOOST SAFEWAY: Safeway Inc.'s push to make its stores more upscale appears to be paying off as first-quarter profit rose 9 percent.

Safeway, the parent company of Vons, said Thursday that it earned $142.9 million for the three months ended March 25 compared with net income of $131.3 million at the same time last year. The company also benefited from cost cutting that alienated many employees.

Revenue for the period totaled $8.89 billion, a 3 percent increase from $8.62 billion last year.

The modest turnaround provides some redemption for Chairman Steve Burd, who has been vilified by labor leaders for demanding employee pay cuts that triggered a 41/2-month strike in Southern California during 2003 and 2004 -- a confrontation that deepened the grocer's slump.

While lowering employee expenses, Safeway has been investing heavily to convert hundreds of its stores to a "Lifestyle" format that emphasizes fresh produce and reasonably priced meals that are easy to prepare for two-worker households pressed for time.

In Orange County, Safeway has rebranded nine Vons and Pavilions stores into the "Lifestyle" format.

UPDATE BACKGROUND: Zsweet is a natural diet sweetener made by Ventana Health Inc., in San Clemente. The company uses erythritol, a granular sugar alcohol that is 70 percent as sweet as table sugar and substantially less caloric than sugar. The product launched in some East Coast health stores in January.

What's new: This week, Zsweet was put on shelves at 26 Whole Foods grocers in the Southwest, including Colorado and Texas, said Ventana Chief Executive Tim Avila. The product is also available in Mother's Market & Kitchen stores in Orange County. Avila said the placement in these key natural foods stores will help the company take Zsweet national in the coming months.

IN THE BAG: Andy Keller saw what America's plastic bag addiction was doing to the environment on a trip to a Chico landfill two years ago. He purchased a thrift-store sewing machine and whipped up a practical, reusable shopping bag made of lightweight nylon.

The ChicoBag comes in a 4 x 2 1/2-inch pouch allowing shoppers to stash it in a purse or glove compartment.

ChicoBag comes in six colors and holds up to 20 pounds. It can be purchased for $5 at Mother's Markets and Bristol Farms in Orange County or at www.ChicoBag.com.

Register staff writers Nancy Luna and Chantal Lamers and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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To see more of The Orange County Register, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.ocregister.com.

Copyright (c) 2006, The Orange County Register, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

SWY, WFMI,

Source: The Orange County Register

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