If you are a subscriber to Nutrition Business Journal, you can now access all of the 2008 Nutrition Industry Overview online at nutritionbusinessjournal.com. No need to sort through your over flowing mailbox, search your desk and interrogate your co-workers for your copy of NBJ. Just go to nutritionbusinessjournal.com.
To see all the articles, go to the current issue page. Here you will see the entire overview issue laid out in an expanded table of contents view. From here you can link to every article if you are signed in as an NBJ subscriber.
If you do not know your NBJ subscriber username and password, call Rachel Dederich, NBJ’s Subscriber Services Coordinator, at 303.998.9263.
You may or may not know that New Hope (NBJ’s parent company) and Supermarket News launched a trade show June 18-19, 2008 called Healthy Foods International Expo.
The presentation drew over 100 attendees and two breakouts on retailers and manufacturers were well attended as well. No matter how much credit we give them, conventional retailers and manufacturers of healthy foods still don’t completely get it. They have alot to learn, which made it all the more important that we were there to impart some of our industry knowledge to them over two days.
The show, though a launch, was perfectly produced and went off without a hitch (at least from my perspective). Attendance was a bit sparse, but understandably so in this economy, setting the stage for growth down the road. Approximately 100 exhibitors presented their latest healthy foods offerings to conventional retailer buyers and executives who pounded the floor.
While in the Dallas Convention Center, I took a few videos to show you what the show really looked like. Please excuse the fogginess of the video - my camera didn’t handle the humid climate so well.
This video is of the rush to get on the show floor when it opened Wednesday at 12 noon so you can get an idea of what the show looked like.
This video is of the crowd gathered to hear Samuel Fromartz, author of Organic, Inc.: Natural Foods and How They Grew, give the keynote address Wednesday evening after the show floor closed
NBTY, a well known acquirer of distressed brands and businesses in the U.S. supplement industry, has acquired the assets of Leiner Health Products, a bankrupt private label manufacturer of vitamins and other dietary supplements.
NBTY announced that it has paid $371 million for the assets and the assumption of certain liabilities, but the price of the deal can move $110 million north or south of $371 million, based on the amount of working capital on Leiner’s balance sheet at closing. NBTY said it hopes to close the deal no later than September 2008. North Castle Partners and Golden Gate Capital recapitalized Leiner in 2004 for $650 million. Prior to that, North Castle Partners had been the sole investor in Leiner. NBJ estimated Leiner’s 2006 supplement sales at $550 million.
Founded in 1973 and headquartered in Carson, Calif., Leiner Health Products is a leading manufacturer of store brand vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements (VMS), as measured by retail sales, and supplies the food, drug, mass merchant and warehouse club (FDMC) retail market. Leiner provides the FDMC retailers with over 2,000 products to help its customers create and market high-quality store brands at low prices. It is also the largest supplier of VMS to the U.S. military. Leiner markets its own brand of vitamins under YourLife. In 2007, Leiner distributed more than 21 billion doses that help offer consumers high quality, affordable choices to improve their health and wellness.
NBTY is a leading global vertically integrated manufacturer, marketer and distributor of a broad line of high-quality, value-priced nutritional supplements in the United States and throughout the world. Under a number of NBTY and third party brands, the Company offers over 22,000 products, including products marketed by the Company’s Nature’s Bounty, Vitamin World, Puritan’s Pride, Holland & Barrett, Rexall, Sundown, MET-Rx, Worldwide Sport Nutrition, American Health, GNC, DeTuinen, LeNaturiste, SISU, Solgar, Good ‘n’ Natural, Home Health and Ester-C brands.
Alot has changed in the world of web design since we first launched NBJ’s website in 1998, so you will notice MANY changes in the look, feel and efficiency of the new nutritionbusinessjournal.com.
NBJ’s mission has always been to deliver strategic business information, analysis and market data to those in or interested in the nutrition industry to fuel better business decisions and promote healthier lifestyles. The new nutritionbusinessjournal.com is our new way of delivering on this mission.
I welcome your feedback and suggestions, via this blog or via my email prea@nutritionbusiness.com
The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) found that consumers are spending less at fast casual restaurants and having more of their meals at home or picking up food in the prepared food aisle of restaurants like Publix and Whole Foods Market. 71% of 2,020 respondents to an FMI survey said they were cooking at home more and eating out less. Food industry analysts expect frozen dinners and other frozen prepared foods to see growth in 2008.
This may also drive consumers to fresh foods - meat, seafood, chicken, pork and fruits and vegetables - as some in the natural products industry are suggesting.
