McRib pork provider Smithfield accused of abusing pigs

McDonald’s McRib pork sandwich -– made from miserable pigs?

A week after consumers began cheering (or gagging) over the reintroduction of the cult classic, the Humane Society is accusing McDonald’s pork provider Smithfield Foods Inc. of mistreating its hogs.

In a complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the animal rights group said the meat producer subjects its pigs to cruel living conditions.

The Humane Society says that Smithfield is misleading its consumers and investors through online videos called “Taking the Mystery out of Pork Production.” The clips claim, in part, that the animals are raised in “the best possible environment," with the best care that can be made available to them.

But the animal advocacy group pointed to its undercover investigation last year, which found Smithfield sows crowded into movement-prohibiting gestation crates, many coated in blood. 

In a statement, Smithfield said that the “allegations are wholly without merit and appear to be another in a series of frivolous attacks,” adding that 30% of its sows will be in group housing by the end of the year.

The company added that the well-being of its animals was one of its “highest priorities,” leading it to seek counsel from experts such as animal welfare consultant Temple Grandin.

As for the limited-time McRib, the blogosphere has been busy dissecting its contents. According to Time magazine's Healthland blog, the sandwich includes ingredients such as azodicarbonamide, “a flour-bleaching agent that is most commonly used in the manufacture of foamed plastics like in gym mats and the soles of shoes.”

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo credit: McDonald's

McDonald’s income up 9% to $1.5 billion on new menus, modernization

McDonald’s Corp., the world’s largest restaurant company, clocked another good quarter as it hustled to adapt to changing consumer tastes.

Buoyed by modernization efforts, expanded menus and an increasing focus on quality, McDonald’s reported that comparable sales worldwide among stores open more than a year increased 5%. Net income rose 9% year over year to $1.5 billion while revenue soared 14% to $7.1 billion.

Same-store sales for the company, which is based just outside Chicago, were up 4.4% in the U.S., 4.9% in Europe and 3.4% in the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa segment.

In the U.S., the chain bolstered its Dollar Menu, leaned on classics such as the Chicken McNuggets and Egg McMuffin and launched popular new offerings such as the Mango Pineapple Smoothie.

This week, the chain announced its new McDonald’s Channel, which will show exclusive original content along with local news and entertainment features in restaurants.

“The investments we are making to optimize our menu, modernize the restaurant experience and broaden McDonald's accessibility with ongoing convenience and value platforms are driving profitable market share growth,” Chief Executive Jim Skinner said in a statement.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: The golden arches of McDonald's in Omaha. Credit: Nati Harnik / Associated Press

Peanut butter prices about to soar amid poor harvest

The PB&J: Classic. Comforting. And, with peanut prices skyrocketing, soon to be more costly.

After searingly hot weather devastated the summer crop of Runner peanuts, the variety mostly used to make peanut butter, raw peanuts that cost about $450 a ton in 2010 now cost $1,150 a ton, according to USDA figures.

The crunch will affect the 90% of U.S. households that consume peanut butter — Americans eat about 1.5 million pounds of peanut products annually. The industry, according to the National Peanut Board, contributes more than $4 billion to the domestic economy each year.

High prices are expected to trickle down to consumers soon. J.M. Smucker Co.’s Jif will boost wholesale prices 30% this fall, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unilever’s Skippy brand will see a 35% increase while ConAgra Foods Inc.’s Peter Pan label will jump nearly 25%.

But peanuts weren't the only crop facing a difficult harvest — unpredictable weather has recently complicated the growing seasons for pumpkins and coffee beans.  Coffee roasters only recently began scaling back price hikes instituted over the past year.

And restaurants such as Lucifers Pizza in Los Feliz, which serves a popular Roast Pumpkin & Prosciutto pie, said they’ve struggled to find a constant source of high-quality pumpkin. Some have resorted to using butternut squash as an occasional backup and say they worry about accommodating Halloween demand. 

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— Tiffany Hsu

Photo: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

L.A. county fair attendance up 8% over last year

Baby goats, deep fried munchies and big-hair rock bands scored big this year for the Los Angeles County Fair, which reported an 8% increase in attendance over last year.

The fair, which ended Sunday, was attended by 1,491,213 visitors -- surpassing the 1,374,673 attendance mark last year -- marking the second highest attended fair in its 89-year history.

“It was the perfect storm of great new experiences, popular returning exhibits, exciting Grandstand shows and fantastic weather,” said Dale Coleman, the fair's vice president of sales, marketing and creative programming.

Customer surveys showed that visitors gave the fair high marks for value, entertainment, cleanliness and safety.

The high numbers came this year despite a rain storm that rolled through Sunday and Monday of Labor Day weekend.

Fair officials also credited its wide selection of food and lineup of top 70's- and 80's-era musical acts such as Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, REO Speedwagon, Styx and Earth, Wind & Fire.

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Everything, and we mean everything, gets fried at the Orange County Fair

-- Hugo Martin

Photo: Visitors pet farm animals at the Los Angeles County Fair. Credit: Los Angeles County Fair.

 

 

 

Consumer Confidential: Costco fees, Taco Bell, Four Loko

Here's your way-we-were Wednesday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

-- Are you a Costco member? If so, get ready for higher fees. Costco is increasing annual membership fees by 10% for 22 million members, beginning Nov. 1. The largest U.S. warehouse club operator hasn't raised its main fees since 2006. Now that some higher costs, such as cotton, food and gas, have subsided, it may have seemed like more of an appropriate time for the increase, analysts say. Costco's fee hike follows a similar move by competitor BJ's Wholesale Club. BJ's raised its membership fee by $5 to $50 in January. Costco's U.S. and Canadian household and business memberships will cost $55 a year, up from $50 for most of those memberships. Costco's Executive members, who receive rewards such as an annual rebate check to use in the store based on what they spend, will now pay $110, up from $100.

-- A new day is coming for Taco Bell. Fast-food restaurant operator Yum Brands is predicting a turnaround at the chain next year with the planned launch of new products meant to reinvigorate the slumping brand. The company is pinning hopes for a sales rebound on a pipeline of new products that Taco Bell plans to start introducing late in the first quarter of next year. The aim is nothing less than "reinventing the taco." Taco Bell accounts for about 60% of Yum's slumping U.S. profit, but the chain is struggling to overcome publicity from a lawsuit earlier this year that claimed the filling in its tacos and burritos didn't contain enough beef to be called beef. The suit was later dropped, but the company has blamed it for the sales decline.

-- It's a new day as well for Four Loko, the high-alcohol, fruit-flavored beverage that's drawn criticism from state and federal officials for contributing to drunkenness among young people. The marketers of Four Loko have agreed to relabel and repackage the drink to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges of deceptive advertising. The agency alleges that Phusion Projects and its principals falsely claimed that a 23.5-ounce can of Four Loko contains alcohol equivalent to one or two regular 12-ounce beers, and that a consumer could drink one can safely in its entirety on a single occasion. In fact, according to the FTC, one can of Four Loko contains as much alcohol as four to five 12-ounce cans of regular beer and is not safe to drink on a single occasion.

-- David Lazarus

Photo: It'll soon cost more to be a Costco member. Credit: Deborah Booker

 

Consumer Confidential: Soda warning; free Chick-fil-A meals

Here's your jumpin'-jack-flash Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Public-health advocates are calling on Americans to go easy on the soda. A coalition of health and consumer groups would like to see Americans reduce their consumption to three cans per week. The Center for Science in the Public Interest, the American Heart Assn., the American Diabetes Assn. and more than 100 other groups are mounting a campaign to educate Americans about the risks of consuming too much sugar. Sugary drinks are the single largest source of calories in the American diet and account for half of all added sugars consumed. And unlike any other food or beverage, only sugary drinks have been shown to have a causal role in promoting obesity. The American Heart Assn. recommends that people limit their intake of sugary drinks to about 450 calories per week, or about three 12-ounce cans. Average consumption is now more than twice that.

--Speaking of calories, our friends at fast-food chain Chick-fil-A are giving away breakfasts to customers who make an online reservation. To participate in the promotion, which runs from Sept. 6 to Sept. 10, customers should go to chick-fil-aforbreakfast.com to find a participating restaurant near them and reserve the menu item of their choice, as well as the time they plan to pick it up (between 6:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.). Available dishes include: Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit; Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Biscuit; Sausage Biscuit; Chick-fil-A Chick-n-Minis; Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit; Chicken, Egg & Cheese on Sunflower Multigrain Bagel; Chicken Breakfast Burrito; Sausage Breakfast Burrito; and Multigrain Oatmeal.

-- David Lazarus

Photo: Those sugary drinks may not be your friend. Credit: Daniel Barry / Bloomberg News

 

Five Guys, In-N-Out beat out McDonalds, Burger King in poll

McDonald’s and Burger King have tens of thousands of U.S. locations, but when it comes to consumers’ favorite quick-service restaurants, smaller companies like Five Guys, Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out leave their giant competitors cooked.

The chains are known for their friendly service, which consumer research firm Market Force Information suggests may be more important to customers than the taste of their food.

Five Guys, Panera and Chipotle customers said they’d recently had a satisfactory meal worthy of a recommendation, pushing the restaurants to the top of a “Delight Index” from Market Force.
McDonald’s and Burger King barely rounded out the top 15. 

When 4,500 customers were asked to select their top choice among 55 eateries, Chick-fil-A scored 10.4% of the votes, followed by Panera with 9.9% and Five Guys with 9.1%. The golden arches were next with 7.5%. In-N-Out lagged with 2.4%.

But since some chains are much larger than others -- Chick-fil-A and Panera each have more than double the reach of Five Guys and In-N-Out -- researchers also ranked the companies after factoring the number of branches.

The burger joints Five Guys and In-N-Out won out with the most votes per restaurant.

The results are close to the conclusions reached by Consumer Reports in a similar study last month.

Burger King freshens advertising campaign, kicks out the King

Down with the King. Burger King is overthrowing its bizarre monarch mascot and swearing allegiance to a new character: its food.

What a concept. The struggling fast-food chain’s new advertising campaign, launching this weekend, will focus adoringly on the preparation of fresh ingredients rather than the King's odd antics, the company said.

The migration to healthy menus is a move being taken by most of Burger King’s competitors. Restaurants that once reveled in fatty dishes served up in huge portions are increasingly offering smaller, low-calorie plates.

And on Monday, Burger King will roll out its new, guacamole-filled California Whopper burger nationwide.

The accompanying advertisements from the McGarry Bowen firm will feature lush images of avocados, tomatoes, lettuce and beef. In such a body-conscious realm, there seems to be no place for a plasticized sovereign derided by many customers as creepy instead of edgy.

“That’s not to say that in the future, we don’t introduce him in some other form,” said spokesman Miguel Piedra. “But our new marketing approach is more food-centric.”

Besides, the King has long been usurped by a clown named Ronald. McDonald’s pulled in $1.4 billion in net income in its second quarter, a 15% increase year over year. Burger King’s net income slipped 13% in its second quarter to $42.8 million.

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-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: A poster with Burger King's outgoing mascot is displayed at a restaurant in Salt Lake City. Credit: Douglas C. Pizac / Associated Press

Del Taco rolls out new logo, store design in Los Angeles, Irvine

It’s time for a makeover at Del Taco, the Lake Forest-based and Mexican-inspired fast food chain.

A new restaurant prototype and updated logo debuted Monday at locations in Los Angeles, Irvine and Texas after months of research.

Many of the industry’s popular kids, including McDonald's and KFC, have undergone design overhauls in recent years in an attempt to off their reputations for being staid and unhealthful.

At Del Taco, there’s a bright new color scheme built around a revamped version of the company’s logo, with its saw-toothed sun and rolling hills. The furniture will be sleeker, as will the salsa bars.

The seating setup will accommodate groups of different sizes, the company said. The walls will be emblazoned with slogans crowing about Del Taco’s efforts to use fresh ingredients: “Chicken grilled here” and “Cheddar hand-grated here,” for example.

The chain is planning a wide roll-out of the new logo starting in the fourth quarter and will continue evaluating the pilot restaurant design. Del Taco has more than 525 restaurants in 17 states.

The prototype locations in California are at 4376 W. Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles and 59 Technology in Irvine.

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Photos: Prototypes of Del Taco's new logo and interior. Credit: Del Taco

Podcast: Double-Dip Fears and Grab-and-Go Food

August is off to a rocky start.

Despite an agreement to raise the debt ceiling just hours before the government’s borrowing authority was set to run out, investors quickly switched their focus to the European debt crisis and weak prospects for the United States economy and pummeled stocks.

In the Weekend Business podcast, Floyd Norris, chief financial correspondent for The Times, discusses the possibility of a double-dip recession for the United States and the troubles plaguing Europe. In addition, he suggests that the unemployment report for July, which showed a better-than-expected gain of 117,000 jobs, could be overstating seasonal adjustments.

One place where workers seem pretty happy is Pret A Manger, the British fast-food chain. Its annual work force turnover rate is about 60 percent — low for the fast-food industry, where the rate is normally 300 to 400 percent. As David Gillen discusses with Stephanie Clifford, the chain is slowly expanding in New York and other American cities with its own brand of grab-and-go food and, more significant, a fresh approach to service. At Pret, the goal is to serve customers within 60 seconds, and with maximum currency.

You can find specific segments of the podcast at these junctures: Floyd Norris (15:51); news headlines (10:52); Pret A Manger (8:28); the week ahead (0:58).

As articles discussed in the podcast are published during the weekend, links will be added to this post.

You can download the program by subscribing from The New York Times’s podcast page or directly from iTunes.