The Perishables Group, a Chicago-based independent consulting firm specializing in the fresh foods industry, formed an information sharing agreement with Giant Food Stores to provide data and tools to implement a customized perishables performance tracking and category development program for its operating companies.

The agreement will enable Giant, its Tops division and supplier partners to gain new insights into category performance across the perishables departments including produce, meat, seafood, deli and bakery.

Discovery Garden's LLC in Oakdale, CA, and HMC Marketing in Kingsburg, CA, have reached an agreement for HMC to market Discovery Garden's proprietary potato, Sierra Gold, to the foodservice market.

Discovery Garden's is a newly established company built on the foundation of California Oregon Seed Inc. The founders have over 40 years of production experience in developing high-quality seed potatoes for growers. They created Discovery Garden's to distribute and market the firm's value-added, premium-quality branded potatoes to consumers worldwide.

Dale Liefer, who joined Westlake Distributors in 1982, became a partner in 1984 and has been instrumental in growing the company from Westlake Distributors to Westlake-Miller-Brooks & Sims to now Westlake Produce Co., received the Norman H (Buz) Bolstad Produce Award Tuesday, July 11.

Given annually by the Fresh Produce & Floral Council at the FPFC Expo, a list of previous winners reads like a who's who of the Southern California produce scene. Previous winners of the prestigious award include Roger Schroeder, Frieda Kaplan, Dick Spezzano and Jan DeLyser.

With the start of the 2006 New York state produce deal just around the corner, residents of the Empire State are anxiously awaiting the displays of local product that will grace the produce departments of their favorite supermarkets. And for two retailers in particular, it is a time to celebrate local product with Pride of New York promotions.

ORADELL, NJ -- John Groh has been promoted to publisher of The Produce News, based here, effective July 10.

Mr. Groh, who has served as the newspaper's editor and associate publisher for the past six years, will be in charge of all aspects of the day-to-day operation of The Produce News. He will retain some of his editorial responsibilities, and his new title is editor and publisher.

The advent and proliferation of the value-added category and the refrigerated cases in which they are displayed have brought a new dimension to the produce department reset. Today, it is typical for a "category captain" from the supply side to be responsible for resetting the value-added display case two, three or even four times a year.