Antitrust enforcers blocked Kroger’s takeover of Albertsons, but they’ve struggled to hold the grocers accountable for an alleged no-hire agreement. An unfavorable federal court decision risks undermining worker power in union contract negotiations.
Read MoreIf Mamdani’s grocery experiment can survive the pilot stage, it’d benefit from more scale, public wholesale investments, and wraparound antitrust enforcement, helping public grocers and small private stores alike.
Read MoreA group of small restaurant owners calls Sysco’s takeover of Restaurant Depot ”a gut punch to every neighborhood restaurant in America.”
Read MoreMinnesota shows how small businesses can support their communities through crisis while large corporations make measured statements, or worse, cooperate with authoritarian overreach.
Read MoreAs consumers continue to struggle with rising food prices, an unsealed antitrust suit involving Walmart and Pepsi and a report on Instacart’s algorithmic pricing model demonstrate the ways large food corporations charge different prices to different consumers.
Read MoreCities, small towns, and the federal government have all tried running public food markets and grocery stores. New York City can learn from the military commissary system and benefit from Robinson-Patman Act enforcement.
Read MoreAfter Warren Buffett and 3G Capital brought them together, Kraft Heinz will split into two companies. But this deal won’t reintroduce competition into the packaged food market.
Read MoreThe FTC withdrew its Robinson-Patman lawsuit against Pepsi, but private plaintiffs are bringing similar suits. New claims targeting promotional allowances could challenge unfair pricing norms in food retail.
Read MoreGrocery chains use little known property controls to prevent competition from moving in next door or into their store after they’re gone.
Read MoreGrocery stores have many ways to show different customers different prices based on their personal data. Several states seek to ban so-called “surveillance pricing.”
Read MoreSchools and food banks expected $1 billion from USDA to buy local foods this year. The Trump administration pulled those contracts, hurting farmers, kids, and rural development.
Read MoreWith their merger blocked, Kroger and Albertsons need to find other ways to compete. The chains are better off than their merger fearmongering implied, but short-term investor payouts could get in the way of growth.
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