Hannaford to License Guiding Stars

BRUSSELS — Hannaford Bros. is gearing up license the Guiding Stars nutritional shelf-labeling system to other retailers, Ron Hodge, chief executive officer of Hannaford, said yesterday at an analyst meeting hosted by the chain’s parent company, Delhaize Group, based here. “We believe it is that important a standard in our industry,” he said. The program might also be offered to suppliers, he said. The news follows the announcement earlier this week of another planned rollout of a comprehensive nutritional rating system by private-label cooperative Topco Associates. Hodge also told the group that Hannaford was gearing up to begin rolling out 65 products in the Smart Options budget-range private label this month, and that about 80 nonfoods products in the Home 360 brand will be rolled out in the first quarter of 2008. In other news from the Delhaize analyst meeting, Rick Anicetti, CEO of Food Lion, said all of Delhaize’s U.S. businesses posted sales that were “on plan” for Thanksgiving week, in response to a question about changes in consumer behavior due to the economy. Anicetti also said he expects Food Lion to accelerate new-store development by 10 to 15 stores per year beginning next year, with 60 to 80 openings expected in 2010.

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