ND0426111

Title: FDA To Treat E-Cigs as Tobacco Products

Description: The agency said yesterday that it wouldn?t attempt to regulate e-cigarettes as drug-delivering devices.

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WASHINGTON ? The Food and Drug Administration announced yesterday that it plans to regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products and won?t regulate them as drug-delivering devices.

The FDA said in a letter to stakeholders that it intends to propose rule changes to treat e-cigs the same traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Bloomberg reports: ?The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington said in December the FDA can only regulate e-cigarettes as a tobacco product if they aren?t marketed for therapeutic purposes. The ruling meant the government can oversee the sales of the products.

?E-cigarette maker Sottera Inc., which does business as Njoy, argued in the case that its products ? battery-powered devices that generate a nicotine vapor instead of smoke ? are tobacco products and not drugs. E-cigarettes are marketed as a tobacco alternative for ?smoking pleasure,? rather than for therapeutic uses, the company said.?

Be on the lookout for the May issue of NACS Magazine and a feature article on e-cigarettes.

Content Subject: Government Relations

Formatted Article Date: April 26, 2011

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Tsvangirai pushes for election monitors

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Sunday urged his supporters to prepare for an election he hoped regional leaders would monitor to ensure a credible result to help end the troubled coalition government.

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ND0425117

Title: Consumers Serve Up Advice for Restaurant Frequency

Description: A recent Radius Global Market survey shows that consumers are increasingly influenced by factors such as healthy options, better variety, social media promos and price.

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As the coupon and discount battles continue in the foodservice industry, a new survey conducted by Radius Global Market Research shows that consumers are increasingly influenced by factors in addition to price.??

?While value is still the main driver of frequency of dining out and spend per visit, there are ways to offset that and preserve the bottom line,? says Chip Lister, managing director of Radius. ?The consumers we spoke to had clear ideas about what would make them increase the number of times they ate outside their home.???

Radius surveyed U.S. consumers via its proprietary Know More Internet Panel about their dining behavior in the first three months of 2011. Respondents had advice for foodservice marketers across all categories ? from QSR to fine dining.?Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they?d be willing to dine out more often if restaurants acted on their suggestions. Highlights include:

1. Diners in all categories said that increased access to calorie counts and other nutritional information at restaurants would influence how often they visit. In the QSR and fast casual categories this health-oriented communication led all other consumer recommendations.?
2. Between-meal and late-night snacks are popular with QSR diners ? more than one in five would visit more if offerings were increased.?
3. Fast casual eaters want a wider variety of both chicken and breakfast menu items.
4. Almost one in four fast casual diners said they?d likely act on promotions delivered via social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.?
5. In the casual dining category diners say they?d come more often for unique premium burgers.
6. Customers visiting fine dining establishments prove the toughest to motivate. Nearly half of respondents indicated that their current habits could not be changed by anything other than price.

While the influence of other factors is on the rise, the foodservice industry shouldn?t abandon discounts and coupons any time soon. Survey results indicate that coupons continue to be the primary way that consumers control spending when dining out.

Respondents expect deals and coupons across all foodservice categories, including Fine Dining. And a vast majority of diners (86%) say they find ways to trim the bill each and every visit. That figure is up 10% since 2009.?

?Our survey shows that consumers are becoming even more firmly entrenched in their value-based behavior,? adds Lister. ?But it?s important for foodservice marketers to realize that there are additional ways beyond coupons to attract consumers such as menu innovation and social media promotions.?

Content Subject: Foodservice

Formatted Article Date: April 25, 2011

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ND0427102

Title: Sharpen Your Leaderships Skills at the NACS Leadership Executive Program

Description: Registration is now available for the NACS Leadership Executive Program at Cornell University.

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ALEXANDRIA, VA ? The NACS Leadership Executive Program Class of 2010 will convene on the campus of Cornell University from August 1 to 5.� The program is for individuals serving in or preparing to take on key leadership roles in NACS retail member companies. The deadline for registration is July 1.�

The five-day program will feature instruction from the Ivy League University?s faculty as well as business professionals both within and outside of the convenience store industry.�

From the industry, participants will hear from NACS Chairman Jay Ricker, president of Ricker Oil Company, and John MacDougall, president and CEO of Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes Inc. Attendees will also hear from Michael Feiner, a consultant and a former PepsiCo executive, who will lead an all-day session, ?Leadership vis-�-vis Management.?� Back by popular demand, Linda McKenna, founder of Convenience Store Coaches, will lead an engaging discussion on the multi-generational workforce. Further, faculty from the Johnson School of Management and the Food Industry Marketing Program will instruct participants in various leadership techniques using interactive case studies.�

Additionally, the program will use a 360-degree assessment tool that merges feedback from colleagues, supervisors and oneself to further develop an individual?s proficiency.�� Participants will work with instructors to interpret the results and create action plans to apply to their personal work habits and styles.

Financial support from PepsiCo allows NACS retail member companies to benefit from this industry-specific executive development program. Through PepsiCo?s support, tuition is just $2,795 per individual and includes assessments, instruction, course materials and lodging.��

Enrollment is extremely competitive and is limited to only 30 individuals from NACS retail member companies. Registration is available at nacsonline.com/leadership. For more information, contact Carolyn Schnare at (800) 966-6227 or at cschnare@nacsonline.com.

Content Subject: NACS

Formatted Article Date: April 27, 2010

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ND0422113

Title: USDA Secretary Vilsack Supports Scaling Back Ethanol Subsidies

Description: The secretary would like to redirect some of those funds to helping gasoline retailers offer more ethanol blends.

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MINNEAPOLIS ? U.S. Department of Agriculture Tom Vilsack backs reducing the federal ethanol subsidy but does not support eliminating it entirely, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. Vilsack would like to use some of those funds to assist gasoline stations in offering more ethanol blend options at the pump. He also wants to send part of those funds to research renewable energy.

During an interview with the newspaper?s staff, Vilsack said that Congress should not just take away the 45-cent-per-gallon federal ethanol credit. ?When the biodiesel tax credit was allowed to expire, we lost 50 percent of production capacity immediately ? 12,000 jobs were lost,? said Vilsack.

He fears the same scenario could occur if the ethanol subsidy is allowed to expire at the end of 2011. ?The one thing you don't want to do when the economy is fragile...is to take steps that actually discourage employment,? said Vilsack.

Vilsack offered his support of measures from Growth Energy and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to lower and reallocate ethanol subsidies. The agriculture secretary would like such a plan to take place over four or five years.

In separate news, the USDA has started giving gasoline stations incentives to install ethanol blender pumps as part of an existing $70 million initiative. Vilsack said that with more money redirected from ethanol subsidies, the agency could promote and assist more gasoline retailers in offering ethanol blends.

Content Subject: Petroleum Retailing

Formatted Article Date: April 22, 2011

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Six killed in Afghanistan on first day of Taliban offensive

A 12-year-old suicide bomber killed three other people, including a district council head, and armed attackers shot to death two police officers Sunday, the first day of a Taliban spring offensive.

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ND0429112

Title: Higher Food Costs Trigger Menu Price Hikes

Description: Restaurants are feeling squeezed between skyrocketing food costs and small profit margins.

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IRVINE, Calif. ? From fast-food joints to upscale dining establishments, restaurants are feeling the pinch between climbing food costs and a slowly recovering economy, the Orange County Register reports. The higher food costs have caused many restaurants to raise menu prices in order to boost an already tiny profit margin.��

Beef prices especially have hit steak and burger restaurants hard, rising close to 11 percent year over year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). In-N-Out Burger has raised prices three times since 2008. McDonald?s said recently that it might raise menu prices because of higher dairy, egg and beef costs.

Even vegetable and fruit prices have jumped 4.3 percent year over year, the USDA reports. ?It?s literally coming at us from seven to eight areas,? said Joe Manzella, who owns two seafood restaurants in Anaheim, California. ?We get hit on everything from bell peppers to asparagus. Our beef prices have gone up 8 percent.?�

Usually, restaurants try to cut other corners before hiking menu prices when food costs go up, but this time around, food prices aren?t dropping back down like usual. ?Operators have been passing along menu price increases of about 2 percent since May 2010,? said Stephen Anderson, a senior restaurant analyst at Miller Tabak.

Additional bad news is that food commodity prices are predicted to go even higher before 2011 ends. ?I've never seen food, across the board, go up like this in 11 years,? said Manzella, who jacked up the cost of a few dishes recently.

Content Subject: Foodservice

Formatted Article Date: April 29, 2011

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