The Netherlands: Aldi to test frictionless checkout tech in the Netherlands

German supermarket operator Aldi Nord plans to test frictionless checkout technology from Israel-based computer vision startup Trigo at a new grocery store in Utrecht, the Netherlands, during a pilot set to begin in early 2022, the companies announced Friday.

ead more at: Aldi to test frictionless checkout tech in the Netherlands | Grocery Dive

Germany - Food Safety: : Aldi stops selling eggs in Germany over food safety scare

Discount supermarket chain Aldi is withdrawing all eggs from sale at its more than 4,000 stores in Germany as a precaution, it said on Friday, as a scare over the possible contamination of eggs with insecticide spreads.

Traces of insecticide fipronil were found in eggs in Belgium and the Netherlands last month, which has led to the temporary shut-down of some poultry farms and to supermarkets halting the sale of Dutch eggs. 

Investigators suspect the chemical may have gotten into eggs through contaminated detergent against mites that is used to clean barns. 

The detergent was also supplied to farms in the northern German state of Lower Saxony, from where eggs are distributed across the country, Germany's food and agriculture ministry has said.

Aldi is the first major retailer to take all eggs, regardless of origin, off its shelves.

Read more: Aldi stops selling eggs in Germany over food safety scare

Germany: Aldi fires $3.4 billion shot in U.S. supermarket wars

One of the several Aldi's in Fort Lauderdale

German grocery chain Aldi Inc [ALDIEI.UL] said on Sunday it would invest $3.4 billion to expand its U.S. store base to 2,500 by 2022, raising the stakes for rivals caught in a price war.

Aldi operates 1,600 U.S. stores and earlier this year said it would add another 400 by the end of 2018 and spend $1.6 billion to remodel 1,300 of them.

The investment, which raises Aldi's capital expenditure to at least $5 billion so far this year, comes at a time of intense competition and disruption in the industry.

German rival Lidl will open the first of its 100 U.S. stores on June 15. In May, Lidl said it would price products up to 50 percent lower than rivals.

The furious pace of expansion by Aldi and Lidl is likely to further disrupt the U.S. grocery market, which has seen 18 bankruptcies since 2014. The two chains are also upending established UK grocers like Tesco Plc (TSCO.L) and Wal-Mart's UK arm, ASDA.

In May, Aldi Chief Executive Jason Hart told Reuters the chain intended to have prices at least 21 percent lower than rivals and would focus on adding in-house brands to win over price-sensitive customers.

"We're growing at a time when other retailers are struggling," Hart said in a statement. Hart added that Aldi's prices were also up to 50 percent lower than traditional grocery chains, a move that appeared to follow rival Lidl's announcement on prices

Read more: Aldi fires $3.4 billion shot in U.S. supermarket wars | Reuters

Grocery Business: Germany's privately owned Aldi challenging Wallmart's Super Centers by being small, quality driven and cheaper

20% lower prices than Wallmart

Add Aldi to Walmart’s list of growth challenges. Already a force to be reckoned with more than 10,000 stores worldwide, including across Europe and Australia, the German retailer is catching on with shoppers in America, too.

Now operating 1,500 stores in 32 US states, Americans are getting to know one of the world’s largest privately-owned companies, a scrappy Walmart-fighter with substantially lower grocery prices than the once-unassailable, homegrown low-price leader.

And now Aldi has its sights set on more of the American pie.

While Aldi stores are typically only a fraction as large as a Walmart supercenter, with fewer national brands and an overall slimmer selection, Aldi grocery prices can average 20 percent lower than a Walmart in the same market, Bloomberg reported.

How is it undercutting Walmart? For a start, Aldi brings efficiency to its operations — a store can operate fully on just a handful of employees. Presentation is no-frills. Frugality is such that the chain makes customers pay a 25-cent deposit per cart, refundable only if they return it before they leave. That way, Aldi doesn’t have to pay employees just to go gather carts in the parking lot.

Aldi’s West Coast expansion inspired queues last week when it opened eight stores in Southern California, including one in Palm Springs. The Orange County Register chalked up the frenzy to “pent-up anticipation for the international grocery giant, known for its deep discounts and knockoff brands. If it continues, Aldi is expected to trigger upheaval in the crowded Southern California grocery sector.”

Insure-Digest

Grocery Stores: German ALDI passes price and taste test in Florida - Doreen Christensen

A new grocery store seems to pop up every week in South Florida.

Big boys in Florida,  Publix, Whole Foods Market, Winn-Dixie, Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam's Club and BJ's get a run for their money from local chains Doris Italian Market, Joseph's Classic Market and Penn Dutch.

Those are joined by The Fresh Market, GFS, Trader Joe's, Save A Lot and the rapidly expanding Illinois-based Aldi from Germany.

Aldi, a discount chain with eight South Florida stores, opened a Fort Lauderdale location near my house on Dec. 19. Another is opening near Lake Worth on Jan. 23.

The German-owned chain has European quirks. You must deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart, which is returned when you bring the cart back outside the store. It charges for bags, so bring your own. Manufacturer coupons and credit cards are not accepted.

Aldi stocks 1,300 items, mostly private-label brands that look strikingly similar to the national brands (hint, hint) and come with a double-money-back guarantee.

I went on a shopping mission to see how Aldi's Simply Nature organic brand stacks up to Whole Foods' 365 Everyday Value and Publix Greenwise organic brands.

A half-gallon of organic milk at Aldi costs $3.49. It costs $3.99 at the other two. A pound of grass-fed organic ground beef costs $4.99 at ALDI, $7.99 at Whole Foods and $7.49 at Publix. A bag of organic Fuji apples cost $4.39 at Aldi, $7.47 at Whole Foods and $6.99 at Publix.

All of Aldi's brands exceeded my expectations. I'm glad Aldi popped up. I'll be popping in again. You should, too.

Read more: Doreen Christensen: Doreen's Deals: ALDI passes price and taste test - Sun Sentinel

Germany: Aldi to Boost Number of U.S. Stores by 50%- by Annie Gasparro

Aldi Inc. plans to open 50% more stores in the U.S. over the next five years, seeking to become the country's biggest discount supermarket chain by store count.

The company's target shows how grocers at the high and low ends of the market have continued to grow while those in the middle have struggled.

Aldi, is based in Germany.

Read more: Aldi to Boost Number of U.S. Stores by 50% - WSJ.com

Germany - USA: Aldi grocery store: best in America, related toTrader Joe’s - by Rebecca Schuman

Chances are that you have never set foot inside the best grocery store in America: Aldi. And even if you are lucky enough to be in one of the 32 states where Aldi is, perhaps you were put-off by the cardboard boxes in lieu of shelves, or the row upon row of suspicious-looking off-brands. What is this place? Why do I have to put down a deposit to check out a cart? What is the weird giant shelf by the exit? And what do you mean, I have to pay for a bag?

Calm your hormones, meine Schatzis: Aldi, which is short for Albrecht Discount, is the American incarnation of a German grocery chain that is so ubiquitous in the Vaterland that almost 90 percent of Germans shop there. (Not all German imports are luxury cars, beer, and super-cool glasses.)

Aldi is part of a charming subset of Teutonic trade: the brother-run company that cleaves in twain. Shoe aficionados already know the story of the Dassler brothers, Adolf and Rudolf, whose bitter feud resulted in the creation of Adidas and Puma. (Germans pronounce Adidas differently—some might say correctly—AH-dee-das, from Adi Dassler.) But outside Germany, few know about grocery-store kingpins Karl and Theo Albrecht (who was kidnapped in 1971!)—even though Karl, with a reported net worth of more than 17 billion euros, is the richest man in Germany (Theo’s descendants are a close second).

The Brüder founded their discount-store empire together. A disagreement in 1960 over selling cigarettes hastened a partition, and an epic game of grocery-store Risk: Theo would rename his business Aldi Nord, and would control territories north of the Rhine, plus a healthy chunk of Europe. Karl would head up Aldi Süd, and get southern Germany, more of Europe, plus the U.K. and Ireland. But both companies operate stores in the United States—Aldi Süd operates as Aldi, and Aldi Nord as the now ubiquitous Trader Joe’s.

This is why I am hoping for Aldi’s rousing success in Amiland: so that more of our stores, and our culture in general, will incorporate such Teutonic efficiency. First the cost-savings of bagging our own groceries—then the ubiquitous bicycle lanes; immaculate, punctual public transportation; and, finally, required paid vacation and parental leave. It would be ausgezeichnet indeed, meine Lieben.

 Read more: Aldi grocery store: best in America, related to Trader Joe’s.

Israel: Aldi Netherlands says Occupied Territory boycott info was 'a mistake'

The Dutch branch of international supermarket group Aldi has withdrawn comments made in support of a boycott of goods made in the Occupied Territories.

Dutch newspaper Trouw, which produced the initial news article, says an Aldi spokeswoman has since said ‘incorrect information’ was supplied. The withdrawal of the comments followed international commotion about the claims, Trouw stated.

Trouw says it made inquiries into Aldi’s policy following a report published by research group Profundo in April in which an Aldi staffer said the supermarket ‘no longer wanted to sell products from Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territories’ and had ‘informed its suppliers’.

The supermarket group said on Friday this position remained unchanged but on Monday evening said a mistake had been made.

The German company is said to have been shocked by the international reactions to the boycott, particularly in the Israeli papers. The issue is also particularly sensitive in Germany.

The other two supermarkets which are avoiding products from the Israeli settlements – Jumbo and Hoogvliet – have not changed their positions, Trouw said.

Read more: DutchNews.nl - Aldi Netherlands says Occupied Territory boycott info was 'a mistake'

German Retailing Giant Aldi could open US West Coast DC by 2015 - by Pamela Riemenschneider

ALDI food market store in Fort Lauderdale

Battavia, Ill.-based Aldi Inc. is mulling locations for a base for its West Coast expansion.
According to an article in the Moreno Valley Press-Enterprise, Aldi officials are considering building a 935,000-square-foot distribution in the Southern California town just east of Riverside.

The article says Aldi’s Southern California division could open stores by 2015.

The company opened the first 10 of the 30 stores it plans for the Houston area in April and May, and has opened nearly 40 stores total in 2013, according to its website. Aldi opens 50 to 80 stores per year, without merger or acquisition.

The retailer operates more than 1,200 stores in 38 states focused on deep discounts and private label goods, offering 1,400 of the most commonly purchased items in a supermarket.

Read more: Aldi could open West Coast DC by 2015 - The Packer

Ireland - Food Contamination: Netherlands and Spain seen as source of contaminants

An investigation into the production of beef burgers containing horse meat is focusing on imported ingredients, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has said.

Products from the Netherlands and Spain added to processed burgers “seem to be the source” of the horse meat contamination, Mr Coveney said today.

A study by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) found the presence of horse DNA in more than a third of the beef burger products it tested.

They were on sale in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland. It found pig DNA in 85 per cent of burgers tested.

Read more: Netherlands and Spain seen as source of contaminants - The Irish Times - Wed, Jan 16, 2013

Food Industry: German discount food giant ALDI expanding in South Florida

German discount grocer ALDI is hosting a job fair on Aug. 21 to fill positions at three South Florida locations opening this fall.The job fair will be held at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott North at 6650 N. Andrews Ave., and will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

ALDI is a newcomer to South Florida, but already has more than 1,100 stores across 31 US states.

For more: ALDI to host job fair for positions at new South Florida grocery stories - Sun Sentinel