In & Around Food World

August 2008

by Dick Bestany

Last month Baltimore city Mayor Sheila Dixon was joined by State Delegate Curtis Anderson, Councilman Robert Currand and executives from Coca-Cola Enterprises to announce that the company is undertaking energy saving measures in Baltimore, including the introduction of 10 hybrid-electric trucks, to its distribution center. Currently, the Baltimore sales center has 65 trucks servicing 6,000 customers in the Baltimore region, delivering more than 14 million cases of product annually. The hybrid-electric trucks use 37 percent less fuel than standard trucks and use the technology to reduce emissions when they’re idling or in traffic.

In making the announcement, Mike Vogel, Baltimore Coca-Cola Sales Center manager said, “Baltimore Coca-Cola has long been responsive to the needs of our local communities and customers, and the expansion of our hybrid-electric fleet here in Baltimore demonstrates our commitment to Mayor Dixon’s call for local businesses to be proactive in the campaign for a cleaner and greener Baltimore.”

According to Dixon, Baltimore is one of the first cities in the country to benefit from Coca-Cola’s hybrid delivery vehicles. According to the mayor, the vehicles use one third less fuel than average delivery trucks, and they reduce emissions when idling or when stopped in traffic.

The International 4300 truck, with Eaton hybrid technology, meets Baltimore city and Maryland state weight restrictions for use in town and on bridges. By the end of 2008, Coca-Cola Enterprises will have more than 140 of the 12-bay hybrid trucks on the road throughout North America. A motor/generator, working with the transmission and a 340 volt battery, allows the truck to source electrical power instead of gas when traveling at speeds below 30 mph, reducing emissions in slow traffic.

In 2008, Coca-Cola Enterprises’ hybrid electricity fleet will be the largest of its kind in North America. These trucks are the largest on the road. The model 32000 trucks (12-bay – currently in use) and the model 55000 trucks (14-bay –currently in development/testing) are unique to Coca-Cola Enterprises. The model 55000 trucks are as much as three times larger than the hybrid trucks used by other delivery companies, including FedEx and UPS.

For more information on the mayor’s “Cleaner and Greener” initiatives, visit www.cleanergreenerbaltimore.org.

We were saddened to learn last month of the death of a good friend from our Boston days, Frank Luca. Frank, 82, was a well known retired food broker and Navy veteran. Many in the food brokerage business knew him from his tenure as an executive with the old Merkert Enterprises in Canton, MA for more than 40 years. He was well known not only in New England but nationally among the manufacturing and food brokerage community. Frank served on many committees with FMI and the old NFBA (National Food Brokers Association).

Congratulations and best wishes to Jean Micelli formerly with Snyder’s of Hanover and Shultz Foods, who has taken a position with WBFF Fox 45 Broadcasting in the Baltimore area. Jean, who also served as president of the Baltimore-Washington Grocery Manufacturers Association, is a very talented lady and we’re sure that she will do very well at Fox.

Congratulations to Safeway’s Craig Muckle and his wife Yolanda on the birth of their third child, first son, Christopher Myles Muckle, who entered this world on June 13, 2008.

And speaking of Craig Muckle, he was just installed as chairman of the board of the Prince George’s County Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is lucky to have a person like Craig as their chairman for the upcoming year. We wish him much luck in that position.

Thanks to the Network of Executive Women, which has many members in the Baltimore-Washington market, you can tune in on your computer to hear a discussion by Bob McDonald, chief operating officer of Procter & Gamble and a leading proponent of values-based leadership discussing values-based leadership. In this talk, McDonald discusses how to help everyone in your organization succeed, how to put the right people in the right jobs, how to instill character in others and how to lead your organization with character and purpose. McDonald is a veteran P&G executive with an impressive record of global service, a West Point graduate and an honoree of the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership. To hear his speech, simply go to www.newonline.org and look for the link under “NEW Tube.”

As you may have read in this issue, Best-Met Publishing will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary in the September issues of Food World and Food Trade News. This will be an exciting issue and one every food manufacturer and food broker should consider advertising in as it will be seen and read by food people all over the United States and especially those doing business on the East Coast. It’s a once in a life-time opportunity to speak to retailers, manufacturers, brokers, food media, anyone in the retail distribution of food. Don’t hesitate. Call Food World or Food Trade News today and reserve your space. This is one issue you don’t want to miss. You can reach Best-Met Publishing by calling 410-730-5013, 1-800-860-1310 or e-mail us at: office@best-met.com.

We recently spent a few days on beautiful Cape Cod in the town of Orleans, MA.  It’s a lovely little town with a warm water beach and a very cold water beach. Days are nice and warm and nights get a little bit chilly. It’s really a great place for a vacation during the summer months. And, while there, we visited a lovely little pub in the center of town called, Land Ho! This is one of the nicest places I’ve been to on Cape Cod. It’s not a big place, but the food is excellent and the drinks, well, they are spectacular. If you’re ever in the area, make sure you visit Land Ho! in Orleans.

And while there, you must have a drink at the “outdoor bar” at the Wequasett Inn, also in Orleans. It is a very beautiful place located right on Pleasant Bay. The view from the bar is just amazing. You will never want to leave.

And one last place I need to mention, the Captain Linnell House. It is an old whaling captain’s house located right on Skaket Beach and it is beautiful. The food and drink are also excellent. So, if you’re ever up on Cape Cod, visit one or both of the above. You won’t be disappointed.

Celebrating birthdays this month are Advantage Sales & Marketing’s Jim Parry; Avenue Gourmet’s Lee Cohen; Burris Foods’ consultant, Elliott Friedman; the food industry’s roving ambassador Alvin Schwartz; Metromedia’s Joanne Stathes; B. Green’s Benjy Green; Maryland’s favorite grocery retailer David Green; the food industry’s human resources expert Nancy Caplan; and Kathleen Ellis, wife of AWI’s Bernie Ellis.

Celebrating wedding anniversaries are Best-Met Publishing Company’s secretary/treasurer Bill and Ann Speakman, their 45th, and Nina and John Weiland, their 41st; Geresbeck’s/Box ‘n Save retiree John and Penny Sieglein, their 44th; and Boccaccio’s Burt and Bernadette Quinn, their 32nd.

You can e-mail Dick Bestany at