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The Biz Buzz

Get the most up-to-date news, insights and analysis of Tacoma, Pierce County and South Puget Sound business.

Category: Food

Jan.
27th

Roca in China: Tacoma’s Brown & Haley marks the Year ofthe Dragon with a Hong Kong ad sweep

Almond Roca bus in Hong Kong
In case you haven’t been in Hong Kong this week, here’s a look at what you would have seen – straight from Tacoma.

To commemorate Chinese New Year – the Year of the Dragon – Tacoma-based Brown and Haley has invested in a high-profile advertising campaign that includes both Roca pink bus wraps and a TV commercial.

The commercial was produced by BANG Agency of Hong Kong, and depicts a young woman contemplating a gift of Almond Roca. As she dreams, she is transported into a pink, breezy fantasy

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Jan.
18th

Pacific Northwest companies dominate list of most popular companies in China

A new list of the 10 most popular American companies in China is dominated by Pacific Northwest companies.

Four of the ten companies on the list compiled by 24/7 Wall Street are based in Washington or Oregon.

Those four companies include Microsoft, which dominates the operating system market in China with a 99.3 percent market share, Boeing with a 52 percent market share in commercial aircraft, Nike, China’s leading sportswear provider, and Starbucks, which has 70 percent of the coffee business in China with its 450 stores.

Other companies on 24/7′s list include KFC, General Motors, Coca Cola, Procter &

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Jan.
17th

Frisia Dairy recalling raw milk products

A Tenino dairy says it’s recalling its fluid raw milk products because of the danger of contamination with potentially harmful E.coli bacteria.

Frisia Dairy and Creamery distributes unpasteurized whole and skim milk and cream through sales outlets in Lewis, Thurston and Pierce counties and through the farm itself.

There have been no reported illnesses related to the recalled products, the dairy said.

The dairy initiated the voluntary recall after a test by the Washington State Department of Agriculture in a routine sampling found E.coli bacteria in a skim milk sample.

The dairy said it and the agriculture department

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Jan.
3rd

Retail switch-a-roo in Proctor: Jubilee Cupcakes moving out; Sonja Clothes To Live In moving in

Jubilee Cupcakes is closing its Tacoma location and consolidating operations in Puyallup, Halley Griffin over at Tacoma KOMO reports.

Open in the summer of 2010, Jubilee opened a Puyallup location about a year later. My colleague and Sue Kidd has written about Jubilee.

The Proctor retail space won’t be empty, though. Sonja Silver, a longtime Tacoma clothier, plans to open in Jubilee’s space.

According to an announcement on Facebook, Sonja’s will open this spring move in March 1 and open later. Silver closed her last brick-and-mortar location on North 21st Street last year and has been

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Dec.
14th

Food prices hurting restaurant bottom lines

In a story today about the demise of a four-year-old Steilacoom restaurant, Jake’s Bar & Bistro, we quoted Washington Restaurant Association President Anthony Anton as saying the rising cost of food and wages were putting pressure on the local restaurant industry.

Heather Donahoe, the WRA public relations director, provided us examples of the costs Anton was addressing.

Wholesale Food Prices Sept 2010 vs Sept 2011
According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics
All Foods +9.8%
Fruits & Melons / Fresh-Dry Vegetables +13.3%
Cereal & Bakery Products 9.3%
Meats +13.9%
Eggs +52.3%
Unprocessed and

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Dec.
7th

Safeway opening “lifestyle” store in Gig Harbor; former store will be fire department training site

The Saturday opening of a new “lifestyle” Safeway store on Gig Harbor’s Point Fosdick Drive Northwest will be mark the first tangible sign of a long-planned redo of the shopping center where the grocery is located.

The new grocery, an adjacent retail space and a retail structure next to the existing Bank of America will be the first phase of a complete shopping center redevelopment by Safeway’s subsidiary company, Property Development Centers.

The second phase will include a Kohl’s department store, 38,881 square feet of additional retail space and three retail pads for future development, Safeway said.

Kohl’s expects to

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Dec.
1st

Tacoma Rainiers ink agreement with Forza; coffee company gets exclusive 5-year presence at Cheney Stadium beginning in April

Make that a single-shot espresso, a double mocha and a triple to left field.

Beginning at the home opener on April 5, java-jaded fans attending Tacoma Rainiers’ games at Cheney Stadium will find a new brand of coffee on offer.

The team announced today that it had sealed a five-year agreement with Forza, a Northwest-based coffee roaster and retailer.

“We’re thrilled to have them in the park,” said Rainiers’ President Aaron Artman on Thursday.

Financial details of the deal were not released.

Along with exclusive right to brew beverages at the stadium, the coffee company will receive outfield signage and

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