Latest news with #Oren
North Wales Chronicle
24-07-2025
- Business
- North Wales Chronicle
Harlech Foodservice acquires Gwynedd company Oren Foods
Harlech Foodservice has taken over Penrhyndeudraeth-based fruit and vegetable wholesaler Oren Foods. The company, which was named Food Wholesaler of the Year by The Caterer magazine, has guaranteed the jobs of all 25 Oren Foods employees. David Cattrall, managing director of Harlech Foodservice, said: "Adding fresh fruit and vegetables to our offer fills a gap for our customers. "It's always been our ambition to be a total range supplier and buying up a well-established and respected local business fills a gap in our range of products. "All the staff at Oren has been offered their job on the same terms and that's something we were committed to from the start of our discussions." By September, the company plans to fully integrate Oren into Harlech's main site. Oren Foods, originally launched 45 years ago as Ffrwythau DJ Fruit by Dei and Cheryl Jones, was rebranded in 2021 and has been run for the past 12 years by their son, Gethin Dwyfor. The business supplies fruit and vegetables to schools, care homes, restaurants, hotels, cafes, and nursing homes across North Wales. Mr Dwyfor said: "The company was originally called DJ Fruits but we changed it to Oren and it's always been my plan to build the business and to have a clear succession plan. "My dream was for a partnership with a locally based company and that has happened and it was always going to be a condition that our staff could keep their jobs and Harlech have always given that assurance. "I will stay on and continue to be involved and that's very exciting for me as well. "I've run the business for 12 years and this will now be a new challenge for me with a bigger business." Mr Cattrall praised Mr Dwyfor and the Oren team. READ MORE: Bangor day therapy base safe as hospice cuts costs by closing Holyhead unit He said: "Gethin and his team will bring the valuable knowledge and experience of their products and their customers they have gained over the years. "We don't have a fresh fruit and vegetable offer and this now gives us a total food service solution for our customers. "It's a great fit because the Oren operation dovetails neatly with what we do and their ethos as a family-run business chimes perfectly with our approach "Gethin's role will be help us settle in and to make sure we have a smooth transfer of the business and provide our customers with the right range of stock and the right produce. "And that will be Welsh whenever possible."
Business News Wales
22-07-2025
- Business
- Business News Wales
Welsh Food Supplier Acquires Fruit and Veg Firm
Harlech FoodserviceOren Foods based in Penrhyndeudraeth taken over by Harlech Foodservice Managing Director at Bwydydd Oren Foods Ltd Gethin Dwyfor with Managing director of Harlech Foodservice David Cattrall An award-winning Welsh food supplier is adding new lines to its offer after taking over a thriving fruit and veg wholesaler. Harlech Foodservice, crowned Food Wholesaler of the Year by The Caterer magazine this year, has guaranteed the jobs of the 25 staff at Oren Foods in Penrhyndeudraeth in Gwynedd. Managing Director David Cattrall, who said: 'Adding fresh fruit and vegetables to our offer fills a gap for our customers. It's always been our ambition to be a total range supplier and buying up a well-established and respected local business fills a gap in our range of products. 'All the staff at Oren has been offered their job on the same terms and that's something we were committed to from the start of our discussions. 'By September we will have fully integrated Oren into Harlech's main site and those Oren staff that are happy to come down the road will be made welcome and it's our hope that they will all come.' Oren – Welsh for orange – was launched 45 years ago as Ffrwythau DJ Fruit by Dei and Cheryl Jones from their existing greengrocers in Cricieth. It was rebranded as Oren in 2021 and for the past 12 years the business has been run by their son, Gethin Dwyfor. Harlech FoodserviceOren Foods based in Penrhyndeudraeth taken over by Harlech Foodservice Managing director of Harlech Foodservice David Cattrall with Managing Director at Bwydydd Oren Foods Ltd Gethin Dwyfor They supply Gwynedd and Anglesey schools and care homes and restaurants, hotels, cafes, nursing homes and B&Bs across North Wales. According to Gethin Dwyfor, recent news that Harlech had been named by the Sunday Times as one of the best places to work in the UK had given him added confidence to make the switch. He said: 'The company was originally called DJ Fruits but we changed it to Oren and it's always been my plan to build the business and to have a clear succession plan. 'My dream was for a partnership with a locally based company and that has happened and it was always going to be a condition that our staff could keep their jobs and Harlech have always given that assurance. 'I will stay on and continue to be involved and that's very exciting for me as well. I've run the business for 12 years and this will now be a new challenge for me with a bigger business.' David Cattrall added: 'Gethin and his team will bring the valuable knowledge and experience of their products and their customers they have gained over the years. 'We don't have a fresh fruit and vegetable offer and this now gives us a total food service solution for our customers. 'It's a great fit because the Oren operation dovetails neatly with what we do and their ethos as a family-run business chimes perfectly with our approach. 'Gethin's role will be help us settle in and to make sure we have a smooth transfer of the business and provide our customers with the right range of stock and the right produce. And that will be Welsh whenever possible.' Oren's fleet of 12 delivery vans, three electric-powered, have been taken over by Harlech. The fruit and vegetables, including locally grown potatoes, supplied by Oren to Gwynedd and Conwy schools have been integrated into school deliveries by Harlech in both counties. Harlech, founded in 1972, has sales of £50 million and now covers all of North and Mid Wales and the North West of England from its headquarters near Cricieth and hubs in Chester, Aberbargoed, Carmarthen and Telford. The addition of the Oren team will take Harlech's staff numbers to 300 and their fleet of 65 vehicles deliver up to 5,000 product lines across the whole of Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
More accusations added to federal sex trafficking case against Alexander brothers
Three real estate brothers accused of a scheme to sex traffic women across multiple states and Mexico were in a federal courtroom in New York on Tuesday to face a third superseding indictment. An added count against Alon Alexander and Oren Alexander brings the total to 10 counts against them and Tal Alexander. They pleaded not guilty to all charges. The brothers appeared in hand and leg shackles, wearing olive prison attire. They greeted their parents on their way in and out of the brief arraignment. Federal prosecutors have accused the men of working together to drug, sexually assault and rape dozens of victims from 2009 to 2021. The charges allege that the brothers promised women luxury experiences to lure them to locations where they were sexually assaulted and raped. Seven victims are included in the indictment, including a minor. Federal prosecutors have said they have spoken to more than 60 alleged victims of the men. The new count alleges that Alon and Oren gave a drug, intoxicant or other substance to a woman without her knowledge to cause her to engage in a sex act on a Bahamian cruise ship that departed from and arrived in the United States. An attorney for Alon, Howard Srebnick, said his client had not drugged a woman to have sex with her. "On Jan. 13, 2025, a retired FBI polygraph examiner tested Alon while in jail. Alon was asked if he ever had sex with any woman he knew had been covertly given drugs, which Alon denied," Srebnick said. "The polygraph examiner opined that Alon passed the lie detector test, there were 'no significant reactions indicative of deception' by Alon." An attorney for Oren said his client will continue to fight the charges. "The court reiterated that the government must now comply with its obligation to produce evidence exculpating Oren and his brothers. We look forward to a time when we can present all such material in a public forum," said Richard Klugh. An attorney for Tal declined to comment Tuesday. Earlier Tuesday, attorneys for the three brothers appeared in circuit court to appeal their detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where they have been held since December. "They did not agree to provide sex in exchange for the travel or accommodations,' Deanna Paul, defense attorney for Tal Alexander, wrote in a dismissal motion filed Monday in the Southern District of New York in Manhattan. "The alleged travel and accommodations were not conditioned expressly, or implicitly, on the victims' participation in the sex acts; and the travel and accommodations did not represent compensation for the sex acts,' the motion says, citing four federal court decisions on the sex trafficking law requiring that connection to hold up. Their next hearing is set for Aug. 19. The Alexander brothers filed a defamation lawsuit this week against The Real Deal, a real estate publication, seeking $500 million in damages for what they say has been a 'smear campaign' against them that 'has relentlessly published articles containing false and misleading statements.' The Real Deal strongly rejected the allegations. "Let's be clear: this lawsuit is not about justice. It's an attempt to stop investigative journalism and bully a newsroom for doing its job,' founder and publisher Amir Korangy said in a statement Tuesday. 'The Real Deal's reporting was fair and conscientious, and we are confident the courts will see this for what it is — a frivolous and cynical attempt to weaponize the legal system." This article was originally published on
Boston Globe
09-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Shoppers are wary of digital shelf labels, but a study found they don't lead to price surges
Social media is filled with warnings that grocers will use the technology to charge more for ice cream if it's hot outside, hike the price of umbrellas if it's raining or to gather information about customers. Advertisement Democratic US Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania fired off a letter to Kroger last fall demanding to know whether it would use its electronic labels as part of a dynamic pricing strategy. Lawmakers in Rhode Island and Maine have introduced bills to limit the use of digital labels. In Arizona, Democratic state Representative Cesar Aguilar recently introduced a bill that would ban them altogether. A study published in late May found 'virtually no surge pricing' before or after electronic shelf labels were adopted. The study was authored by Ioannis Stamatopoulos of the University of Texas, Austin, Robert Evan Sanders of the University of California, San Diego and Robert Bray of Northwestern University The researchers looked at prices between 2019 and 2024 at an unnamed grocery chain that began using digital labels in October 2022. They found that temporary price increases affected 0.005 percent of products on any given day before electronic shelf labels were introduced, a share that increased by only 0.0006 percentage points after digital labels were installed. Advertisement The study also determined that discounts were slightly more common after digital labels were introduced. Economists have long wondered why grocery prices don't change more often, according to Stamatopoulos. If bananas are about to expire, for example, it makes sense to lower the price on them. He said the cost of having workers change prices by hand could be one issue. But there's another reason: Shoppers watch grocery prices closely, and stores don't want to risk angering them. 'Selling groceries is not selling a couch. It's not a one-time transaction and you will never see them again,' Stamatopoulos said. 'You want them coming to the store every week.' Electronic price labels aren't new. They've been in use for more than a decade at groceries in Europe and some US retailers, like Kohl's. But they've been slow to migrate to US grocery stores. Only around 5 percent to 10 percent of US supermarkets now have electronic labels, compared to 80 percent in Europe, said Amanda Oren, vice president of industry strategy for North American grocery at Relex Solutions, a technology company that helps retailers forecast demand. Oren said cost is one issue that has slowed the US rollout. The tiny screens cost between $5 and $20, Oren said, but every product a store sells needs one, and the average supermarket has 100,000 or more individual products. Advertisement Still, the US industry is charging ahead. Walmart, the nation's largest grocer and retailer, hopes to have digital price labels at 2,300 US stores by 2026. Kroger is expanding the use of digital labels this year after testing them at 20 stores. Whole Foods is testing the labels in nearly 50 stores. Companies say electronic price labels have tremendous advantages. Walmart says it used to take employees two days to change paper price labels on the 120,000 items it has in a typical store. With digital tags, it takes a few minutes. The labels can also be useful. Some have codes shoppers can scan to see recipes or nutrition information. Instacart has a system in thousands of US stores, including Aldi and Schnucks, that flashes a light on the digital tag when Instacart shoppers are nearby to help them find products. Ahold Delhaize's Albert Heijn supermarket chain in the Netherlands and Belgium has been testing an artificial intelligence-enabled tool since 2022 that marks down prices on its digital labels every 15 minutes for products nearing expiration. The system has reduced more than 250 tons of food waste annually, the company said. But Warren and Casey are skeptical. In their letter to Kroger, the US senators noted a partnership with Microsoft that planned to put cameras in grocery aisles and offer personalized deals to shoppers depending on their gender and age. In its response, Kroger said the prices shown on its digital labels were not connected to any sort of facial recognition technology. It also denied surging prices during periods of peak demand. 'Kroger's business model is built on a foundation of lowering prices to attract more customers,' the company said. Advertisement
Kuwait Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Kuwait Times
Kuwait Handball Blue face Bahrain in 10th Arab Cup
KUWAIT: Kuwait handball national team will face a new and important challenge when it meets Bahrain in the semi-final round of the 10th Arab Cup, which is hosted by Kuwait until May 11 at Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Sports Complex Arena. It will be preceded by an equally important match between Qatar and Egypt. Within the consolation rounds of the 'Arab Cup' from 5-9, two matches will be held on Friday, the first between Tunisia and Morocco, with Saudi Arabia to play Iraq. The 'Handball Blue' seeks, when it meets the 'Bahraini Red' to continue its successful journey and achieve the third consecutive victory and book its place in the final match of the Arab championship, armed with the factors of land and home fans. The 'Blue' advanced to the final of the tournament after topping the third group with two wins over Morocco 39-29 and UAE 32-24, while Bahrain qualified as the first from the first group after beating Iraq 28-26 and Egypt 36-32. Icelandic coach Oren will try to capitalize on the high morale and the outstanding performance of his players in the first round to cross Bahrain, relying on the brilliance of Abdullah Al-Khamis, Saif Al-Adwani, Haider Dashti, Abdulaziz Daif and the distinguished guard Hassan Safar. On the other hand, Bahrain coach Beredraj hopes to counter the ambition of the Blue with collective performance and speed in the transition from defense to attack, based on his group of young players led by veterans Hussein Al-Sayyad and goalkeeper Mohammed Abdulhussain. Qatar and Egypt In the second match, the Qatari 'Al-Anabi' is looking to continue its strong performances, relying on the combination of its young players supported by a number of experienced players to achieve victory and advance to the final match, while the 'Pharaohs', who qualified as the best second place in the tournament, hope to make up for their loss against Bahrain and beat Qatar. The joy of the Blue players The players of Kuwait national handball team expressed their happiness after beating their UAE counterpart in the third round of the preliminary round of the 10th Arab Cup, and topping the third group deservedly. Abdulaziz Al-Shammari, the 'Blue' star, said that achieving victory in two matches, topping the group and qualifying for the semi-finals is the least we can do for our beloved Kuwait and the loyal fans. He continued: 'We are proud to hold the Arab Handball Cup in Kuwait after the tournament was absent for 23 years, and holding it in the country of friendship and peace, and among the Blue fans, is a source of pride for us.' Regarding the match against the UAE, Al-Shammari explained that the team did not provide the hoped-for level, but what is important is to achieve victory. He pointed out that the preparation for meeting Bahrain in the semifinals Friday started since the end of the UAE match.
