MINNEAPOLIS — General Mills is promising more deals and promotions across several of its brands in the months ahead, as the company works to boost sales and hold onto price-conscious (and inflation-wary) customers.

“It’s clear that — from the beginning of the year until now… we’ve seen more prolonged value-seeking behavior (from consumers) than we anticipated back in June,” said General Mills CEO, Jeff Harmening, in a call with investors on Wednesday.

The company is now lowering its profit outlook for the rest of the fiscal year, expecting operating profits to fall 2% to 4%, as it expands short-term price cuts and promotions on items like Totino’s Pizza Rolls, fruit snacks and refrigerated baked goods.

“They’ve always done promotions, so I think what this means is that they’re gonna do promotions a little bit more broadly, but they’re still not prepared to actually uh drop the top line prices,” said professor George John, who is the General Mills-Gerot Chair in Marketing at the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. “I may hold the General Mills Chair in marketing but I’ve never had any pressure from them to support them.” 

John says he’s not sure the efforts announced by General Mills will be enough to combat a larger trend he’s seen play out for more than a decade.

“Our habits have changed,” John said. “That’s number one. Yes, this is a tactical move it’ll make some difference, but it’s not gonna solve the fundamental problem of the loss of prominence of breakfast cereal.”

Despite General Mills owning 45 different brands that cover everything from dog food to Dunkaroos, John says cereal is still central to the success or failure of the company and if you combine the general public’s changing views on taste and nutrition, with economic shifts like inflation and how we shop, he has deeper concerns.

George John: “I look at one thing in all these annual reports sales because everything else is subject to my competent brothers and sisters in accounting. Sales you can’t fiddle too much and sales have been just beating inflation, which means in real terms it’s stagnant. In organic volume, which means number of physical units shipped, it’s been going down. So that’s the basic picture. Which is not a pretty picture. “

Kent Erdahl: “Having said that, General Mills isn’t just a company behind the labels in the grocery store, it’s a major employer in our area. We’ve seen several of our big corporations cutting back recently (some announcing layoffs). Are you concerned about that?” 

George: “Oh, terribly. I see this every semester. My students I teach are looking for internships and jobs. The anecdotal picture on jobs in our area is a lot grimmer than the the statistics show. I just see it in the faces of my students looking.

It’s tough and it’s toughest on people trying to enter the labor force. There are a bunch of different reasons for that, but when you slow down the growth, that’s what happens. You don’t need to hire, you’re mostly trying to do efficiency cuts and things like that.  That’s not just General Mills. I’d say – generally speaking – our metro areas sort of, um, been caught in that rut.”

MINNEAPOLIS — Holidazzle is back in downtown Minneapolis.

After 10 years in Loring Park, organizers with the Minneapolis Downtown Council are bringing the holiday-themed festival back to Nicollet Mall.

The event will be held Wednesday through Sunday with live music every night on two stages downtown. The event also features food trucks, drinks, and more than 200 vendors that will be selling crafts and holiday-themed gifts.

Holidazzle also features several indoor activities, including a nine-hole mini golf course and a roller skating rink with free roller skate rentals for adults and kids.

For more information click here.

MINNESOTA, USA — U.S. House Representative Angie Craig won the top spot for Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee, and will represent Minnesota as ranking member.

On Wednesday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the top spot for Democrats in the Senate Agriculture Committee. 

“I wanted to work on behalf of Minnesota’s farmers, make sure Americans could feed their families, and boost our rural economy,” Klobuchar said in a statement. 

In a Zoom interview with KARE 11, Craig echoed Klobuchar’s sentiment. 

“I’m pleased that my colleagues have selected me to be the ranking member,” said Craig. “I’ve served on this committee for two years, and we should have already completed the farm bill.”

Craig hopes she will have more leverage to do something about that. She says she will, and admits must, work across the aisle to get the bill passed. Republicans outnumber democrats in the committee. 

“My job as ranking member is going to be to get Democrats to vote for the Farm Bill,” Craig said. 

The Farm Bill is a package of legislation passed typically every five years that covers a number of programs like crop insurance, SNAP benefits, conservation and more. 

Craig and her colleagues have been trying to pass a farm bill for the past two years. She says that she’s hopeful they can do it, but knows it’ll continue to be a battle.

Amanda Durow with the Minnesota Farm Bureau says the organization, which has endorsed Craig in the past, agrees that her bipartisanship is badly needed, with some verbiage in the current bill that is well over a decade old. 

“As a dairy and crop farmer, it’s very keen for me to maintain crop insurance,” said Durow. “It’s a key tool to really manage risk on my farm. They’re a backup if we again come in those weather disasters, as you’ve seen and across our state of Minnesota, they’re more frequent.”

Craig also says it will be key to support co-ops so small farmers can maintain sustainability for generations to come. 

“I think we need to do everything in our power to make sure that these retailers have to compete with each other so that consumers can get the best price that they can get,” said Craig.

Craig says it is expected the Farm Bill from 2018 will be extended through the year.