NCC Reaches Out to President Trump Regarding Recent ICE Actions in Mississippi

As a result of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers arresting approximately 680 people in sweeping raids at seven sites in six different cities in Mississippi on Wednesday, August 7, the National Chicken Council sent the following letter on August 8 to President Trump.

Dear President Trump,

The National Chicken Council (NCC) writes to you regarding the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions in Mississippi on August 7, 2019. As these recent events have shown, the U.S. chicken industry is heavily affected by our nation’s immigration policy. We are not in a position to comment on any specific incident and do not presume to do so, but we do wish to...

Immigration Agents Raid Mississippi Meat Processing Plants

Yesterday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided multiple Mississippi poultry processing facilities to execute federal criminal warrants. Mike Hurst, U.S. Attorney, said, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents are executing federal search warrants today at multiple locations across the state of Mississippi as part of a coordinated operation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi pursuant to ongoing HSI administrative and criminal investigations."
 
During a press conference, Mike Hurst first gave credit to Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security for enforcing the law through arrests that were part of a year long investigation process. Hurst added that as a result of hard work, the largest single state immigration enforcement operation in the nation's history took place...

Consumer Confidence Index Rebounded in July

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rebounded in July, following a decrease in June. The Index now stands at 135.7 (1985=100), up from 124.3 in June. The Present Situation Index – based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions – increased from 164.3 to 170.9. The Expectations Index – based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions – increased from 97.6 last month to 112.2 this month.

“After a sharp decline in June, driven by an escalation in trade and tariff tensions, Consumer Confidence rebounded in July to its highest level this year,” said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. “Consumers are once again optimistic about current and prospective business and...

U.S. Department of Labor Releases Productivity and Costs by Industry Report

The United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released its productivity and costs by industry in 2018 report. The report highlighted changes in the productivity of employees in various industries, along with the compensation workers receive.

The report provides statistics for merchant wholesalers that sell grocery and related products, food and grocery stores, and foodservice and drinking places.  

The report highlighted various statistics, including an upswing in labor productivity for foodservice in 2018, which climbed by 1.6 percent. In the same industry...

Oklahoma-based Agri-Business Agrees to $1 Million Civil Settlement

An Oklahoma-based agri-business on Thursday agreed to a $1 million civil settlement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the State of Oklahoma’s Office of the Attorney General.

This case was investigated by special agents with ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Investigations.

Seaboard Corporation, which operates a pork production plant in Guymon, Oklahoma, through its subsidiary Seaboard Foods L.L.C., agreed on Nov. 1, 2018, to pay a total of $1,006,000. The settlement follows an investigation into allegations that the Guymon plant hired and employed unauthorized workers with respect to the time period 2007-2012 and failed to properly complete employment eligibility forms. Additionally, the investigation looked into...

Restaurant Sales Continue To Improve As Guests Visit Less But Spend More

Same-store sales growth on a two-year basis was 1.1 percent during October according to TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence™ data, based on weekly sales from over 30,000+ locations representing 170+ brands and nearly $71 billion in annual sales.

Headlines continue to be encouraging for the industry, as chain restaurants posted their fifth consecutive month of positive same-store sales growth during October. This month’s sales growth rate of 0.8 percent does represent a slowdown from the 1.2 percent reported for September and the 1.8 percent for August, but there was a promising sign in October’s results. Same-store sales growth on a two-year basis was 1.1 percent during October. As a comparison, two-year sales growth rates averaged -0.9 percent for the previous six months. These insights come from TDn2K’s Black Box Intelligence™ data, based on weekly sales from over 30,000+ locations representing 170+ brands and nearly $71 billion in annual sales.

“As the industry heads into the fourth quarter, the fear was that...