July 12 (Reuters) – Olive Garden owner Darden Restaurants
Inc on Thursday said it agreed to buy bar and grill
restaurant operator Yard House USA Inc for $585 million in cash,
a deal that will give it access to younger and more affluent
diners.

Darden, which also owns the Red Lobster and LongHorn
Steakhouse chains, said it would scale back its share buybacks
as a result of the planned Yard House acquisition. Stock in the
company slipped 1.4 percent on the news.

LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Reuters) – Supervalu Inc, the
third-largest U.S. supermarket chain, has suspended its dividend
to fund aggressive price cuts aimed at winning back shoppers,
and is looking at options for overhauling the firm including a
sale, though bankruptcy is not being considered.

Supervalu, which in recent years has lost customers to lower
grocery prices at Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Kroger Co
, also said on Wednesday that profit fell a
bigger-than-expected 45 percent in the fiscal first quarter
ended June 16.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grocery store operator Supervalu Inc (SVU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) suspended its dividend and took other measures to fund aggressive price cuts aimed at winning back shoppers, while also launching a review of its strategic alternatives.

Supervalu, which in recent years has lost customers to lower grocery prices at Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Kroger Co (KR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), also said on Wednesday that profit fell a bigger-than-expected 45 percent in the fiscal first quarter ended June 16.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grocery store operator Supervalu Inc (SVU.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) suspended its dividend and took other measures to fund aggressive price cuts to try to win back customers, while also launching a reviewing strategic alternatives.

The company, which has seen customers flee in recent years for lower prices at Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), also on Wednesday said that profit fell 45 percent in the quarter ended June 16.

July 11 (Reuters) – The Church of Scientology, the religion
whose followers include actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta,
plans to start a religious broadcasting center to promote its
teachings over TV, radio and the Internet.

The center, located near the church’s West Coast
headquarters in Hollywood, would occupy the nearly five-acre
studio property the church bought last year from Los Angeles
public TV station KCET for $42 million. The station would
elevate the public profile of a religion that has mostly relied
on pamphlets and books by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, to
proselytize for new members.

June 22 (Reuters) – While U.S. food companies are making
healthier breakfast cereals for children, they’re also aiming
more ads for their unhealthiest products at kids, according to a
report issued on Friday.

The “Cereal Facts” study from Yale University’s Rudd Center
for Food Policy & Obesity offers an outside assessment of the
industry’s actions and comes amid rising alarm over diet-related
health costs in the United States, where nearly a third of
children are overweight or obese.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Darden Restaurants Inc (DRI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) forecast full-year profits below Wall Street’s view and vowed to step up value-priced promotions aimed at luring more diners to its Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains, sending its shares down 1.8 percent.

Darden forecast fiscal 2013 earnings growth of 8 percent to 12 percent, which works out to a range of $3.87 to $4.01 per share. That was below analysts’ average estimate of $4.05, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – U.S. food companies are making breakfast cereal for children healthier by doing cutting sugar and adding whole grains, but they are offsetting those benefits by targeting kids with more ads for their unhealthiest products, according to a report issued on Friday.

The findings, from the “Cereal Facts” study from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity, land amid growing alarm over diet-related health costs in the United States – where nearly one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) plans to open a Tazo tea store in Seattle as early as this fall, adding another concept to its growing stable of retail brands that are moving the company beyond its core coffee business.

The company opened its first Evolution Fresh juice bar in a swanky Seattle suburb in March and two weeks ago announced plans to buy La Boulange bakery owner Bay Bread Group for $100 million in cash.

By Lisa Baertlein

(Reuters) – Pork processor Smithfield Foods Inc (SFD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a quarterly profit that dipped more than expected after grocers dented demand by not passing lower costs for fresh pork on to shoppers, whose spending was already crimped by $4 per gallon gasoline.

The largest U.S. pork and hog producer said on Thursday that warm weather helped increase hog supplies during the quarter that ended April 29. That put pressure on pork prices at a time when the furor over the ammonia-treated beef product dubbed “pink slime” was pummeling prices for pork trimmings.