Goya Foods, which generates more than $1 billion in sales per year, is the USA's largest Hispanic foods company and one of its biggest family-owned companies. Started 72 years ago by Prudencio Unanue to give Spanish immigrants authentic ingredients, Goya is run today by his grandson, Bob Unanue, who grew up mostly in suburban New Jersey speaking English instead of Spanish, and eating his Irish-American mom's meat and potatoes. Charting the variety of Hispanic cooking styles is difficult. A simple dish of rice and beans, for instance, varies widely depending on whether it's made by a Mexican, Puerto Rican, …

In a makeover that KFC's chief food innovation officer calls "transformational, the fast-food chain built by a secret recipe for fried chicken is about to give equal billing to grilled chicken. Storefront signs will be altered to promote the new product--called Kentucky Grilled Chicken--and even the brand's well-known buckets will get a makeover, says Doug Hasselo. The subsidiary of Yum Brands hopes grilled chicken will lure back health-conscious consumers who have cut back or dropped fried chicken from their diets. It has significantly fewer calories and fat, plus much less sodium, than the original recipe. KFC has been …

Budweiser American Ale--a darker, richer beer than Budweiser lager--will roll out Oct. 6 with expectations that it will help the brewer reach a new set of consumers, according to Marlene Coulis, A-B's vice president-consumer strategy and innovation. Coulis says A-B's Michelob brand family, which has been spinning off new craft styles for more than a decade, is the model for the new brew, which is designed to help the King of Beers ride a trend of consumer preferences favoring imports and crafts over macrobrews. Coulis says she isn't yet able to discuss the scale of the launch, and …

New Balance has been an anomaly in the sneaker world for years, spending little on marketing in a business dominated by splashy TV campaigns starring big-time athlete endorsers. Now, with the country teetering on the brink of a recession, it is doubling its marketing budget in hopes of winning over more young consumers. The first evidence will come next week, with a new brand campaign kicking off during the NCAA basketball tournament. Focusing on the company's sweet spot--running--the television, print and online ads use the tagline: "Love/Hate. This is the New Balance." It riffs on the idea …

Walt Disney is talking to Children's Place Retail Stores about reacquiring about two-thirds of the troubled 335 Disney stores it sold to them in 2004. The company says the retail operations would play an important role in extending the Disney brand and would serve as a launching pad for the company's growing number of creative franchises. Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail consulting and investing banking firm, says Disney's decision to take over its namesake stores would prove a liability. But Martin Brochstein, executive editor of the Licensing Letter, says the stores have value for Disney …

Frito Lay Canada first removed trans-fats from its product line; then it launched reduced-sodium Lays. But the most ground-breaking healthier products in it lineup have been its Flat Earth vegetable and fruit crisps--baked chips that contain a half-serving of fruits and vegetables in each serving of 14 chips. Tony Matta, vice president of marketing for Frito Lay Canada, says the Flat Earth product allow consumers to enjoy snacking on fruits and vegetables in a "great tasting" chip without actually eating fruits and vegetables. Flavors include Apple Cinnamon Grove, Peach Mango Paradise, Tangy Tomato Ranch, and Wild Berry Patch. …

Railway organizations like Amtrak and Canadian National Railway are leading an industry-wide transformation by responding to the growing complexity of their markets and increasing demand for higher levels of service and reliability. In doing so, they are mapping out a path not only for other railroads but for any sector that needs to be more market-facing, responsive, and visionary. In becoming more market-facing, these railroads have had to become customer savvy--a significant evolution for companies that did no marketing for most of their history. This has required substantial organizational shifts: Companies that thought of their basic business as one-size-fits-all …