McDonald's Chief Executive Jim Skinner decried the growing number of local U.S. laws requiring restaurants to post calorie counts, saying they were motivated by politics and money. Skinner said such regulations are "redundant and flawed," noting that his company has offered abundant calorie information for 30 years. Industry observers have generally seen McDonald's as a leader; it posts nutritional information on its Web site, tray liners and some product packaging.

Wal-Mart has placed job advertisements for four Marketside markets it is building that describe it as "the neighborhood market for busy people with a taste for fresh and delicious food." That's a direct challenge to the similarly sized Fresh & Easy markets being opened by British rival Tesco in the same communities near Phoenix. The retailer is also planning to prepare and serve food in the stores themselves, a new direction for Wal-Mart that mirrors the approach of more upscale retailers such as Whole Foods. The stores will include a kitchen, food counters and seating for up to nine people, …

Loads of new applications and services are growing around the Twitter platform, leading some to suggest that the microblogging service could become a powerhouse in social media. Businesses such as H&R Block and Zappos are now using Twitter to respond to customer queries. And market researchers look to it to scope out minute-by-minute trends. Dataminers like Seattle's Visible Technologies are helping companies such as Hormel Foods and Panasonic pore through millions of "tweets," finding customers talking about their products. Dell, a Visible customer, scouts out the tweets and dispatches its Twittering workers to jump into the conversations. At a …

Macy's is expected to announce today that it will open FAO Schwarz toy boutiques in all of the 685 stores that carry children's clothing. As many as 275 of Macy's 812 locations--including those in downtown Minneapolis, Union Square in San Francisco and Dadeland Mall in Miami--will get the toy boutiques in time for the 2008 holiday shopping season. The rest will open in 2009 and 2010. The venture is part of a broader trend in which big retailers are teaming up with specialty merchants to create stores within stores. With traffic down at many malls, department stores and other …

As a direct result of people having less disposable income as they grapple with higher gas and food prices, they have been buying economy beers like Milwaukee's Best at the expense of higher priced brews since January, according to Miller Brewing CEO Tom Long. The beer industry has been stable during tough times in the past, but executives are watching carefully to see whether the shift toward cheaper beers continues, Long says. Americans also are spending less in bars and restaurants, and Long says Miller is starting to see a drop in sales to those businesses. In the …

Consumers are trying to control their food bills by buying smaller-size items as they grapple with soaring prices. Companies have taken note, experimenting with different measures, like ¾-gallon milk jugs and pies that have shrunk to six inches. Kroger, for example, is testing the ¾-gallon milk under its store brand in 77 stores in Greater Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. At one Cincinnati store, the new size was priced at $2.49, the gallon was priced at $2.80. "It's a good price for what you get, and it doesn't spoil before you can use it," says one shopper. While plenty …