Food Roundup: Dole Goes Public, Jamba Goes Retail, TCBY Goes Free, and More

(MoneyWatch)  Dole to go public -- Dole Food Co. announced plans for an initial public stock offering after being a private company since 2003. Dole plans to raise $500 million, in part to pay off its debts, and it's applying to list on the New York Stock Exchange with DOLE as its ticker symbol. It could take several months before the process is competed. [Sources: Food Processing, Wall Street Journal]

Jamba to sell make-at-home smoothies -- The company that owns and runs Jamba Juice announced plans to create a line of blend-and-serve fruit smoothies. The company is working on the new product with the Inventure Group, which also helped Burger King develop its snack chips. The smoothies should hit grocery store shelves in the first quarter of 2010. [Sources: Supermarket News, NBC Bay Area]

TCBY to give away free store -- The frozen yogurt chain announced a contest for aspiring entrepreneurs -- and the grand prize is a new TCBY store. Contestants will submit a short video explaining why they and their town are most deserving of the prize. The contest opens October 5 and the winner will be announced in early 2010. [Source: QSRWeb.com]

Albany joins menu labeling trend -- Albany County in New York passed legislation requiring food chains with 10 or more locations to prominently list the number of calories in each menu item, joining New York City and three other counties in the state, which all have similar legislation. Menu labeling laws are also in place in Maine, California, Massachussetts and several cities, and the restaurant industry is pushing for uniform federal legislation to avoid the complications of having multiple standards. Albany's law goes into effect in six months. [Sources: QSRWeb.com, BNET Food]