Business Briefs: Dollar General enters bidding competition for Family Dollar

NEW YORK – Dollar General isn’t about to be left out in the cold. The discounter is starting a bidding war for Family Dollar with an approximately $8.95 billion offer as it attempts to trump a Dollar Tree bid.

For Dollar General, the decision to enter the fray was clear because Family Dollar had been on its radar for a while. Dollar General Chairman and CEO Rick Dreiling said during a conference call Monday that the company had expressed interest in combining with Family Dollar multiple times over the last few years.

While Dreiling didn’t disclose if there’d been any sticking points in working out an agreement in the past, he said Dollar General was surprised when Family Dollar announced its deal with Dollar Tree. Despite the shock, Dollar General remains undeterred in trying to work out a transaction.

Four at slaughterhouse indicted after beef recall

PETALUMA, Calif. – A federal grand jury has indicted four officials at a Northern California slaughterhouse at the center of a massive beef recall, alleging they slaughtered cows with cancer while inspectors were on their lunch breaks and distributed the diseased cattle, prosecutors announced Monday.

Petaluma-based Rancho Feeding Corp. halted operations in February after a series of recalls, including one for 8.7 million pounds of beef. The meat was sold at Wal-Mart and other national chains and used in products, including Hot Pockets.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has said Rancho processed diseased and unhealthy animals and circumvented federal inspection rules.

Slaughterhouse co-owners Jesse Amaral Jr. and Robert Singleton and employees Eugene Corda and Felix Cabrera were charged with distribution of adulterated, misbranded and uninspected meat.

There have been no reports of illnesses linked to the products, which were processed from Jan. 1, 2013, through Jan. 7, 2014.

In March, the USDA allowed Marin Sun Farms to take over the shuttered Rancho slaughterhouse.

Starbucks testing mobile stores at three college campuses

Starbucks is kicking the tires of the food-truck business, with plans for mobile Starbucks stores to hit three college campuses this fall.

The trucks, run by longtime Starbucks partner and food services giant Aramark, will circulate around Arizona State University in the Phoenix area, the James Madison University campus in Virginia and Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina.

The trucks will offer a beverage and food menu that’s “nearly identical” to the one available in its other stores, Starbucks said.

U.S. homebuilder confidence up for third month in a row

U.S. homebuilders are feeling more confident in their sales prospects headed into next year, a sign that home construction and sales of newly built homes may pick up after stalling this summer.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday rose this month to 55, up two points from a revised reading of 53 in July.

The latest reading is the third monthly increase in a row and the highest since January, when it was 56. Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good rather than poor.

Builders’ view of current sales conditions for single-family homes, their outlook for sales over the next six months and traffic by prospective buyers each increased since July.