Personnel Updates
• Big Y Foods Inc. (85) announced Cas Tryba, Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance, will retire as of July 26.
• CKE Restaurants Inc. (58) promoted Ned Lyerly from International President to CEO. The company announced company veteran Mike Woida will succeed him.
• The Fred W. Albrecht Grocery Co. (26) has named Nick Albrecht as President of the company. He succeeds Jim Trout who has been appointed VP of Special Projects, a newly created position.
• Hy-Vee Inc. (110) announced Aaron Wiese was named President of Hy-Vee Pharmacy Solutions and Amber Pharmacy. He succeeds Mike Agostino, who was named Hy-Vee’s VP of Pharmacy Business Development.
• Kings Food Markets Inc. (47) has promoted Stephen Palisi-Reynolds to VP and Controller, Karen Roche to VP Marketing, and Laura Wallace to Director of Marketing. Additionally, Don Morris has been hired as Senior Creative Director.
• The Kroger Co. (273) announced Dana Zurcher, currently Dallas Division President, has been named President of the Columbus division. She succeeds Dan De La Rosa, who was recently named president of the King Soopers division. Tom Schwilke has been named President of the Dallas division.
• Kum & Go LLC (80) has appointed Matthew Spackman as Senior VP of its Grow People department, where he will lead the teams of talent acquisition, learning and development, business partner, total rewards, systems and payroll.
• Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. (103) has named Shane Wharton to the newly created position of President.
• QuickChek Corp (37) appointed Chris Smyly as Director of Foodservice and Ted Kwiecien as Culinary Specialist.
• Sobeys Inc. (76) announced Pierre St. Laurent was appointed to the newly created role of COO.
Financial Focus
• Grocery Outlet Inc. filed for its initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mergers and Acquisitions
• EG Group has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 69 convenience stores and gas stations operating in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio from Certified Oil Co.
• EG Group announced it has acquired GB3, a provider of information technology solutions based in the U.K.
• Giant Food Stores LLC plans to acquire Ferguson & Hassler, an independent grocer in southeastern Pennsylvania.
• Parkland Fuel Corporation has entered into an agreement through its U.S. subsidiary Parkland USA to acquire Ken Bettridge Distributing Inc.
Industry Insight
• TravelCenters of America LLC has signed a five-year supply agreement with Core-Mark Holding Company Inc. Core-Mark will provide foodservice offerings to more than 320 of TravelCenters’ corporate-owned travel centers, fuel stores and convenience stores in 42 states.
• Wawa Inc. is rolling out its new catering offer to all of its convenience stores.
Real Estate
• Giant Food Stores LLC recently opened its 100th fuel station in Bethlehem, PA.
• Lidl US, LLC announced it will open four stores on New York’s Long Island by early 2020.
• Meijer Inc. recently entered the northeast Ohio market for the first time with the opening of three 155,000 sq. ft. supercenters in the communities of Stow, Avon and Mentor.
• The Parker Companies announced it will open nine new Parker’s Kitchen locations across the Charleston, SC, area by the end of the year.
• RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. plans to open seven Tennessee locations this year, with the first scheduled to open this fall. Overall, RaceTrac is planning to open up to 50 stores by 2023 throughout Middle Tennessee.
• TravelCenters of America LLC opened its first TA Express franchise location in Steele, ND. The travel center is the first of four Coffee Cup Fuel Stops rebranding to TA Express. The remaining locations that will be converting are in Vermillion, Summit and Hot Spring, SD.
• Whole Foods Market Inc. announced it plans to open a 47,398 sq. ft. headquarters office in New Jersey.
Technology News
• 7-Eleven Inc. will now deliver beer and cider to 7Now mobile app customers in 18 select markets nationwide.
• Enmarket Stations Inc.‘s new Skip Checkout service is now live at all of its 124 convenience stores. The mobile-based application lets customers scan their purchases and pay while skipping checkout lines.
• The Fresh Market Inc. announced it has launched online grocery delivery through Instacart chainwide.
• QuikTrip Corp is bringing back its former carhop service and rebranding it as carside delivery. Customers at participating QuikTrip convenience stores can place orders for snacks or other in-store items and have them delivered to the fuel pump by a QuikTrip employee.
• Wegmans Food Markets Inc. announced a partnership with DoorDash, for delivery of meals available through the new Wegmans Meals 2GO app. The plan is to roll out the Wegmans Meals 2GO offering to more than 40 stores by end of 2019, with more to come in 2020.
• Wegmans Food Markets Inc. has gone live with Wegmans SCAN. Customers can use the mobile app to scan groceries as they shop, put them in their cart and/or reusable bags and then quickly pay for the items at any self-checkout station.
Green Initiatives
• Royal Farms and Protec Fuel Management LLC completed the first phase in a sustainability initiative designed to offer Royal Farms customers renewable fuel options with E85 Flex Fuel and Regular 88.
Just because we don’t mention it here doesn’t mean it didn’t happen – or we didn’t capture it. In the past four weeks, we’ve updated more than 284 companies in the Supermarket, Grocery, & Convenience Stores PLUS Database, with many of those companies’ records updated at multiple points.
