Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• 7-Eleven has partnered with Grubhub to offer convenience store delivery.
• Ahold-Delhaize announced Ian Prisuta has joined the company as Senior VP, Private Brands of Peapod Digital Labs, its digital and e-commerce division.
• Buc-ee’s Ltd. is planning to enter several new states with a dozen new locations in Colorado, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee within the next several years.
• National Grocers Association announced that Robert Yeakel has been promoted to Senior Director of Government Relations. Mary Whitehead has been promoted to Senior Manager of Marketing. Jonathan Downey has been promoted to Senior VP of Membership and Industry Relations. Maggie White has been promoted to Senior Director of the NGA Foundation. Marvelle Wright was named as Manager of Accounting and Member Support.
• Pilot Flying J announced it plans to open at least 34 new convenience store locations in 2022.
• Pilot Flying J has promoted Allison Cornish to VP of Store Modernization. Jamie Landis has been promoted to VP of Team Member Experience. Tim Langenkamp has been promoted to VP of Business Development and Sustainability. Jonathan Braatvedt has joined the company as VP of Food and Beverage.
• Stewart’s Shops Corp. plans to open 20 new store locations in 2022, including 13 full rebuilds.
Retail
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has appointed Mark Danzig as Senior VP Creative and Umesh Sripad as Senior VP Digital.
• Howard’s Appliances Inc. has announced the addition of Sabrina Bradford Warden as VP of E-Commerce.
• Kohl’s Corporation and Sephora USA Inc. announced they will open 400 more Sephora at Kohl’s beauty departments in 2022. By 2023, the retailers plan to open Sephora at Kohl’s to more than 850 Kohl’s stores.
• Petco Animal Supplies Inc. has named Amy College its new Chief Merchandising Officer. She succeeds Nick Konat, who will be leaving the company.
• Urban Outfitters Inc. reported it has appointed Francis Pierrel as President of the company.
• Walmart Stores Inc. and Sam’s Club are making some changes to their COVID-19 related policies. Fully vaccinated workers in the United States are no longer required to wear masks while on the job unless a state or local mask mandate is in place.
• Wayfair LLC announced that Sean Halligan has joined the company as Chief Global Supply Chain Officer.
• Windsor Fashions Inc. announced it is considering an initial public offering. The retailer said it expects to open approximately 35 new stores in 2022.
Restaurant
• Chick-fil-A announced that the Dwarf House has reopened after a nine-month renovation. The original location opened in 1946.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill has opened a new location in Phoenix, AZ.
• Cracker Barrel has expanded their wine offerings and will be offering other select specialty alcoholic beverages.
• Restaurant Brands International plans to raise menu prices for all of their brands due to inflation and high labor costs.
• Slim Chickens has opened a new location in Fort Walton, FL.
• Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill is opening a new restaurant in Bowling Green, KY. The restaurant will be the first to feature a full-service drive-thru lane that will allow customers to place orders as they pull up.
• Smoothie King is testing a text-to-order platform that would allow customers to place and pay for orders through SMS.
• White Castle will be adding 100 Flippy robots to their restaurants.