Supermarket, Grocery, & C-Store
• Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has completed its acquisition of United Grocery Outlet.
• Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. has recently opened its first location in Delaware, in Rehoboth Beach.
• National Grocers Association has hired Caroline Sar as its new Manager of Marketing and Member Engagement. Additionally, Max Wengroff has been promoted to the role of Senior Manager of Government Relations.
• Publix Super Markets Inc. will open six stores in Florida this month, as well as one new location in Alabama.
• Super Center Concepts Inc. has opened a new Superior Grocers store in Las Vegas, NV. It is the company’s first location outside of California.
Retail
• Beyond Inc. announced the relaunch of its Overstock.com website.
• BlueLinx Holdings Corporation has promoted Mike Wilson to Chief Commercial Officer. Leo Oei has been named VP Product Management. David Sherwood has been promoted to Regional VP North Region.
• Dollar General Corp. announced Leslie Allen has been promoted to Senior VP Human Resources. Christine Connolly has been promoted to Senior VP, Corporate Secretary and Assistant General Counsel. Melanie Cook has been promoted to Senior VP, Assistant General Counsel. Brian Haug has been promoted to Senior VP Margin Planning and Analytics. Tracey Herrmann has been appointed Senior VP Store Operations. Amanda Martin has joined the company as Senior VP Distribution. Amanda Mathis has joined the company as Senior VP Finance. Pooh Vichidvongsa has been promoted to Senior VP Popshelf. Brittany Adams has been promoted to VP Labor and Employment. Jason Bates has been promoted to VP Business Law. Elizabeth Inman has been promoted to VP, Assistant Corporate Secretary. Kelly Ma has been promoted to VP Global Sourcing. Matt Metzger has been promoted to VP Learning and Development. Sara Montgomery has been promoted to VP Fixtures and Strategic Initiatives. Tricia Olson has been promoted to VP Business Law. Riley Seals has been promoted to VP Distribution Centers. Mike Smith has been promoted to VP Market Planning. Wendy Wiemers has been promoted to VP Merchandise Planning.
• Lowe’s Companies Inc. announced a new partnership with DoorDash for product delivery to its customers.
• Walmart Stores Inc. will open its first Walmart Health center in Texas next month. The retailer plans to open 70 Walmart Health centers across the U.S. by the end of this year.
Restaurant
• Bar Louie has named Brian DeHart as VP of Franchise Operations and Steve Culbert as VP of Franchise Sales and Administration.
• Bloomin’ Brands has promoted Michael Healy to CFO, replacing the retiring Chris Meyer.
• Checkers CEO Frances Allen is stepping down. She will remain with the company through September in a transitory role. Checkers has started an external search for a replacement.
• Chipotle has raised prices by 7-8% in California in response to the state’s new $20 minimum wage.
• Dine Brands has pledged $100,000 to the Franchise Ascension Initiative, a six-month accelerator program designed to diversify franchise ownership among underrepresented communities.
• Marco’s Pizza has hired John Meyers as COO.
• McDonald’s has agreed to purchase its Israel franchise owner, Alonyal Limited. The deal is due to weak sales brought on by the conflict in Israel and Gaza.
• Starbucks has raised menu prices by 7% in California in response to the state’s new $20 minimum wage.
• Wingstop has started the rollout of their MyWingstop proprietary platform. The goal of the platform is to digitize 100% of sales.