Taking Stock

Deal Is Good For SVU, Better For Cerberus 

It’s not quite time to place former Supervalu CEOs Jeff Noddle and Craig Herkert into the annals of Russian history – you know, purge them from all permanent records as though they didn’t exist. That likely won’t happen because the damage they inflicted on what once was one of the great American grocery companies cannot be ignored.

But Cerberus’ two-part deal to acquire/control Supervalu’s business provides a ray of hope for Supervalu’s associates, its shareholders and potentially its customers. Given the train wreck that Messrs. Noddle and Herkert created over the past six and half years, the outcome is better than many could have hoped for.

And while this complex “one entity” deal might create the best future scenario for Supervalu shareholders, the deal is even better for Cerberus, the largeNew Yorkbased private equity company that is very experienced in supermarket takeovers. In fact, just the value of the real estate gained in the “AB Acquisitions/New Albertsons” (the former Albertsons Markets LLC) portion of the deal offers Cerberus a huge headstart on making the deal profitable for them even before the real games begin.

Think of it in these terms: as chief executive of Supervalu at the time (2006), Jeff Noddle paid $12.8 billion to acquire the five “crown jewels” of Albertsons (Acme, Shaw’s, Jewel, and the two Albertsons bannered division on the West Coast). That deal also created a debt service of more than $10 billion, perhaps the biggest factor among the many that have led to SVU’s downfall in recent years.

In the new Cerberus “AB” deal, they will acquire the same five banners (albeit fewer stores) for $100 million and additional $3.2 billion in debt. The deal involves 877 stores, many of which will have lease or ownership control by Cerberus.

You can almost bet the ranch (at least my ranch) that once the deal is consummated, Cerberus “AB” will be looking to sell “The Troubled Triad” of Acme, Shaw’s and Jewel. Supervalu has shopped Acme and Shaw’s for several years, but was asking too high a price for so many distressed properties. Now the competitive landscape is even more challenging and there aren’t nearly as many players as there were five years ago (especially when you consider that none of those once sterling banners is a potential play for any other PE firm).

In the case of Acme and Shaw’s, a combination auction/store closure process seems the most logical next step, but even if that outcome were to occur it would take months to take shape. Of course, for you believers in the “one buyer” scenario there’s always Yucaipa Cos. and its brilliant leader Ron Burkle to consider.

This could set up as a Burkle kind of deal on paper given that he’s a proficient bottom feeder who has proven he can leverage efficiencies with labor and supply chain costs. And Burkle is one of the leaders of a “coaching tree” that can be traced back to Bob Miller (chairman of Albertsons LLC and key board member of the new Supervalu organization). In fact, Miller’s connections to many of today’s top retail executives could be compared to Bill Walsh’s future influence on football coaching.

Here’s a sampling of Miller’s “branches” beginning from his days at Albertsons in the 1960s. He mentored Sam Duncan, who will become CEO of the new Supervalu (Symphony Investors). Duncan began his career at Albertsons, then followed Miller to Fred Meyer (which was controlled by Burkle) and from 2005-2010 was CEO of Office Max. Serving as Duncan’s right hand man and COO at Office Max was Sam Martin, current chief executive at A&P. Miller and Martin first hooked up at Fred Meyer. Current EVP-operations of Albertson LLC (soon to become Cerberus AB) is Bob Butler, who may be in line to become CEO of the newly expanded grocery firm. Butler also benefited from Miller’s tutelage at the original Albertsons beginning in 1972. Other Miller connections include John Standley, a Fred Meyer alum, who is now CEO of Rite Aid (where Miller once served as chairman) and who was chief executive of Pathmark under the stewardship of Ron Burkle. Additionally, veteran industry executives Jim Donald (ex-CEO of both Pathmark and Starbucks, who now is chief executive at Extended Stay Hotels) and Ron Dennis (retired president of SVU owned-Farm Fresh) both worked for Bob Miller in the 1970s. And there’s at least another half-dozen retail executives who have a link to Miller.

I certainly would never rule out Ron Burkle from any potential deal, but I’m more skeptical that his interests lie here. First, he’d be facing potential FTC store overlap issues inPennsylvania,New JerseyinDelawarewith his existing A&P, Super Fresh and Pathmark banners. And the new rules of retail now demand that you still have to sell groceries, even after you’ve successfully leveraged most of your labor and distribution clout in the post-bankruptcy period. A&P sales, store conditions and associate morale have improved little since Burkle took over 10 months ago. Then again the A&P situation, the recent Winn-Dixie acquisition by PE firm Lone Star and the Cerberus AB deal all set up as prime real estate opportunities for the acquiring firms.

The other half of the equation concerns what’s left of Supervalu and the role its new operating partner (Cerberus/Symphony Investors) will play. Again, for Cerberus it’s a potentially great deal. With 30 percent equity (and control of six of the 11 future board seats) they will have operating sway over a troubled but still valuable franchise.

My prediction is that Supervalu/Symphony won’t have any trouble gaining that 30 percent stake through its $4 per share tender offer. By this time, thanks to the ineptness of Noddle and Herkert, shareholders have already been beaten up and most will likely tender their shares.

So, what’s in store down the road? Much like its “AB” offset, Supervalu/Cerberus’ real estate portfolio remains very valuable and became foundational in this deal. So, with a backbone of solid property control, the new organization will revert to a more decentralized, local division decision making strategy (bye-bye SuperFusion, the worst centralized merchandising model that was ever conceived and executed. Maybe that will become part of Russian history, too?). Good news for Shoppers, Farm Fresh, Shop ‘n Save, Hornbacher’s and Cub which will be receiving increased cap-ex and additional staffing to help them improve.

With SuperFusion essentially being emasculated, look for a major reduction in force at SVU’s headquarters in Eden Prairie, MN. Not only will there be a thinning of the herd at corporate, the new management team will almost certainly be bringing in some of its own desired executives to supervise key aspects of the new organization.

And don’t underestimate the talent of the new management team. The aforementioned Bob Miller has had a stellar track record for almost 50 years in the industry. Besides Albertsons and Fred Meyer, Miller has enjoyed success as CEO of Wild Oats, COO of Kroger and currently serves on several boards. Miller is an operator by nature and a man with a sterling reputation of getting things done.

On a parallel plane, look at Miller’s accomplishments (versus Noddle’s) in running Albertsons LLC, comprised of  the other stores that Noddle (who ironically we’re told became an advisor to Cerberus in this process) and Supervalu didn’t take in the 2006 deal. From a base of approximately 600 units six years ago, LLC has deftly managed to sell and in some instances, close, about 400 stores. Today’s Albertson’s LLC (whose stores trade as Albertsons Markets) operates 192 stores and the company is very profitable.

With Miller, Sam Duncan and their grocery-oriented team improving the ground game and Cerberus providing the capital and strategic savvy, the new Supervalu will be much improved.

But it won’t be easy. SVU’s neglect of its once strong regional banners has left scars. With the economy still shaky, more stores in every market with a greater divergence of styles and marketing, pricing and merchandising lacing consumer credibility, former highly profitable banners like Shoppers, Farm Fresh and Cub aren’t going to regain their strides that readily.

As for Save-A-Lot, that’s a potential wild card that the new Supervalu has chosen to hold on to, at least for now. Speculation that KKR was going to acquire the company’s extreme value division as part of this announcement just weren’t true. And for SVU/Symphony, despite S-A-L’s recently declining ID sales performance, there’s a lot of value there. Don’t be surprised if SVU sells its 1,300 store discount unit, but only if the right offer comes along.

And then comes the third leg of the stool – Supervalu’s independent retail division, which for years has performed solidly, only to be treated like a red-headed stepchild, especially under Herkert’s watch (I apologize to all red-headed stepchildren). Suddenly, independent retail becomes very important to the new Supervalu (about 48 percent of sales). Both outgoing CEO Wayne “Show Me the Money” Sales and incoming chief executive Sam Duncan acknowledged as much during a conference call with Supervalu’s existing independent retailers in which both executives said that the transaction costs would not cause fees to increase.

There are a few other facts that were gleaned during the past 10 days (more details will be known about the Supervalu/Symphony when the SEC data is filed and the tender offer begins; as for the Cerberus- AB deal, they are a private company and won’t have to reveal very much). The deal is supposed to close in March (we hear March 1) and Sam Duncan will continue to work with Wayne Sales and SVU’s management team during the transition. Cerberus AB will be based in Boise, ID and will take over self-distribution and logistics of the banners that it acquired (the one exception is the distribution center in Denver, PA, which Cerberus AB will own and Supervalu will manage and continue to serve AB owned Acme and Supervalu supplied independents). That arrangement is part of a Transaction Services Agreement (TSA) which will also see Supervalu oversee private label procurement for both organizations. In his conference call to financial analysts following Supervalu’s third quarter results, outgoing CEO Sales acknowledged the regional chains will need greater capital investment, but not nearly at the level that the chain stores did and that Cerberus AB is much better positioned to upgrade those chain stores based on deeper pockets and greater industry expertise. In his conference call to the independents, Duncan noted that one of his priorities will be to focus on perishables, adding that he hoped to meet many of Supervalu’s independent retailers in person during the next few months.

And in the end, Supervalu will look strangely just like it did before that fateful day in June 2006 when Jeff Noddle believed that a primary wholesale model needed to be replaced by a greater investment in bricks and mortar. The idea was sound, the execution, as we know now, was pitiful.

And except for the likely attrition of staff (especially in Eden Prairie) this is a win-win situation all around. Supervalu gets saved by a private equity company that’s more patient than most (Cerberus has held on to its Albertsons LLC investment since 2006) and will install quality, experienced management to run the show. Shareholders can decide if they want to continue to roll the dice with Supervalu (or will invest in the company in the future), knowing that Cerberus/Symphony will probably look to increase its stake, too. The associates who remain will be allowed once again to view their glasses as “half-full” after a miserable six years of broken promises, corporate spin and greed. Even vendors have told us they are willing to reclassify Supervalu from  “underperform” to” neutral” with the recent changes. For Cerberus as a whole, it is essentially gaining control of Supervalu for $250 million (not including the new loan and credit agreement that was announced at the same time the bigger deal was) and gaining a portfolio of 877 stores whose real estate value alone should cover the cost of the “AB” transaction. For advisors Goldman Sachs and Greenhill & Co., there will be millions of dollars in fees that will be reaped and Wayne Sales will also be able to redeem a healthy dividend for what amount to a little more than six months of work (not counting his oversight as a SVU director since 2006 when the debacle began).

No matter what your previous thoughts were about Supervalu, it no longer matters. It’s a new dawn, a new day and a new company. We wish them well going forward.

Despite Acquisition Disappointments, Burd Was Innovator, Game Changer

Steve Burd, Safeway’s soon-to-be retiring CEO, has plenty of industry critics. Over the years he’s taken his hits as an uncreative merchandiser, an executive with limited people skills and a leader whose acquisition skills were generally below par (Genuardi’s, Domenick’s, Randall’s). Some of that criticism may be warranted, but to me Steve Burd is clearly a first ballot Hall of Fame member as an industry game-changer. No supermarket executive over the past 20 years has influenced and altered the way the industry analyzes itself more than Burd.

Obviously a charter member of the 30 pound brain club, Burd’s skills as a micro-manager, his financial and HR acumen, his tireless work ethic and tenacious approach to managing a business as large as Safeway’s place him in a special distinguished category in the food retailing business.

Remember, when Burd joined the Pleasanton, CA chain as president in 1992 (under then CEO Peter Magowan whose family has been connected to Safeway since the early 1930s), the company was bloated and directionless. The store base was old and small and, in most head-to-head battles with existing or emerging competitors (including alternate channel retailers), Safeway came out on the short end.

A year later when Magowan bowed out and the board named Burd chief executive, his approach to change was vastly different than the usual “huff and puff” style of the day. From his previous career as a management consultant (Bob Tobin, former Ahold USA and Stop & Shop CEO, has told me several stories about Burd’s diligence and eagerness to learn the grocery business after Burd was assigned by KKR – which acquired control of Stop & Shop in 1988 – to work at the company’s headquarters in Quincy, MA), he learned that the devil was really in the details and from a different purview could understand the significant waste and lack of efficiency that plagued the business and relegated to its “one percent of sales” earnings image.

From the unique perch, Burd analyzed every aspect of the business – logistics and distribution, in-store labor costs, better deployment of resources, (especially technology) and a review of its relationship with its many labor unions.

Steve Burd was relentless in his quest to eliminate waste and create an administrative template that had never been seen in any aspect of retailing, especially the supermarket segment. I can recall many financial meetings over the past 15 years when Burd’s execution before the analysts was akin to Michael Jordan’s performance on the basketball floor. Burd was that good.

However, once you take most of the cost out of the system, you’ve got to show the customer something else. And after the first wave of store enhancements, Safeway’s stores began to look more vanilla. With the help of then marketing chief Brian Cornell (now CEO of PepsiCo Americas), Safeway reinvented itself though its Lifestyle store formats. The company enjoyed a solid 10 year run with Lifestyle, but in the past few years the economy, the emergence of new and diverse competition and Safeway’s slowness to become more price aggressive have produced flat sales and a backsliding stock price.

Safeway could certainly use a more Kroger-like creative approach, one which features more merchandising creativity and which gives the divisions more clout and input into what affects their business in a given market(s).

Still, Burd excelled in areas that were intuitive to his strengths. The Blackhawk gift card network, Safeway’s deep dive into building its private label business, its proactive approach to health care and even its usage of digital technology (highlighted by its new “just for U” platform) are all indications that Burd remains the premier thinker in the business.

For years, we’ve heard analysts claim that Burd would never retire – he was going to be Safeway’s CEO for life – but I never believed it. He is still good at his job and for a man of 63, is incredibly fit and looks 15 years younger than his age.

And his comments as they relate to his future, especially with his deeply-rooted interest in health care, aptly summarized his situation: “While I still have the high level of energy and enthusiasm I brought to the company 20 years ago, I need more personal time and, given my extensive work in health care, I want to pursue that interest further.”

We wish Steve all the best in his next endeavor. I’m certain we’ll be hearing a lot more from a man who not only transformed his company over the past 20 years, but also changed how the industry is now run. That’s my definition of an innovator and a pioneer.

Bill Shaner To Be Part Of New Discount Retail Venture 

I recently talked to my buddy Bill Shaner, former Save-A-Lot CEO, who informed me that he and several partners have begun a new entrepreneurial start-up venture called STL Global Sales, which will have wholesale, retail and e-commerce components and be based in St. Louis, where Shaner lives and where Save-A-Lot is based, and features many S-A-L alumni.

The ownership team also includes: Tom Holley, former president and CEO of Grandpa’s Stores and founder/president of Deals: Nothing Over a Dollar (once part of the Save-A-Lot/Supervalu network and now owned by Dollar Tree); Larry Tyler, executive VP- merchandising, Grandpa’s, Deals, Save-A-Lot; Rick Meyer, executive VP-real estate development  Grandpa’s, Deals, and Save-A-Lot and principal of TAT Capital & Consulting; and Jeff Schneider, buyer/category expert, Grandpa’s, Deals, Save-A-Lot and founder of his own closeout and distribution business.

Beginning this year, the team plans to launch the retail and e-commerce divisions, opening the first six “Here Today” stores in the St. Louis market. The stores will offer a unique assortment of deeply discounted merchandise across numerous categories (grocery and frozen food, housewares, electronics and small appliances, storage solutions, health and beauty, home décor, seasonal, gifts, candy, etc.), all presented in a contemporary, interactive shopping environment.  Unlimited by a certain price point or a certain category, the merchandise mix can and will be ever-changing, targeting household incomes of $50,000 and higher.  As the team likes to say and the name implies, deals so “ridiculous” they are likely to be “here today and gone tomorrow.”

“We believe that we can deliver exceptional values at a time when consumers place tremendous importance on saving both time and money,” explained Holley. “We’re taking the best parts of some of the other value-centric retail formats out there, blending in on-trend merchandise, pricing it to knock people’s socks off, and bundling it all in a store that is truly engaging.”

The store format will likely be in the range of 15-20,000 square feet, located in accessible, high-traffic neighborhood strip centers convenient for families. Up to 50 percent of the stores’ square footage will be devoted to food and consumables, with sales expected to exceed 60 percent of each store’s volume.

The team has hired Gensler, a global architecture and design firm, to develop the store prototype and build the first locations.  Store merchandising will be cutting edge, and team members will be empowered to create and execute displays that speak to today’s creative and deal-minded shoppers.  The stores will attempt drive market value in every square foot.  Creative fixturization in all departments, including frozen and cooler, will help drive the message, “there’s something different here.”  Plans call for expanding the concept from its Midwestern base, with several hundred “Here Today” stores projected nationwide within five years.  The e-commerce website will be live by mid-2013.  In year one, the company plans to hire approximately 150 team members locally.

STL Global Sales will source and sell deeply discounted grocery consumables and general merchandise across multiple categories to a network of wholesale contacts ranging from major national chains to small, independent wholesalers and retailers.  The veteran procurement team’s network of contacts, cultivated over decades, will allow them to identify and make opportunistic buys at discounted prices. Those savings will be passed on to their customers, both on the wholesale and retail side.

At various points in their careers, all of the executives worked with each other, with Holley, Meyer, Tyler and Schneider going back decades to their days with the Holley family-owned Grandpa’s chain (originally called Grandpa Pidgeon’s), started in 1954 by Tom’s grandparents Tom and Mildred Pidgeon.  The challenge of building something totally new from the ground up was enticement enough to reunite the group.  “We’re really excited about ‘getting the band back together’ so to speak,” said Tyler.

The company noted that the “daily deal” mentality created by companies like Groupon has created a culture where people expect exceptional values.  Pair that value-seeking mentality with the viral nature of social media and the technology advancements that have made bargain hunting a finger-tip exercise – the result is a cultural shift in the way consumers shop.  “Here Today” hopes to capitalize on that shift, using technology-driven tools to communicate and engage with customers.

We wish Shaner and his associates the best of success with their new enterprise.

‘Round The Trade 

More Supervalu news:  SVU has settled its “non-compete” case against Leon Bergmann, former president of the SVU’s independent business unit. The Eden Prairie, MN retailer/wholesaler filed suit against Bergmann, who left the company about two months ago, when it was later announced he would be joining California-based Unified Grocers, a competitor of Supervalu’s. But everything was worked out and Bergmann, who spent many years at C&S, is now free to ply his trade as senior VP-sales at the Commerce, CA-based wholesale co-op…fast growing Flowers Foods is in another expansion binge. The Thomasville, GA- based baker, which acquired Tastykake in 2011, has agreed to purchase the prime time bread brands and bakeries from Hostess, which closed up shop in November following its second bankruptcy. Flowers will acquire Wonder Bread, Nature’s Pride, Butternut, Home Pride and Merita as well as 20 former Hostess bakeries and 38 depots for $360 million. In a separate deal, Flowers has agreed to acquire Hostess’ Beefsteak brand for $30 million. Still up for grabs are Hostess’ snack brands –Twinkies, HoHo’s Ring Dings, Drake’s Cakes, etc…in food brokerage news, Crossmark, one of the three wholly-owned national food brokerage organizations, last month was sold to  private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Unlike its chief competitors, Acosta (now controlled by Thomas H. Lee) and Advantage Sales & Marketing (now owned by Apax Partners), Crossmark was the only one of the big three that didn’t seek the private equity route from the outset…members of the U.S. House of Representatives, including Democratic Congressmen Elijah Cummings (MD) and Henry Waxman (CA), claim that emails leaked to them contradict earlier statements from Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke that he was not aware that executives of his company were handing out bribes to local Mexican officials, in a scandal that allegedly began in 2004. A November 2005 email from former Wal-Mart International general counsel Maritza Munich was sent to Duke and other executives at the Bentonville, AR retailer informing them of charges related to bribes paid to obtain permits for a store that Wal-Mart wanted to build in Teotihuacan, a site near some treasured Mexican ruins. While the “Behemoth” claimed that it would fully comply with the government’s investigation and would also be  conducting an in-house probe as well, the news of the 2005 emails opens up a new potential can of worms for a company that’s been a continual scofflaw when it comes to following laws and regulations, “It would be a serious matter if the CEO of one of our nation’s largest companies failed to address allegations of a bribery scheme,” said the letter that was written to Duke by Cummings and Waxman. After 10 months of inertia, I think this could become one of the hottest stories of 2013.

Local Notes 

We’re hearing that that A&P is very close to finalizing a deal for its Food Emporium unit (16 stores in Manhattan). We’re hearing that private equity firm Angelo, Gordon & Co. is in the mix, which would reportedly include multiple buyers. That would be great news for our friend, Judy Spires, CEO of Balducci’s and Kings, both controlled by Angelo, Gordon…it will be interesting to watch what culture changes might occur at Ahold USA once James McCann takes the helm as COO, replacing Carl Schlicker who is retiring on February 1. Schlicker, as noted in past reporting, was one of the best leaders (and finest people) of this generation in the grocery business. An operator by nature, Schlicker’s people skills and blunt approach were greatly admired. McCann is said to be more introverted and process-oriented. We’ll see how the potential difference in styles plays out. In the meantime, there already have been some personnel changes in the past month. Senior VP-fresh Steve Mayer has departed and been replaced on an interim bases by John Ruane, the ex-Pathmark executive who’s been at Stop & Shop’s New York division for more than a year. Ruane’s another executive with strong people skills and excellent street smarts and he should fit in well in Carlisle. Also departing is AUSA’s John Dettenwanger, who served as the retailer’s chief information officer (CIO). He joined Ahold USA in 2010 from E.I. DuPont. Just before presstime, Ahold announced its fourth quarter and year-end sales for 2012 (the full earnings report will be released in about a month). The Amsterdam based retailer posted a 7.5 percent net sales increase to $10.4 billion in its fourth quarter. For the full year, consolidated net sales were $43.75 billion, an increase of 8.5 percent compared to 2011. In the U.S., which accounts for more than 60 percent of Ahold’s revenues, overall sales were up 4.3 percent. The company said its strong performance in the quarter was partly driving by the “exceptional efforts of our teams during Hurricane Sandy, which enabled our stores to remain open and serve our customers during these difficult times.” However, Ahold also noted that the positive impact of Sandy was partially offset by a negative calendar due to the timing of year-end, adding that the retailer continued to  gain market share in all divisions. It also stated that the 15 Genuardi’s stores it acquired in 2012 performed in line with expectations and that it opened another four “pick-up points” related to its Peapod internet business,  bringing the total to eight in the U.S. On the divisional level, Dean Wilkinson has been named VP-sales and merchandising at Giant/Landover. Wilkinson, who has been G/L for 14 years and Stop & Shop before that, replaces Jim Nazzaro, who likely will remain in the AUSA family in a yet unspecified job that will place him closer to his Boston area home. At Giant/Carlisle, a new partnership has been announced between the regional chain and Philadelphia based Di Bruno Bros., an iconic name in Delaware Valley foodie-land. G/C is expanding the brand (just like Kroger did with landmark Manhattan cheese merchant Murray’s) and on January 24 will open a brand new cheese and specialty food shop at its 100,000 square foot flagship store in Camp Hill, PA…just a stone’s throw down the road in Camp Hills is Rite Aid’s headquarters and we’re happy to report that the beleaguered drug merchant posted its first profitable quarter in more than five years when it earned $60.5 million in its third quarter ended December 1 (compared with a $54.5 million loss in the corresponding period in the prior year). The Camp Hill, PA drug chain last posted black ink in May 2007 and has gone through a series of tumultuous management and operational changes that really dates back to the late 1990s when Martin “My Ass Is” Grass, corruptly served as Rite Aid’s chief executive (his father Alex founded the company in 1962). In her seven year tenure as CEO, Mary Sammons (another Bob Miller connection) was unsuccessful in changing the scorecard at Rite Aid, but the nation’s third largest drug retailer seems to be finally on the right track under the guidance of John Standley, who took the helm in 2010 (he also served as CEO of Pathmark from 2005-2007). Still, big challenges remain as overall sales fell 1.5 percent and same store sales dipped 1.2 percent. Rite Aid said it was helped by increased prescription sales (which were aided by Walgreens’ dissolution of its agreement with Express Scripts for most of 2012; it has subsequently resumed its relationship with Express Scripts) and rising sales of general merchandise products at its nearly 4,600 stores. And the unexpected good news pulled Rite Aid out of the “penny stock zone” – its stock price rising from 97 cents a share on December 6 to its current value of $1.40 per share (the earnings announcement wasn’t issued until December 20)…Village Super Markets saw its first quarter earnings dip 13 percent to $5.9 million in the period ended October 27. Overall sales increased 4.5 percent to $358.2 million. Same stores sales also rose 2.8 percent. The Springfield, NJ ShopRite operator attributed the decreased earnings to higher expenses and lower gross margins, even with a boost in revenue from Superstorm Sandy. Village, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, currently operates 29 stores in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland and is the second largest member of Wakefern and its only publicly-traded retailer…Weis Markets has named Profitect as its newest analytics provider. The Waltham, MA based firm will utilize its cloud-based Profit Amplification tool to aid the Sunbury, PA with pattern seeking analytics throughout its 162 store network. Weis also announced that it will continue with its 90 day price freezing program which began in January 2009 and involves price reductions and stable pricing on more than 2,000 products… a tip of the hat to Tom Dempsey, former president of Utz Snack Foods, who retired at the end of the year. Me thinks that Dempsey, who spent 24 years helping grow the Hanover, PA snack food firm, still has a lot in his tank and will emerge again as a key contributor in this business. Also kudos to Charlie Schuster, who runs the day-to-day affairs at Horsham, PA based RMG (Retail marketing Group) will be stepping down later this year. Charlie has served the industry with dignity for almost 40 years and in his most recent gig has been a very positive force with the independent Thriftway and Shop ‘N Bag independents. I’m really going to miss the Charlie’s insights and opinions about the business. The most capable Bill Gable, who has served as Schuster’s deputy for many years, will replace Charlie when he steps down… sadly, a lot of obits to report this month. Former president of UFCW Local 1776 Wendell Young III passed away last month. Young III, 74, presided over the Delaware Valley’s largest labor union for an incredible 43 years (he was elected president at age 22). For many years, Young III wrote a monthly column in Food Trade News, penning his views about labor issues. Although our perspectives often differed, Young was always prepared and well-versed to defend his position. He was also a man of great warmth and wit who handled difficult, often adversarial situations with a twinkle in his eye, never losing sight of the goal at hand and showing respect for the party sitting across the table…also passing on was the great General Norman Schwarzkopf has passed away at the age of 78. A 1956 West Point graduate, Schwarzkopf served in the U.S. Army until his retirement in 1992. Stormin’ Norman was best known for his role in leading the U.S. effort in Operation Desert Storm in 1990. His quiet but steely demeanor made him popular as a no-nonsense take charge leader in America’s first Mideast war. After his death was announced on December 27, President Barack Obama said, “With the passing of General Norman Schwarzkopf, we’ve lost an American original. From his decorated service in Vietnam to the historic liberation of Kuwait, an
d his leadership of United States Central Command, General Schwarzkopf stood tall for the country and the Army he loved. Our prayers are with the Schwarzkopf family, who tonight can know that his legacy will endure in a nation that is more secure because of his patriotic service.”…and from the world of entertainment passing on was character actor Charles Durning, 89, who also served his country in a heroic fashion. Durning, who appeared in more than 200 movies, television shows and theatrical roles, is best known for his roles as a corrupt police officer in “The Sting” (1973) and as Dustin Hoffman’s wannabe boyfriend in “Tootsie” (1982). Although he didn’t make his mark as an actor until he was nearly 50, Durning had quite a career as an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II. He was among the first soldiers to land on the Normandy beaches during the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. Durning was wounded in battle three times, captured by Nazi troops and escaped a deadly massacre of U.S. troops during the war. He later helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp. He also fought in the Battle of the Bulge and was bayoneted eight times. Durning was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts…Jack Klugman has also died. His portrayal of sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison on the TV series “The Odd Couple” (1970-1975) defined Klugman’s image as an actor (he reprised the role originally played by Walter Matthau in the 1968 movie of the same name). But Klugman’s talents transcended his iconic character. He starred in the TV show “Quincy, M.E.” from 1976 to 1983, but also had strong co-starring roles in Sidney Lumet’s “Twelve Angry Men” (1957) and Blake Edwards’ “Days of Wine and Roses” (1962). Klugman, 90, was born and raised in Philadelphia…Fontella Bass, 72 has also died. The former R&B singer had only one major hit during her long career, but what a voice she possessed. Her own composition “Rescue Me,” rose to the top position in 1965 (the song featured one of the great bass lines in R&B history – performed by Louis Satterfield, who later was with the band Earth, Wind & Fire). Bass, who began her professional career in her native St. Louis in 1957, continued to perform until 2005…finally, a very special salute to Mike Keba, who retired at the end of the year from Food Trade News. Mike joined us nearly 20 years ago after a very successful career at A&P and Wetterau. The fact that Mike knew little about the newspaper business and even less about selling advertising didn’t matter at all. His professionalism, tenacity (which he still maintains to today in his mid-80s), and sagacious level of industry and street intelligence made him a very special person. Mike, we’ll miss your industry perspective, your sense of humor and your humility.

Jeff Metzger can be reached at [email protected]