Metro Beat

There used to be a time when the final two weeks of August were the quietest time of the year in our industry. Families taking a final week at the Long Island beaches, or down the shore, or just plain getting away prior to the kids heading back to school was the M.O. for everyone. Well, this summer proved to be the complete opposite of that scenario. Just read our front page story about the AWI/White Rose collapse and all of the pieces connected with it and you’ll understand. While there are still many moving pieces that are part of the fabric of the whole, the next 30 days or so (until the close of the auction) promises to still have a significant amount of “play” and we’ll do our best to keep you in the loop of all of the “goings on” as they evolve.

Big news has been coming out of the offices of Krasdale Food and Alpha 1 Marketing as we have learned that a slate of new store openings is on their agenda for the fourth quarter of this year. Dennis Hickey and Gus Lebiak of the respective companies tell us that not only have they added more than 30 stores to their portfolio since January of this year, but they plan to add at least 20 (if not more) more before the end of this calendar year! The new units have been comprised of organic growth from their currently supplied owners as well as brand new ownership joining the Krasdale supplied and Alpha 1 Marketing banners. Sounds like there will be a lot of hard working associates in White Plains, NY in the coming months, congratulations!

We heard from Mike Ryan of the Eastern Frozen and Refrigerated Foods Association (EFRA) with news that Guy Chandonnet of Fairway Markets has recently joined EFRA’s board of directors. Guy has an extensive food industry background with stops at Sutton Place Gourmet/Balducci’s, the Four Seasons Hotel, Fresh Fields and Whole Foods before joining Fairway Markets in 2009. He is currently the director of frozen food and DSD category manager at Fairway.

Congratulations to the Schiandra family on the opening of their seventh Top Tomato store located on Route 36 in Atlantic Highlands, NJ. And from the offices of Omni Food Sales in the Bronx, NY, Zak Romanoff and Mike Beccaria informed us that they have recently been appointed to represent two new lines. Grecian Delight and their line of flatbreads, dips and spreads will now be handled by Omni at headquarter and retail as will Arthur Schuman Inc. (ASI). ASI manufactures as well as imports a full line of traditional and innovative cheeses in all price categories. Congratulations, Omni.

The Key Food store openings kicked in again with three new units unveiled pre and post Labor Day. The Staten Island, NY based cooperative had taken a summer hiatus from its extensive run of openings and it looks like they will be back on track for the balance of the year. See page 24 of this issue for photo coverage of the three new units with Tony Billedo opening his third store in Manhattan’s upper west side, Ruben Luna and Ruben Luna Jr. debuting a Key Food in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan and a spectacular new unit by Frank Almonte and the Almonte family in Howard Beach, NY.

Goya Foods sponsored 10 concerts of Marc Anthony’s national ‘Cambio de Piel’ tour, and will donate up to 50,000 pounds of food by matching every dollar donated by fans with one pound of food to The Maestro Cares Foundation, a non-profit organization founded by the singer and Henry Cardenas to support the housing and educational needs of orphaned and underprivileged children in developing Latin American countries. The donation will provide more than 5,000 meals to more than 200 children at the Orfanato Niños de Cristo orphanage in La Romana, Dominican Republic. This orphanage was the first constructed by the Maestro Cares Foundation in 2014, with another under construction currently in Barranquilla, Colombia. From September 4 through October 11, fans can donate directly to The Maestro Cares Foundation through www.maestrocares.org and can share the #GoyaGives message with friends and family through Facebook and Twitter. “It is a Goya tradition to incorporate a food donation to a local or national charity during every concert tour we’ve been a part of,” says Rafael Toro, director of public relations of Goya Foods. “It is our way of giving back to our community and building upon our beliefs of always helping those who need help the most, whether here in the United States or abroad. We are fortunate to be able to do so and we will continue to support organizations like The Maestro Cares Foundation who work to make this world a better place.” The donation is part of the Goya Gives campaign, a series of annual donations initiated in 2011 in celebration of Goya’s 75th anniversary that serves to encourage others to participate in the message of helping those in need. Goya has donated over four million pounds of food worldwide since the start of the Goya Gives campaign. Well done Goya!

Kudos to Zulema Wiscovitch, Denise Diaz and all of the board members at the NSA on a terrific fourth annual international sales and trade show. While it is not the traditional “selling show” that many of us are accustomed to, the group does a commendable job in bringing together vendors and store owners serving the Latino communities. Additionally, the new location of the show at the Resorts World Casino in Jamaica, NY (or most of you would know it as Aqueduct racetrack) was spectacular and a big improvement from Citifield. This is not a slight against Citifield, which is a beautiful new ballpark to watch a baseball game, but it’s is just not set up to handle the likes of a trade show the size of the NSA’s.

Congratulations to Eugene “Gene” Camiolo who was appointed as category manager of frozen at Allegiance Retail Services, LLC. Many of you know Gene from his long career which began at Pathmark in the 80s and his diversified responsibilities in many different positions there. Gene joined A&P after the acquisition of Pathmark by the Tea Co. as a senior category manager of GM/HBC/grocery and was promoted to director of dairy and frozen. His most recent position was as director of general merchandise and HBC before coming to Allegiance.

My heartfelt condolences go out to Richie Culhane of Wakefern and Maria Culhane of Nestle DSD on the loss of Richie’s son Daniel. Dan passed away unexpectedly from unknown causes at the age of 39. It has been a rough year for the Culhanes after also suffering the loss of Maria’s mother and Maria’s own battle with cancer. My thoughts and prayers to them and their family.

Kings Food Markets got back into gear with reopenings of its base with the unveiling of the FlorhamPark store in early September. The store showcased Kings’ new store features including expanded bakery and cheese sections, new sushi and olive bars and introduced a new mezze bar where customers can try a variety of delicious dishes and fresh ingredients such as marinated chicken, chickpea salad, falafel, coleslaw and hot peppers. The store will be managed by Gerald Lynch.

The Katz family held a grand reopening of their Cold Spring, NY store located in Putnam county. The PSK Foodtown store has been completely enlarged and remodeled and includes a new seafood dept, expanded deli and bakery, and an expansive natural and organic section. The Foodtown of Cold Spring is one of eleven locations owned and operated by the Katzs, Sydney, Noah and Daniel. Noah Katz, co-president of PSK Supermarkets stated, “We are very proud of the grand re-opening of the Cold Spring Foodtown and we are thrilled to serve the community with all its new features and services. All that was done would not have been possible without the tremendous help and support of the store associates and the Allegiance Retails Services team. This was truly a great team force.” Michael Stolarz, president and COO of Allegiance Retail Services, stated, “We are excited to have another state-of-the-art supermarket to serve the New York shopper. “ David Maniaci, chairmanand CEO of Allegiance states, “We would like to congratulate the Katz family on the grand re-opening of the Cold Spring Foodtown. We are honored by the confidence that Noah, Daniel and Sydney have in the Allegiance team, and we wish the store much success.”

And as we were going to press we learned that ESM/Ferolie had made two new senior management appointments. Mike Huber has been named senior executive vice president of client services and Herb Butzke has been named senior executive vice president of customer and retail services. Mike will be responsible for managing all regional clients with all Regional VPs reporting in to him and he will report to Tony Scudieri. Herb will be responsible for managing all customer teams as well as sales offices and local (non-regional) clients. Herb will also report to Scudieri.  All office general managers will report to Herb. Herb joins ESM/Ferolie with extensive experience in CPG sales and marketing, including stints with Campbell’s and Mars and most recently was the executive in charge of the Eastern Region for Advantage Sales & Marketing.

Looking forward to seeing you all out in the field and as always please feel free to reach me at 201.250.2217 or [email protected].