Hello all and welcome to the start of the Holiday Season!
Congrats to Mike Rosen, Ava Stone, Jay Peltz and everyone attached to the Food Industry Alliance’s (FIA) Annual Red Carpet Banquet. This annual affair regularly attracts nearly every retail executive doing business in the great EmpireState. Forget the fact that 1,000 tickets get sold to the event, it is always a strong testimonial that, year-in and year-out, nearly 700 show up for the networking and dinner. It is an outstanding event and I would recommend putting it on your respective calendars for next year.
And, while at the Red Carpet Banquet, we learned that the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) recognized Mike Rosen, president and CEO of the Food Industry Alliance of New York State (FIA), with GMA’s 2014 Excellence in Government Affairs Award. The award is presented annually to an exceptional state association executive in recognition of their efforts to advance public policy initiatives in state and local jurisdictions on behalf of food, beverage and consumer products manufacturers and their retail trading partners. “States and communities lead the way in the public policy debate in this country, often serving as a proving ground for policy solutions, which is why it is critically important that our industry has partners like Michael Rosen advancing responsible solutions at the state and local levels of government,” said Amanda Hagan, vice president of state affairs for GMA. “His leadership was fundamental to ensuring successful outcomes on key issues in Albany during the 2014 legislative season.” Rosen is a seasoned veteran of the food and beverage industry in New York. He spent 27 years as FIA senior vice president and general counsel before taking the helm of the organization earlier this year. Prior to joining FIA, Rosen worked in the New York State Senate. “Day after day in Albany, Michael represents the grocery sector with the credibility and authority that ensures that the voice of this important industry is heard, and we are grateful for his outstanding efforts,” concluded Hagan. The GMA Excellence in Government Affairs Award was established in 1997. Previous honorees include Linda Doherty of the New Jersey Food Council and Stan Sorkin of the Connecticut Food Association.
Speaking of big events, a huge turnout occurred when Bob Palmer, VP of sales and chief procurement officer for C&S Wholesale Grocers, was honored by the Connecticut Food Association (CFA) as their 2014 Person of the Year. Stan Sorkin, CFA president, told us that it was one of the largest turnouts the CFA has had for a dinner and largely due to the well-wishers on hand for Bob. It was an all-around feel good affair as C&S customers and vendors from the entire Northeast region were on hand to salute Bob. Rick Cohen, C&S chairman and CEO, was spot-on with his comments about Bob. And as if the evening wasn’t enough of a high for Bob and his wife Margie, they were certainly beaming with pride on the news that they had just become first time grandparents! Little Nolan Palmer was born to Bob and Margie’s son and wife prior to the CFA dinner. Congratulations Palmers!
We were shocked to learn that longtime frozen food industry legend, Ron Suchecki of Ateeco, Inc. (Mrs. T’s Pierogies) had a heart transplant back in mid October, but seems to be well on the road to recovery. Ron had been battling a pretty rare heart disease the past several years and was on the transplant donor list. When a heart became available right near his home in Texas, all seemed to be lining up perfectly. Although he has a long road of recuperating and convalescing, Ron and his wife Terry have temporarily moved into an apartment right near the hospital, which is protocol if you don’t live nearby. Anyone looking to reach out to Ron can send him an email at [email protected] or Terry has set up an informational site at www.caringbridge.org and you can just search under Ronald Suchekci . Here’s to a speedy recovery, Ron!
The Key Food store openings got going again after a brief respite when Sam Mujalli opened a gorgeous new location under the Urban Market banner. The site is located on 2nd Street in Long IslandCity right by the renewed waterfront and comes in at 8,000 square feet. It has an extensive array of natural and organic products as well as regular offerings and Sam was eager and ready to open his doors for business and pledged to offer his customers the best customer service experience ever. It is definitely worth a stop by to see the classic “old school” themed décor. Good luck, Sam.
At the recent Krasdale Foods selling show, the big wholesaler gave out their its CAB Awards. The awards are given in recognition of outstanding results during the previous year for building and driving business in C-Town, Aim and Bravo bannered stores. This years award winners were: grocery – Paul Strudler, Advantage Sales & Marketing; event marketing – Eduardo Merino, J.M Smucker Co.; and co-marketing – Greg Cosgrove, Unilever. According to Rich DeSimone of Alpha 1 Marketing, “ The outstanding efforts and support of the sales community help enable us to maintain our # 1 position in metro New York for our banner stores and build sales and we congratulate this year’s award winners!”
Fairway has launched a terrific program in time for Thanksgiving titled “A Turkey for Every Table.” The program is aimed to ensure that the metro New York area’s needy families will be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with all of the trimmings. Fariway has pledged to donate 6,000 turkeys plus stuffing to local food banks, churches, synagogues, community centers and food pantries in the tri-state area. Fairway will ask customers at its 15 locations to help out by contributing either a dollar amount or the cost of a turkey-and-stuffing meal at each checkout register. The goal is to motivate customers to provide the resources for 2,000 turkey-and-stuffing donations to augment the 4,000 that Fairway has committed to supplying, resulting in the 6,000 donations. New CEO Jack Murphy said, “We are committed to making a transformative impact in the communities in which our stores are located. This commitment has been part of our DNA for over 80 years and it will continue for 80 more years and beyond.” Well done, Fairway!
And speaking of Thanksgiving, Stop & Shop also was in to the holiday season with its own annual Turkey Express program. Stop & Shop will donate 21,000 turkeys to hunger relief organizations throughout Ahold USA’s Northeast geographic footprint. Joe Kelley, president of Stop & Shop New England, noted that “In the past 100 years, we have been committed to providing healthy and affordable meals to the community and will continue to support that mission through our hunger relief programs such as Turkey Express.” The company is also partnering with several local members to aid in the delivery of the turkeys. On Long Island it will be the U.S. Marines, New York Giant football players in New Jersey, medical personnel along the JerseyShore, and college athletes in Connecticut. Stop & Shop also encourages its customers to purchase a $10 Hunger Box which is packed with everything needed to make a holiday meal. Shoppers can than take the box and donate it personally or have their store donate it to a local food bank.
I hope everyone has a happy, healthy and wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. Safe travels to those of you who will be traveling and I know I’ll be seeing a good number of you at the many industry holiday gatherings!
