2019 HAC SW ROY

Fresh Executive Team Breathes New Life into Employee-Owned Homeland

Homeland is a banner of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma-based HAC Inc., which has been around for 102 years. Its mission is to operate the best grocery stores by providing exceptional customer service, clean and friendly stores, strong perishable departments, competitive prices, continuous involvement of technology to better assist in managing pricing, and ongoing training and development of associates. A new executive team led by President and CEO Marc Jones has breathed fresh air into the employee-owned chain, which of late has celebrated transformative remodels in Oklahoma City and Perry, Oklahoma.

“At 102 years old we’re not at the beginning of a journey. But we’re in a long race, and our goal is to continue to get better. We’re doing great stuff, but I think we could keep on getting better. In 102 years’ time, who knows what form retail will be then, but we’ll still be serving our communities. We’re selling food, and it’s hard and it’s complicated. The good news is that it’s fun.”

—Marc Jones

President and CEO, HAC Inc. dba Homeland Stores

HAC, Inc.

HAC Inc. Finds Its Voice With the Help of New Leadership

The change in executive leadership at Oklahoma City-based HAC Inc./Homeland has not been all by design. Newcomers filled the positions for other reasons, mostly retirements.

CEO Marc Jones, originally from Canada and now an “Oklahoman by choice,” started with the company a little more than two years ago.

Dennis Maxwell, director of marketing, has been with the company for about a year and a half.

Brian Haaraoja, VP of merchandising and marketing, took on his role at Homeland in October 2016. Mark Wolowitz has been VP of operations since August 2016. Chris Smith, VP of IT, has been with the company since July 2016. John Cripe, VP of HR, joined the company in October 2016.

Jones grew up catching chickens and working in meat plants. He came to HAC from The Fresh Market in North Carolina. He acknowledges that most of the executive team members are still fresh. Debbie Brown, CFO, has been with the company since the 1990s. She carries the “institutional memory” for the group.

“We’re finding our voice and offering something different than ‘me too.’ I don’t know if that ever completely worked, but nowadays it definitely doesn’t. You have to figure out what you’re going to stand for,” Jones said. “We’ve weathered a lot of storms. I think the fun thing about the last couple of years is not only getting through the storm—though the storm of competition never ends—and starting to show ourselves and, hopefully, our customers that we’re not only here to stay, we’re here to offer the folks who have supported us for 102 years something a little different.”

Jones said the company looks for the same traits whether it is hiring an executive or a bagger: creativity, personality, passion.

“We’re looking for people who are good at what they do. At least five out of the six of the executive team have had to learn a new company and some of us a new geography,” he said. “In any job, you’re looking for people who can learn and adapt to new situations. We’re looking for people who are appropriately respectful but willing to challenge.”

He wants people to bring what he described as a “rebel streak” or an “Oklahoma cowboy spirit.”

“We just want a little bit of that cowboy spirit in our business and in our people,” he said. “There are absolutely some rules that you don’t break, but in terms of thinking about new ways to do things, I think that’s a big quality at any level of our company.”

As the company finds its voice, Jones has worked with the executive team on five pillars: fair, fast, fresh, friendly and local. These are the qualities shoppers should expect HAC/Homeland to deliver. Jones said it is one thing to say you offer the best fresh produce and meat, but customers will know whether that is true every time they come into a store.

It’s nice to put up a sign and even more fun to do a remodel, Jones said, but “the real proof in the pudding is six months from now, when the sizzle of a remodeled store has passed by but they’re finding fresher product and new items and they’re getting excited about the shopping experience.”

The employee-owned company operates stores under several banners: Homeland, United Supermarkets of Oklahoma, Country Mart, Super Save, Super Save Cash Plus Food Outlet, Piggly Wiggly, Food World and Cash Saver: A Cost Plus Food Outlet.

“We can offer something different that you can only get at a Homeland or a United or a Cash Saver,” Jones said. “You can only get it in the store that is run by its employees and a store that is based in Oklahoma. As a company, to start learning our voice is like a journey, and it’s a journey that isn’t going to end any time soon—not even in 102 more years. We’re in it for the long haul.”

The HAC Inc. home office in Oklahoma City.

Marc Jones

Homeland—31 locations in Oklahoma and one in Texas

United Supermarkets—17 stores in Oklahoma Country Mart—Three locations in Lawton, Oklahoma

Super Save—One store in Sanger, Texas

Super Save Cost Plus Food Outlet— One store in Sand Springs, Oklahoma Piggly Wiggly—Four stores in Georgia Food Word—Four locations in Georgia Cash Saver: A Cost Plus Food Outlet—13 stores in Oklahoma, Kansas and Georgia

Homeland in the Heart of Oklahoma City Has Hometown Feel

When it took on a major remodeling project for its store at 18th and Classen Boulevard in Oklahoma City in early 2017, HAC Inc. planned to upgrade the produce department and add a service meat counter. The company wanted to make sure that the store would be just right for the community.

But the store, which was built in the 1970s as a Safeway, was far too outdated for merely a refresh. It had to have a new roof. It needed a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system. Major plumbing work had to be completed.

Any hope of having the project completed in time for the holidays in 2017 were dashed.

The remodel wound up spanning six months and costing more than $3 million. Homeland celebrated the grand reopening of its extensively remodeled location at 1108 NW 18th on July 11 of this year. The project increased the Homeland store’s number of fresh offerings. It now offers sushi made in-store, fresh-baked pizzas, a custom butcher shop and Boar’s Head deli meats. More than 1,000 items, including specialty, vegan, gluten-free and local products, were added to the grocery aisles based on feedback from customers. The décor, much like the offerings, is tailored to the local neighborhood.

“We engaged the community and got some feedback about what they were looking for. We were banking on them supporting it, and they have really done a great job of supporting us,” said Brian Haaraoja, HAC Inc. VP of merchandising and marketing. “We do some minor upgrades to a store to really freshen them up, but we knew in this store we wanted to do more.”

Oklahoma City is divided into numerous districts, like Bricktown, Midtown, Plaza District, Uptown 23rd and the Classen Curve. The names are used in the Classen store, including on aisle markers.

“As you walk through the store, you’ll see callouts of all the different districts so the community can have some ownership and some recognition,” Haaraoja said. “The aisles have a number but they also will call out maybe the Paseo District or Uptown or those type of things. When you are in the store the customer can see, ‘oh, wow, there’s where I live.’”

He praised President and CEO Marc Jones’ leadership in this arena and said that as the company reinvests in stores with remodels and resets, it now carefully studies demographic information—like from Nielsen Spectra—to make sure it has the right mix for the community.

“We wanted this to be a store for the folks that have shopped it for the last 44 years and the folks that have made decisions not to shop it because it wasn’t meeting all their needs,” Jones said. “We think within the space of that store, we should be able to bring the neighborhoods together rather than only pitch one way or the other.”

Jones added that the remodel itself could be considered the easy part.

“Running the store every day—that is the complicated part of our business,” Jones said. “Nothing can make me prouder than what our people accomplish every single day.”

The Oklahoma City store at Classen and 18th now features a service deli and bakery as well as sushi and an olive bar.

Oklahoma pride shines through in the décor of the recently renovated Homeland store at 1108 NW 18th in Oklahoma City. The first shopping cart was developed by Sylvan Goldman, owner of the Humpty Dumpty supermarket chain in Oklahoma.

The renovation work included adding more fresh produce and a full-service meat counter.

Signage calls out the various neighborhoods and districts around Oklahoma City, like Mesta Park.

Grocery Companies Well Represented on Employee Ownership 100 List

The Employee Ownership 100 is a list put together each year by the National Center for Employee Ownership. To be on the list, companies must be at least 50 percent owned by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) or other qualified plan or by one or more other kinds of plans in which at least 50 percent of full-time employees are eligible to participate. In 2018, the top 100 employee-owned companies employ more than 606,000 people. A grocery company—Publix—tops the list and the retail food industry is well represented among the 100. They are listed at right by rank. HAC Inc. is ranked 40th in the U.S. by the number of people it employs.

GROCERY COMPANY HEADQUARTERS

HAC Helps Build Awareness Around Employee-Owned Companies

HAC Inc. President and CEO Marc Jones sees being employee-owned as an attribute that attracts both employees and customers.

“An employee-owned business is seen as a big plus in both groups, which is kind of a fun thing,” he said.

The Oklahoma City-based parent company of Homeland has joined with a group of organizations to create awareness around employee-owned companies. HAC is a founding member of Certified EO. Certified EO sees its mission as uniting thousands of employee-owned companies into a single voice to make employee ownership something every American cares about.

The idea of becoming an employee-owner is attractive to potential employees. Once they are hired, employee-owners tend to go above ordinary expectations.

“They’re not doing it for ‘the man’ or their boss,” Jones said. “It’s ‘I’ve got a little piece of this and I understand why this is happening.’”

Brian Haaraoja, HAC Inc. VP of merchandising and marketing, praised Jones’ leadership in that regard.

“With his lead, we’re building this culture around not only are we employee-owned, but also what it means to be employee-owned and what it means to have a piece of that. I think that will continue to build this loyalty and this culture of ‘hey, we can make a difference with this company that we have,’” Haaraoja said. “I don’t know that prior to Marc that it was a focus. I think that makes us a little bit different and unique and hopefully will attract some people once they see that.”

Communication now flows between headquarters and the employee-owners. Jones said it is one thing to ask people to act like owners but that has to be followed up with the information to back it up.

“If you don’t actually tell them about the business, then it just becomes a statement that shows up and they cross their fingers and hope things are going well,” Jones said. “For us, it’s a practical matter. It’s easier to share as much information as we can. We’ve got personnel issues and other things that we can’t always share, but as much as we can, we’ll share. I’ll even tweet it out.”

Jones used EBITDA—earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization—as an example. It isn’t a prerequisite that employees know what it is, but the company wants them to understand it enough to know that it is cash flow, and that money is used to pay bills or pay down debt.

“If you’re not spending some time talking to people about what it means or why we focus on it, then they won’t understand how it plays into profitability,” Jones said. “There are some different things that you can influence. It’s hard to influence the rent payment, but if you’re ordering the wrong item or overwrapping twice instead of once, you know that you can really impact that number.”

Keeping the lines of communication open drives that feeling of ownership with employees, Haaraoja said. They rally each other. Then the magic happens.

“When the results start to change, it is, ‘wow, I did make a difference.’ We are starting to see that, which is neat to be a part of,” he said.

Haaraoja said the company continues to help employees understand that the role they play is more than just a job. It is a vital component of success.

“It will not only motivate, resonate and create this culture of ownership, but it also will change the attitude and feel, and the customer will feel that when they are shopping in our stores,” he said.

Oklahoma Sports Mascots Help Drive ‘Local’ Home for Homeland

HAC/Homeland is the official grocery partner for Oklahoma State University, whose mascot is Pistol Pete, and for Oklahoma University, which has as its mascots two white ponies named Boomer and Sooner. Homeland also is the official grocer of the Oklahoma City Thunder National Basketball Association team, whose mascot is Rumble the Bison. All of the mascots were on hand for the grand reopening in July of Homeland’s Oklahoma City store at 18th and Classen.

“In this state, you have to choose between Oklahoma University or Oklahoma State University. There is nothing in between. The great thing about the Thunder is that they bring everybody together,” said Dennis Maxwell, HAC director of marketing. “I don’t know of any instance where all three mascots have been at the same place. That’s a big part of what we do. It’s a big part of supporting our local community.”

Brian Haaraoja, VP of merchandising and marketing, said the sports teams also are great organizations that serve communities.

“Sports for many of our consumers is very important, and people rally around that. We wanted to be associated with those organizations because we feel like it’s a positive message,” Haaraoja said. “Part of our sponsorship with the Thunder is we have four shopping sprees that we do every year. Thunder will pick a family in need and then we will supply a gift certificate, Thunder throws in a gift certificate and then the customer has a shopping spree in one of our stores.”

On Nov. 11, HAC and the Thunder supplied 400 turkey dinners to families in need—not just the turkey, but all the fixings, including dressing, vegetables, gravy, cranberry sauce and pie.

Maxwell said that in stores located in towns where there may not be a college team, support is strong for the local high school teams.

“Local is the one thing that we should own,” he said. “Where a lot of these companies are based out of state, they ship in product that is prepackaged—they just shouldn’t own local and fresh like we do. That was a neat part of that grand opening was to be able to see everybody coming together.”

It was a big local celebration because the Oklahoma City store at 18th and Classen, previously a Safeway, originally was built in the early 1970s. “Not a lot had been updated from that point on,” Maxwell said. “We went in and completely changed everything. The offerings, from the floor to the ceiling, literally, and the décor package is designed uniquely for downtown Oklahoma City.”

The aisle markers in the Oklahoma City store at 18th and Classen are downtown districts. Aisle One is the Midtown District, for example. Maxwell said locals were, and are, excited about the store.

“We had the mayor there. We had a councilwoman there, a lot of Chamber representation,” Maxwell said. “There was a lot of excitement around that store just because of where it’s at. It’s right on the edge of the Downtown District.”

Other stores also fit the personality of the town where they operate. Perry, Oklahoma, for example, is the hometown of Ditch Witch, an American brand of underground utility construction equipment that has been in operation for nearly 70 years.

“The town has a different background, and Ditch Witch certainly has an impact on that community,” Maxwell said. “Every store has a little different history, a little different neighborhood.”

To get the stores just right, Maxwell said the key is to file away any preconceived notions and listen to the local people, find out what they’re asking for and how best to offer it to them.

“Instead of taking a corporate program and trying to fit it into every store, you listen to that store. Listen to the people who live in that community, who work in that store,” he said.

The Oklahoma City Thunder NBA team and Homeland partner for charitable events, like shopping sprees for families in need.

There is no “Bedlam” at store openings. Both Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University mascots attend Homeland events. Above, OU’s Sooner and OSU’s Pistol Pete shake on it.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s mascot is Rumble the Bison.

Dennis Maxwell

HAC/Homeland is the official grocery partner for Oklahoma University and Oklahoma State University as well as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

What It Takes to Be a Successful Independent Grocer

HAC Inc. traces its roots back to 1916 when the first United Supermarket opened. In those 102 years, it has been through many iterations. Homeland used to be the Oklahoma division of Safeway. It was spun off from Safeway in 1987. The Homeland name was adopted the next year. Since 2011, the company has been employee-owned.

For any company to last more than 100 years is an accomplishment.

For an independent to go through so many changes over time and come through on the other side as successful as HAC Inc. has is remarkable.

So, what does it take for an independent grocer to be successful today?

“It is important for the independent grocer to really establish and decide what their identity is going to be, how they are going to differentiate within

a market, and then it’s really critical that they establish themselves as that local merchant in whatever community they are in,” said Brian Haaraoja, VP of merchandising and marketing. “Become active in it, become a positive influence in the community.”

He added that the independent has to be relevant. Consumers today like to support local companies, but they expect their grocery store’s prices to be fair.

“You have to give the customer some reason to shop with you besides the local. We’ve really learned how to be competitive on a daily basis. We are working hard on that and do very well with specials and promotions,” Haaraoja said.

The people in the store, the environment and the feel of the store all are important as well, he said.

“They want a clean, updated store that has the amenities they are looking for,” he said. “You do need to offer the customer relevant and trendy items. Even in some of the smaller towns—with the Internet, with the cooking shows— you need to be able to offer those types of products.”

Haaraoja said that what HAC Inc. has

going for it right now is the refresh of stores that had been neglected for some time.

“We’ve got to keep updating our stores, we’ve got to keep updating the mix that is in our stores and making sure that not only is the pricing relevant

but the product mix in the store is relevant,” he said.

Haaraoja also believes the employee ownership culture will continue to evolve and grow, and that will add to the company’s success.

According to Mark Wolowitz, HAC Inc. VP of operations, “You always have to remember customer service first and serving the community.

“To me, it’s a dynamic industry and people take a lot of pride in it. Having a sense of accomplishment while serving your community and working as a team in the store, I think, is very exciting,” Wolowitz said. “Technology has changed a lot since the old Garvey stamper. And then some things haven’t changed. It’s funny. I’ve got some old manuals from years ago and a lot of the basics—take care of the customer and try to do the right thing–the things that we are all taught, like the customer being right, a lot of that hasn’t changed.”

There are retailers attempting to use technology to make people obsolete, said HAC Inc. CEO Marc Jones. There are no plans to try that at Homeland.

Please see page 36

The Homeland store in Edmond celebrated a reopening in September 2017 following a refresh.

One of HAC Inc.’s banners is Cash Saver: A Cost Plus Food Outlet.

The local high school band, baseball team, cheerleaders and football players took part in a celebration following the remodel of the Perry, Oklahoma, store.

A United Supermarkets store in Oklahoma. The first store associated with what is today HAC Inc. opened in 1916.

Both Shawnee locations celebrated grand reopenings in December 2017.

Brian Haaraoja

Homeland Provides Vendors a More Nimble Option

There are five pillars that HAC Inc. President and CEO Marc Jones emphasizes: fair, fast, fresh, friendly and local. Brian Haaraoja, VP of merchandising and marketing, said that much of the work everyone at HAC Inc. has been doing in recent years must fit in one of these pillars.

“When we look at local or when we look at fair, which would be in pricing and that type of thing, what we are trying to do is make sure that we have the right assortment by store.”

HAC Inc. and Homeland work well with their vendors. It is a relationship that benefits both and brings excitement for shoppers.

Haaraoja said vendor support helps make in-store and online promotional events successful.

A promotion in July featured Procter & Gamble products.

Shoppers who purchased $10 worth of Procter & Gamble products received a free

Gillette Fusion Razor.

“Being one of the largest grocery companies in Oklahoma, the vendor community finds it very efficient to work with us because they can get coverage throughout the whole market,” he said. “There’s really us and Walmart. We like to be more of the local, more of the smaller guy that can be more nimble for them. We work very hard to make sure that if a vendor wants to spend some of their trade money with us that we are going to give them their bang for their buck, so to speak, and we are also going to make their money go as far as it can and spend it as efficiently as we can.”

A recent promotion offered all the makings for breakfast if shoppers bought a pan. The huge Hiland Dairy cow may show up at a store. If a promotion is successful for Homeland, then it probably will be successful for the vendor down the road.

Being the local grocer means that Homeland is “Oklahomans Feeding Oklahomans”—a theme the company is driving home. The company isn’t run

by an out-of-state corporate board pretending to know Oklahoma.

“We want people to understand, our customers to understand, the community to understand that not only are we the supermarket here, but we’re not Walmart based out of Arkansas or we’re not some big company that doesn’t really know Oklahoma,” Haaraoja said. “We are Oklahomans feeding Oklahomans. We want to feel like we are part of the community. We want people to understand—our customers to understand, the community to understand—whether it be the corporate office or all the different communities that our associates work in—they are part of the community. They’ve grown up in these communities. They are working to serve the people in the communities, so we are truly Oklahomans feeding Oklahomans.”

Full-strength beer a new opportunity

As of Oct. 1, Oklahoma grocers finally can sell high-point beer. In the past, they only could sell low-point beer that had less than 3.2 percent alcohol by volume. Now sales may include beer with up to 9 percent alcohol by volume. It is a radical shift for grocers in the state and presents

We are Oklahomans feeding Oklahomans. We want to feel like we are part of the community. We want people to understand—our customers to understand, the community to understand—whether it be the corporate office or all the different communities that our associates work in—they are part of the community. They’ve grown up in these communities. They are working to serve the people in the communities, so we are truly Oklahomans feeding Oklahomans.

—Brian Haaraoja, VP of Merchandising and Marketing

an exciting opportunity for Homeland. The company has worked to make in-store changes to capitalize on it.

“When you go from zero to that, making space for all those stores—whether it be a 12-foot set or a 32-foot set in a store— there are a lot of moving pieces. There are 62 stores that we needed to reset to create the space and then figure out by store what the product mix would be, what the planogram should be, setting up all those new items,” Haaraoja said. “But we really see that as a huge opportunity for us from a sales standpoint, because very seldom do you get an opportunity to really get into a new category. We really believe that it’s going to be a huge convenience to our customer.”

Now that the barriers to selling wine and high-point beer have been removed, Haaraoja believes wine consumption will increase.

“Wine sales continue to grow and people are starting to really understand and appreciate it,” he said. “People are learning about it and learning how to enjoy it. Their opportunity to purchase it is going to be much greater now.”

He praises the work of the Oklahoma Grocers Association as an advocate for moving the state forward with wine and full-strength beer sales in grocery stores.

“That really helped us. They work year in and year out with the state legislature,” Haaraoja said. “A lot of that was the lobbying and working with the legislature to get that done.”

Brian Haaraoja

We are thrilled to see HAC Inc. named 2018 Southwest Retailer of the Year, as they have been a staple in Oklahoma for more than 100 years. The generosity and dedication to the communities they serve is inspiring and shows the good work done by all Oklahoma grocers.

Associated Wholesale Grocers has been blessed to have Homeland stores as a member since 1995. Their continued growth and expansion in our marketplace has provided a positive contribution to our total membership. The ESOP spirit is alive and well as each owner understands how their performance contributes to the company’s as well as their individual success. Marc Jones and team are doing a great job adapting to the changes throughout the industry and our markets. Adding new departments and services while refreshing their stores is providing positive results. We greatly appreciate their support and congratulate them on this well-deserved recognition as Retailer of the Year.

From page 30

“Maybe it’s because we don’t have the billions of dollars in the IT budget, but we’re doubling down as a company on people. Our people own the company. “We’re not out there trying to replace everybody with robots. We’re not out there trying to replace everybody with technology,” Jones said. “What that means is that we’ve got to get the most out of everybody and we’ve got to harness the passion inside everybody. We need you to act like an owner, so I think there’s a benefit for employees, but there’s also an expectation as well.”

Fellow retailers keep the faith

Jones praises Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), HAC Inc.’s supplier, on many fronts. Homeland filed for bankruptcy in September 2002 and was bought by AWG. The stores still operated under the Homeland banner as an AWG subsidiary.

“They owned us for a long period of time. So, they’re not only our wholesaler, they’re the company that saw something in us enough to put their money and trust in us,” Jones said. “AWG is thousands of independent retailers, so we owe our fellow independent retailers a bit of a thank you for purchasing us out of bankruptcy. Now, hopefully, that’s been a good investment for them.”

He was partly joking. Jones said he knows it was a good investment for AWG because it sold the company to the employees in 2011.

“The nice thing about AWG is that it takes one big worry off of our plate—having to manage a warehouse and item selection. That’s what they do. We get to choose what is right for each of our individual stores. Their supply chain gives us a lot of flexibility,” Jones said.

Secondly, he appreciates the cost of doing business with AWG, as it is a low-cost supplier.

“On both fronts we enjoy it, and then obviously just the history of them and our fellow independent retailers bailing us out in a time of need goes a long way for us.”

Jones is satisfied that HAC Inc. is moving toward financial goals it has set and that people who come to the stores are getting a better shopping experience. The company even ran Walmart out of Perry, Oklahoma. But there is work yet to be done.

“There might be 100 accomplishments behind us but there are 10,000 ahead of us,”

said. “That’s what I try to make sure we’re focused on.”

Jones

We’d like to congratulate Marc Jones and Brian Haaraoja and their entire team for this award. We are totally behind the choice.

—David Brooks, Shawnee Milling Spokesperson, Made in Oklahoma Coalition

—Ron Edgmon, President and CEO, Oklahoma Grocers Association

—Steve Arnold, SVP and Division Manager, Oklahoma City Division Associated Wholesale Grocers

Early Homeland Support Boosted Fledgling Made in Oklahoma Coalition

David Brooks, regional sales manager for Shawnee Milling Co., also is the spokesman for the Made in Oklahoma (MIO) Coalition, which now comprises 70 companies. In 2000, just seven companies were part of the coalition. Brooks praises HAC Inc./Homeland for its early involvement with the MIO Coalition.

“We were looking for someone we could partner with so we could do some strong marketing programs to show people products that are made in Oklahoma,” Brooks said. “Homeland, being the local grocer, immediately latched onto that. They wanted to support the local companies.”

The companies all worked together to increase awareness of products made in the state as well as to boost sales.

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating proclaimed April as Made in Oklahoma Month in 2001. Over the years, October was added to ensure that companies whose products are enjoyed during the holiday months, like Shawnee Mills flour and baking mixes and Field’s Pies, are included.

“We run promotions throughout the year supporting and promoting these items,” said Brian Haaraoja, HAC Inc. VP of merchandising and marketing. “We give special preference to the Made in Oklahoma companies so that we can put those items in our store, offer them to our customers, really support the companies that are trying to also support us. But it’s really generating this whole Oklahoma feel throughout our stores.”

“With Homeland, every year we started doing a fullpage ad with products that were all made in Oklahoma. That continues now,” Brooks said. “It has continued to grow, and as it has continued to grow and as we grew, we are now on social media. We’re now featured by Homeland with a company of the month.”

Homeland chooses an MIO Coalition company and puts together a post for its social media accounts. In turn, the MIO Coalition spotlights HAC/Homeland Stores as a partner on its social media accounts.

In July, Homeland introduced in-store videos and has since featured 11 MIO Coalition companies.

“We have 10 more companies signed up and we’re producing them for Homeland to feature those companies also,” Brooks said.

Homeland also hosts a breakfast once each year for MIO Coalition members, who bring pancake batter, bacon, eggs, sausage and more.

“It’s probably the biggest breakfast those folks (at HAC Inc.) eat every year, but we feed everybody in the company, including in the warehouse,” Brooks said. “They all come over and join us. We introduce ourselves. They get to meet us and we get to remind them that the products they’re loading onto those trucks and putting on those shelves are made in Oklahoma.”

Inside Homeland stores, the grocer has been featuring Made in Oklahoma products on end caps and with art, including a Made in Oklahoma sign with pictures of products that are located on that aisle to guide shoppers to those items made in the state.

“In their bigger stores, they are putting those on almost every end cap, which is pretty exciting for us to go in and see,” Brooks said.

Homeland also allows MIO Coalition companies to demo their products in the stores once a month at

no charge. Brooks said four or five emerging companies now are taking advantage of the offer.

“We are always looking for opportunities,” Haaraoja said. “We help companies that are just getting started, try to give them their opportunities to get into our store.”

“We’re going all over the state of Oklahoma showing local folks what the Made in Oklahoma companies are,” Brooks said. “We’re proud that Homeland was one of the original supporters of the Made in Oklahoma Coalition.”

David Brooks

Made in Oklahoma Coalition companies may demo their products in Homeland stores. Oklahoma City-based Suan’s Foods makes gourmet condiments like Scotch Bonnet Pepper Jelly, Onion Preserves and Sweet Tomato Jam.

Ozarka Drinking Water is produced in Oklahoma and is a family-owned company. It is steam distilled and originates in an Oklahoma artesian well.

Homeland stores have dedicated endcaps to Made in Oklahoma products.

Being Local Means Helping Out at Home

HAC Inc./Homeland has donated hundreds of thousands of meal equivalents to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma. Homeland has been a generous supporter of the food bank for more than 30 years.

In addition to supporting the Regional Food Bank with cash and product donations, Homeland participates in the Regional Food Bank’s Retail Food Recovery Program that allows partner agencies to collect and distribute perishable foods that retail grocery stores can no longer sell. The program helps the partner agencies provide deli meats, bread and bakery items,

produce and other healthy perishable food items to the clients they serve.

Homeland also supports the Regional Food Bank’s annual Feeding Hope Letter Carriers’ Food and Fund Drive held each May. It also has donated thousands of dollars for the food bank’s Food for Kids program, which provides food to chronically hungry children in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties.

HAC Inc. President and CEO Marc Jones said it is unfortunate that food banks—even in the midst of an economy that is back to growing again—are a growth industry.

“People are still struggling to put food on the table,” Jones said. “What we do with the food banks

is very meaningful to me and to all of our employees. Maybe for some bad luck we could all be standing there in the same situation and to me, that’s being part of the community.”

Homeland works with vendors to support food banks but also local churches and other charities.

In addition, as part of an initiative to increase healthier options for students, Homeland and Dole Food Co. partnered to donate salad bars to two public schools in Oklahoma City. They were the first in the district to get the salad bars, which feature an array of fresh fruits and vegetables.

“You hear children say, ‘my favorite part of the day is lunch because I never get strawberries at home and they’ve got strawberries every day,’” Jones said. “Or they might say ‘the teacher says I should try a different vegetable and I do.’ It gives us a closer vision to a lot of these causes because they aren’t miles and miles away. These are causes affecting people that are on the street as we drive home or people we know who live in our neighborhoods.”

Homeland also has partnered with Bar-S Foods, which has a facility in Oklahoma, to raise money for the Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral at Oklahoma University Hospital. Families can stay there free of charge while children are being treated.

Homeland also sponsors the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and its employees participate in clean-up projects, among other civic events and charitable causes.

HAC Inc. store managers gathered at the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma to help with the Food for Kids Backpack Program. They assembled backpacks that provided 8,000 meals to more than 3,200 children.

Corporate employees volunteered in April in partnership with OKC Beautiful, the City of Oklahoma and the Great American Clean-Up to pick up litter in the neighborhoods surrounding Homeland’s 18th and Classen store.

Katie Fitzgerald, Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma; Dennis Maxwell, Marc Jones and Brian Haaraoja, HAC Inc./Homeland.