2022 Giant Food ROY, Ira Kress HOF

The Griffin Report of the Northeast congratulates

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

and

Ira Kress Food Industry Hall of Fame inductee

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OCTOBER 2022 • THE GRIFFIN REPORT OF THE NORTHEAST

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

Key to its core, company’s culture covers charity, community and care Kress: ‘That is our commitment to our customers’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Culture encompasses so much of a person’s identity. To some it signifies a sense of belonging, to others it is the expression of their past. For those at Giant Food, The Griffin Report of the Northeast’s Retailer of the Year, it means so much more.

For many associates, the company’s culture extends beyond the boundaries of any corporate office, distribution center, delivery truck or store.

They find it encompasses the core ideals of Giant Food. The Maryland-based corporation and its associates make a commitment to customers to provide them with the best products, service, experience and path to live a healthy life.

That heightened experience travels far beyond any brick-and-mortar store. It goes into their sense of community and devotion to safety, technology and each other. Even those that are just on Giant’s peripheral can see its culture.

Charity Externally, Giant’s culture is based on four pillars – local food insecurity and access, military support, pediatric cancer research and social equality.

D.C. Greens is a Washington D.C. based-nonprofit that works to increase food access and health equity in the metro Andrea Talhami. area. Its partnership with Giant Food began in 2017, according to Andrea Talhami, the organization’s programs director. In 2019, the

partners launched Produce Rx. The program gives $20 per week for fruits and vegetables to people experiencing food insecurity and at-risk for or experiencing Type 2 diabetes or hypertension. In 2021, it transitioned from $80 a month to $240 for three months and is available at all five Giant pharmacies in the nation’s capital. At last check, there were more than 930 participants.

The program began in 2013 with local farmers markets, according to Talhami. Due to their seasonal nature, however, the organization sought

‘We’re there for the community’ “When I look at Giant, I look at all the great things that we do. First and foremost, we’re there for our customers. And when you look at times – the pandemic, snowstorms in the area – we’re there for our customers. We’re there for the community. Everything [is about] being reliable and dependable. We were the first to market with COVID vaccinations. Look at the work that our store personnel, our distribution associates do every single day, getting that product to those stores… you see that we mean something to the community.”

– Joe Urban, VP, Supply Chain Operations

participation from a large retailer.

“The partnership with Giant has been so incredibly helpful for us because we were able to transition our program from something that was operational only between June and October to something that can be offered year round,” she said.

This is just one example of Giant’s charitable culture. Alongside D.C. Greens, the company partners with the Capital Area Food Bank, USO Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore and the Maryland Food Bank, just to name a few.

The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest partner when it comes to fighting hunger, with more than 91 of Giant’s stores in the organization’s region. They have worked together since 1980.

The relationship with the Maryland Food Bank also goes back a long way – 1983. Within the past 10 years, though, Giant has provided it with more than $3 million in financial support, according to Carmen Carmen DelGuercio DelGuercio, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank.

Grocer makes food accessible, affordable “Giant’s commitment to innovative food as medicine and nutrition incentive programs is phenomenal. At Giant we are able to create programs that provide support to our community that help fight food insecurity and chronic disease.

As the neighborhood grocer, we have the ability to make food accessible and affordable with our food as medicine programs that are available at the pharmacy, through our loyalty and online channels” – Leslie Jefferson, Community Health Program Manager

“They’ve been committed to our mission,” DelGuercio said. “I’m sure there’s several other food banks that they have supported as well. But, from a holistic point of view, [Giant] is not all about just a donation. They are there. They’re focused on providing time, talent and treasure.”

USO-Metro is Giant’s biggest partner under its military pillar and has been since 2011.

Together, they put on the Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle. Within the past year – and with Please see page 18

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

From page 16

customer support – Giant has raised more than $1.1 million for the organization. Giant holds a round-up campaign in stores for the month proceeding the event.

The Barbecue Battle is currently in its 30th year, with this the seventh in a row with Giant as the title sponsor. That culture of giving is felt throughout the USO organization.

“One group we can never turn our backs on is our military. Their lives consist of transition, readiness and sacrifice for our country,” said Lisa Marie Riggins, president and CEO of USO-Metro.

“Giant has set the gold standard for actions, not words…thanks to Giant’s unwavering commitment to our men and women who serve, the USO has maintained troop - support without interruption. This partnership has been critical to our success.”

Dyani Hanrahan, VP of marketing and community relations, explained these types of partnerships encapsulate Giant’s devotion.

“We have ongoing discussions with our partners to understand what they need now. While we have established programs that we run every year, we are really trying to stay in touch with what’s going on, what’s shifting, and how we need to respond for our partners in real time” Ilham Tarbouz, district director 91, Count on Us, Count on Me and in-store experience, emphasized the teamwork at Giant Food.

“Together as a team, we coach and train and develop and promote Lisa Riggins our associates – whether it’s support of our communities, whether it’s feeding families,” she said.

“Our promises to deliver great food is made easily.

“We continue to win with our customers “We support our communities through our giving back campaigns, such as the and our associates despite literally all USO, the children’s cancer research and odds being against us – whether they’re food bank support. As we speak, the store competitive odds or complexity odds or teams are gearing up for the children’s the pandemic – to be able to do what we cancer fundraiser. That is a part of our continue to do every year since 1936.” culture.”

‘Continue to win with our customers’

Please see page 20

– Ira Kress, President

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year ‘Success is completely reliant on people’ “Giant’s culture of care extends from our associates, to our customers, to our communities.

The strength of our brand is tied directly to the strength of our teams.”

– Dyani Hanrahan, VP, Marketing and Community Relations From page 18

Community You can’t have a community without the people who inhabit it. At Giant, community and people are the culture. From cashiers to the office to the president, people are the main focus at Giant Food. Alongside the four charitable pillars, the company has three core beliefs that help define its internal culture.

• Be a better place to work • Be a better place to shop • Be a better neighbor These core beliefs are expressed through Please see page 24

THE GRIFFIN REPORT OF THE NORTHEAST • OCTOBER 2022

21

‘Giant doesn’t do anything for accolades’ “It’s your actions when people aren’t looking. People do a lot of things when people are looking at them. I think Giant doesn’t do anything for accolades or recognition. It’s actually quite humble. We have to really talk about the things we do well because we just do them. It’s the right thing to do. I think part of the reason we deserve Retailer of the Year is through this COVID-19 pandemic, the way that we rally together. No one is by themselves. If there’s a problem, if the store is missing inventory, they’re all there.

They’re all helping each other out.”

– Jamie Joshua, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

Giant trusts, believes in employees “In my opinion, Giant is one of the best companies, trusting and believing in their employees and having the trust in the community. Giant helps out and is socially aware with everything.

It’s accepting of a lot of people. I definitely wouldn’t be where I am if it wasn’t for people trusting in my ability and encouraging me to better myself and have a better opportunity.”

– Edwin Ilarios Barrera, Assistant Store Manager

‘Healthy environment… better place to work’ “Giant is an outstanding organization with a culture of care and commitment to our associates, customers and the communities we serve…Giant is a healthy environment for both our associates and customers. Our vision is to be the most trusted and loved local retailer in our community and our values and everything we do is to achieve that mission.

Despite the evergrowing competitive landscape, every competitor out there is trying to come to this area. But Giant again is a healthy environment, is a better place to work.”

– Ilham Tarbouz, District Director 91, Count on Us, Count on Me and In-Store Experience

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From page 20

actions and programs. Longtime employees see their customers as part of their community and a representation of the company’s culture.

“Let’s get it done for the customer,” said Dwayne Holmes, dairy clerk. “They’re coming in because they know what to expect. They know what I can do for them and how I’m going to do it. They trust me.

“They trust me to know what I’m supposed to do. My

Dwayne Holmes

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year job is to make sure they get what they need. That’s all that matters to me. No matter what Giant they walk into, they know that they are going to see somebody like me, somebody who knows the community. They know they’ll find somebody that cares.”

This sense of community is

expressed throughout every single one of Giant’s 164 stores. As President Ira Kress put it, “Each store is a community store.”

All stores are crafted by the associates who live within the respective communities. Associates from cashiers to managers are plucked from the area because they’re the ones who will be shopping there.

“That is our commitment to our customers.

People are the center of our brand because they are

‘Wanting to be the best for them’ “We want to be the most trusted and most loved food retailer. That is our commitment. It shows in everything we do and it shows in the communities that we serve – whether it’s the work we do with a community or the assortments we have in store or the pricing we choose for our customers. It could be a valueoriented store or a core store, that’s the filter we use to make decisions on behalf of our customers. It shows in our community. [The award] is really a recognition of wanting to serve our customers and wanting to be the best for them.”

– Diane Couchman, VP, Omnichannel Merchandising

THE GRIFFIN REPORT OF THE NORTHEAST • OCTOBER 2022

the center of every community,” Kress said.

To inhabit a culture of care and community, Giant has focused on providing healthy living for its service areas.

The company has a team of community nutritionists who work one-on-one with customers. Alongside those nutritionists is the community health manager.

This person is in charge of programming within underserved communities. A healthy living merchandiser works with Giant’s external partners and the merchandising team to bring programs into the stores that promote healthy products and healthy living.

These community nutrition teams pair with Giant’s pharmacies to help bring those core beliefs to

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customers. All of the dietitians have specialties. That could be how to live with diabetes, heart health or assisting adolescents exposed to unhealthy eating and dietary habits early in life.

Working with the customers, dietitians help build healthy meal plans, providing tips and tricks and how Please see page 26

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year things. People trust their pharmacists. They trust the process.”

This is just one of many ways that Giant helps foster its culture of community. But it’s not necessarily something intangible or believed. According to Gregg Dorazio, e-commerce lead, Giant’s net promoter score is “much higher than many competitors.”

“It’s very easy to feel that kind of energy. There’s that sense of community and to see the results of it,” he said. The customer is actually recognizing this momentum and this progress. And it’s a resounding ‘yes.’

“We have incredibly high brick and mortar NPS, delivery NPS, pickup NPS. I think that’s something Please see page 28

‘It’s about being a better neighbor’

From page 25

best to shop Giant Food. Nutritionists then team with Giant pharmacists to craft a prescription plan to supplement customers’ health goals.

“You make the time. You personalize,” said Paul Zvaleny, director of pharmacy operations. “That customer interaction is so important. People talk with their pharmacists about a lot of different

“Giant Food is more than a grocer; it’s about being a better neighbor, which is at the heart of everything Giant does – leading with our values and living up to our promise of being a better neighbor.

Our community partners, with many organizations, do outstanding work to support families in our communities.”

– Felis Andrade, Director of External Communications and Community Relations

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From page 26

I can hold up as a gold standard as our customers recognizing that we have made a difference and that we are continuing to improve and that we are getting better.”

Improving and investing in its communities, while always a priority for Giant, has never been more clear than the ongoing effort to remodel all of its qualifying stores. It currently has plans to remodel a majority of its older sites. Work began before the COVID-19

Here with shoppers ‘no matter what’ “Giant, they really do care more about their customers than the dollar value… you come to my store, you will see the relationships we have and that’s why I’m not going anywhere. There are opportunities to move to different stores, to move up…I’ve seen people come and go, but I stayed. I stayed because I’m going to be here with my customers no matter what.”

Nia’ll Hurts, Dairy Lead

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

pandemic and continues today.

Care Caring for customers and the community is something every grocer aspires to but Giant Food continues to bring that sense of community inward.

The company realizes how important it is to foster a culture of care within its own walls. The people working within Giant are what Kress refers to as the “secret sauce.”

“There wouldn’t be a Giant without our associates,” he said. “At the end of the day some people work for their paycheck, and that’s totally fine. But the people who really understand their customers and understand their community, those are the ones who make Giant the brand that it is. It isn’t me or some special ingredient. They are the secret sauce.”

Giant prides itself on weaving associates within its brand strategy. Brian Wanner, VP human resources, quoted legendary management consultant and writer Peter Drucker as a basis for the cultural strategy.

“From a culture perspective, culture eats strategy.

You can have the best strategy in the world. But if you don’t have the right people, strategy and culture, the business is not going to move forward,” Wanner said.

Giant feels this integration of its associates within its overall strategy galvanizes the brand into having a “culture of care.”

This is derived from support of Giant’s associates.

“Building them up and caring from the top down” is how Jamie Joshua, diversity, equity and inclusion manager, described Giant’s methods. Beyond that, Giant’s culture of care extends to diversity and

inclusion, which ranges from celebrating heritage months and cultural holidays to events such as International Women’s Day. “It’s looking at supporting our associates and what they need,” she said. “I think of navigating through the pandemic. There were lots of check-ins…I’ve been in the store and I’ve watched our Human Resource Business Partners check on people. And I’ve seen our [district directors] do it as well. That culture of care goes from the top down.

“There is an understanding that we all have growth and learning to do. That culture of adaptability and caring and the ability to say, ‘I got it wrong. How do I fix this?’ That is seen throughout Giant and throughout its associates.”

Giant has faced the same challenges as other grocery retailers around the world. There are workforce and supply chain shortages, rising inflation and the pandemic.

“It’s been tough,” said Edwin Illarios Barrera, assistant store manager.

Barrera has spent more than 10 years with Giant, joining as a night shift stock worker in 2011.

Throughout that time, he has seen the energy the company emanates. The sense of togetherness has only strengthened throughout his time. Flexibility for associates also has made a huge difference.

“When I started, it was definitely this department does this, this department does that. It’s slowly changed. It’s adapting and people are saying, ‘Hey, can you help me out here? Can you help me with this?’ And people are willing. It’s just flexibility,” Please see page 30

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From page 28

Barrera explained.

“If you’re able to do other things, people are happy to help. My main role is in the grocery department, but that doesn’t stop me from being able to help in produce or go to the meat department. I know my manager is always willing to help with inventory. It’s

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

just a matter of being willing to help.”

Barrera added that labor shortages have actually brought current associates closer.

“You can look at it with the downside of not having a whole lot of help, but I think it’s actually pulling people together more, especially the people who have been there for a long time,” he said.

Tarbouz, district director, has been with Giant for 16 years. Throughout that time she has held a myriad of leadership roles. Her proudest career achievement came in 2020, when she was tasked with opening a new store during COVID in Fairfax, Virginia. As part of that, she hired some 300 new associates. Training them came with its own set of challenges.

“We held orientations, food safety classes, emergency manager classes,” she said. “And since the store was closed, I took advantage of the sales floor, the back rooms. That’s where we held all these classes because we had to follow the CDC guidelines and make sure that there were no more than 10 associates per class. We had to follow the guidelines to the ‘T.’ We made sure that every chair was sanitized right after the classes were concluded.”

As she worked to open the new store, she saw the culture of care on full display.

“What I witnessed…was all our teams came together, supporting each other collectively.

Whether it was the store teams, corporate, our field teams, all of us had one goal – to have the best grand opening ever.

Company cares about mental health “I think our [recognition] definitely started with the pandemic. Giant has shown the company that we are. None of our stores closed. Whatever we had available, our stores were stocked. They took care of our staff. And when I say care, they were thinking about mental health…the company put a lot of care for all of our staff to continue to work as a company… you don’t stay with a company for 21 years and grow within the company as I did if you don’t have a passion and a drive for Giant.”

– Dionne Martin, Asset Protection Manager “That is our Giant Food culture, working as one family. COVID added adapting to change quickly.

We had all that in place, but it was phenomenal to witness.”

On the corporate level, Giant Food in early 2021 completed the expansion of its headquarters in Landover, Maryland.

The project added an additional 31,000 square feet and 70 jobs to the corporate office. The local Prince George County community helped with the expansion. Together with the Maryland Department of Commerce, Giant received $500,000 in funding.

Please see page 32

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year From page 30

The company was also eligible for the state’s Job Creation Tax Credit, which is equal to $3,000 per new job and increases with other stipulations.

“We are excited to see that Giant Food, which has been a pioneer among grocery chains in the region, is growing and has added new jobs,” Gov. Larry Hogan said at the time. “The state was pleased to support this expansion, which enables Giant to continue to provide excellent products and services to its many customers.”

Culture is experienced in a variety of ways. Giant explores its culture throughout a variety of avenues. But something that always comes to the forefront is its commitment to the respective communities.

The internal and external pillars of culture aren’t just “towing the company line,” they are how Giant builds and conducts its business.

Charity, community and care are how it connects to customers and associates.

Delivering great customer experience “That teamwork that we have in place and that culture enables us to have exceptional execution in our stores for our customers. [It also allows us to] deliver that great customer experience, be part of the community, be an employer for our associates and really help them build their careers and lives. They see the longevity that we have and how they build their lives and careers with Giant.”

– Brian Wanner, VP, Human Resources

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‘Collaboration across our teams’ “There is a palpable momentum going on here in this brand. It spans not just e-commerce, but so many other areas – whether it’s health and wellness, loyalty, our store experience, the culture, the collaboration across our teams, our different functions. Having been here five years, it’s very easy to feel that kind of energy and that progress and to see the results of it.”

– Gregg Dorazio, Director of E-commerce

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

Continuing to ‘invest in our business’ “Giant continues to invest in our business, to take care of our customers each day. It’s a true commitment…when you talk about Giant Food, it’s that we continue to invest to become better at what we do every day for taking care of our customers. That’s a huge commitment because there’s not a lot of organizations that do that in this day and age.”

– Rick Manzi, VP, Fresh Category Mangement and Merchandising

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Grocer is title sponsor of big barbecue event For the seventh consecutive year, Maryland-based Giant Food was the title sponsor of the 30th annual Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle.

After taking place virtually for the past two years, the event returned in-person June 25-26 in Washington, D.C., and benefited the USO of Metropolitan Washington-Baltimore.

The two-day event along Pennsylvania and Constitution avenues, between 3rd and 7th streets, featured barbecue and grilled food samples, more than 30 bands performing across three stages, celebrity chefs, cookbook authors and local professional sports player appearances, microbrew, wine sampling and cooking competitions.

The Taste of Giant Sampling Pavilion and Giant Local Flavors tent offered a wide variety of free barbecue samples and wine and microbrew offerings were available for sampling in the Giant Corks to Caps tent.

Attendees could also learn from the best barbecue celebrity TV chefs and pitmasters such as Myron Mixon and Tuffy Stone.

The Giant Kidz Zone featured fun for the whole family, including free rides, games and sampling.

Giant’s team of nutritionists teamed up with Dole, sharing healthy eating tips and sampling Dole products at the Giant Healthy Living tent. Giant’s pharmacists offered free health screenings and distributed health and wellness products at the Giant Health & Wellness tent.

Musical artists – American Authors, Trevor Daniel, Nighthawks, Laine Hardy, Vertical Horizon, The Chuck Brown Band and Sam Grow – performed across the three stages throughout the weekend.

Through its sponsorship of the event since 2016, Giant Food has raised money for its beneficiaries, including more than $1.25 million for USO-Metro in 2021 alone.

“By putting full support behind their annual in-store Round Up campaign and the Barbecue Battle, Giant has set the gold standard for actions, not words,” said Lisa Marie Riggins, executive director of the USO National Capital District.

“Thanks to Giant’s unwavering commitment to our men and women who serve, the USO has maintained troop - support without interruption. This partnership has been critical to our success.”

Please see more barbecue photos on page 38

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Grocer at forefront of e-commerce evolution Aims to increase speed, offerings and marketplace

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Giant Food, its parent company Ahold Delhaize and their partner Peapod were ahead of the curve when it came to e-commerce. And what began as a call-in grocery delivery and pickup feature has blossomed into full portfolio of offerings. This is just one of many reasons the company is The Griffin Report of the Northeast’s Retailer of the Year.

Gregg Dorazio’s half-decade at Giant Food began as a marketing position.

When he was named e-commerce lead in 2019, there was a base for him to expand the grocer’s online portfolio before the COVID-19 pandemic came on

the radar.

“It’s been an evolution. We’ve had a presence – or at least Ahold Delhaize has had a presence – in the market for about 20 years now,” he said. “That early presence has informed a lot of what we do today. It gave us a base to kind of build from.

“But the reason we consolidated things back in 2019 was to literally bring that Peapod business into Giant food, rebrand and relaunch it with delivery. Also, we were starting to scale pickup and adding third-party vendors like Instacart at the same time.”

Dorazio went on to note that these were the “three legs of Giant’s stool” – the three services beyond conventional grocery shopping that would prepare the company for the demand of e-commerce that came with the pandemic. But it mostly began with the integration of Peapod.

Peapod, now known as Peapod Digital Labs, began in Chicago as a next-day delivery service. Today, it allows companies such as Giant to fulfill the growing demand for e-commerce. According to Dorazio, satisfying customers is the “need for speed.”

“You see customers come in and say, ‘Can I have it the same day? Can I have it in two hours? Can I have it in one hour?’ So now you have other models that have popped up,” he explained. “And alongside Giant Delivers, which was the previous Peapod business, you have Instacart, it’s a third-party marketplace. I liken that to a personal shopper.

“You are hiring that gig worker to go into the store for you. You can share your list, you can text back and forth, and they bring it to your house.”

Giant Delivers is a free delivery service with a minimum of $30 orders that boasts speeds as fast as four hours, Dorazio said. He and his team have seen traffic surge over the past three years.

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Giant Food offers three online portals – mobile, mobile app and desktop. The convenience of the choices is enticing many customers that were already shopping with the company.

The challenge now, according to Dorazio, is growing that marketplace into broader age ranges.

Those who use the e-commerce opportunities enjoy the convenience of a handheld digital shopping list, coupons, weekly ads, Giant Flexible Rewards and personalized shopping lists. But how does the company get more customers to try it?

“It’s not a huge training opportunity. It’s more just an awareness build that [the app] is going to save you time,” he said. “This is going to save you the most money by coming through us and you’re using all those resources. They see the benefit.

“Once you get going – and once they get to their third, fourth or fifth orders – that’s where the savings really start to multiply. That’s where customers see the benefit.”

Dyani Hanrahan, VP of marketing and community relations, said Giant Food’s personalized online experience will draw people not only to its e-commerce offerings but also in-store experiences. She added that every associate throughout the company is trying to enhance the e-commerce experience.

“We’ve got this new customer behavior, that’s very complex, that we always have to think about now,” she said. “We need to think about whether [the customer] is online only or brick-and-mortar only or are you a little bit of both? How does that personalized experience layer into that? That’s another great challenge for us.

“You do have to think in the moment of the customer and their journey. It’s not just about slapping the website on every piece of collateral. Everybody on our team has to think about it like that, ‘How do I contribute to the e-commerce option?’ It’s about their behavior and how we can provide solutions for those complex problems.”

Giant Food offers a myriad of solutions. Every market it serves has some form of e-commerce offerings, according to Ira Kress, president. Whether customers are hoping to have their products ready for pickup, delivered to their homes or searching for the most relevant coupons, the company has something to offer everyone.

“We are uniquely positioned when it comes to e-commerce,” Kress said. “I say that because we offer effectively every channel that a customer has an interest in. We have our in-store pickup business across 98 percent of our stores. Effectively every market in which we serve we have in-store pickup customers go online, order a full assortment at store level, pay the same as in-store prices and have that order available for pickup within four hours.”

To further expand its e-commerce, Giant Food wants to make the services faster. The company Please see page 42

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From page 41

has a fulfillment center in Hanover, Maryland.

It acts as the dual center for store inventory deliveries, as well as e-commerce, and works to meet customer demand for same-day delivery.

After taking over the Maryland facility in 2019, Joe Urban, VP of supply chain operations, has seen its capacity double, to the point where another center is required.

A new facility is set to open soon in Manassas, Virginia. That will help expand the

company’s e-commerce and delivery capabilities, but also do so in a streamlined manner.

“Our primary focus is not only to meet the demand of home delivery, but it’s really the speed upon delivery as well,” Urban explained. “We really want to move about 70 percent same-day service out of those facilities. Again, it’s just speed of delivery.

“Those orders are coming and we want to make sure we’re able to turn those orders quickly. And by doing that in Manassas, we’ll be able to expand our zip codes and expand our market presence as well.”

With the Manassas center, Giant Food will be able to cover more than 100 percent of its market area.

“By opening our Manassas facility, we’ll have 100 percent market coverage even outside of our market area where we don’t have a brick-andmortar presence,” Kress said. “We’ll have the ability to deliver – particularly on the East Coast, as an example – farther south, in Virginia. But more importantly, the speed to service grows exponentially. We can effectively have a 50 to 60 percent sameday model with the new fulfillment center.”

Giant Food also has a “cross-dock” facility in Milford, Delaware, that allows it to serve the primarily older population in that area. Through it, the company can move truck trailers to the facility, where products are then loaded onto Giant Delivery vans. The total time for product to be delivered to a customer’s house after being

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year unloaded is about two hours, according to Urban.

On average, Giant has at least 100 delivery vans – including two electric ones – on the road at any given time. But that isn’t the only avenue for delivery. According to Kress, Giant was one of the first companies to market with a third-party delivery service – in this case, Instacart. Delivery through Instacart is available across Giant’s entire market, which further illustrates its commitment to sameday delivery.

“Customers choose to use whatever is most convenient for them,” Kress said.

Dorazio likened third-party services such as Instacart to personal shoppers.

“That is a premium rush service, whereas Giant Delivers is more of an everyman kind of service.

We offer free delivery with only a $30 minimum.

Our speed is as fast as four hours and our assortment is strong. From a holistic perspective, that’s been a part of our evolution is trying to make our e-commerce offering as competitive as possible.”

E-commerce also has helped streamline associates’ jobs. Edwin Ilarios Barrera, an assistant store manager in Virginia, recalled a specific item that a customer was looking for and he was able to find through his phone.

“When I first started, it was a lot harder when a customer would come to you and ask for a specific item. You had to know your entire store,” he said.

“But now, I have a whole catalog of SKUs in my phone if a customer comes up to me.

“For example, I had a customer at my store asking me for mango chutney, looking for a specific brand. I went on my phone, went to the Giant App, typed in ‘mango chutney.’ It’s also easier to let me know we carry your product even if we don’t have it in my store. I can always point them to another location, another Giant where they could go.”

Giant Food’s future in e-commerce is rooted in increasing the range and speed of deliveries. However, it also includes possibilities for automation and further technological advancements, which Urban said are being explored.

The company recently launched its Endless Aisles platform. The idea is based on allowing customers to shop online – grocery and general merchandise – and have it shipped to their doors regardless of whether the items are carried in stores.

Tens of thousands of SKUs are available, but the goal is to add an additional 100,000, according to Kress. It is currently being “tested and evolving.”

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

Pharmacy operations led way in offering vaccine Distribution of COVID-19 shots that tops 1.1M all started with word ‘no’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Giant Food administered its first COVID-19 vaccine on Dec. 26, 2020. Leading up to and following that date, so many questions were up in the air for Paul Zvaleny, director of pharmacy operations, and his team.

With about 1,600 staff members throughout the company, Zvaleny had to write the playbook after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

With so many unknowns, the pharmacy operations team sought multiple sources of information.

Each state or district within Giant’s operational

scope – Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia – had its own mandates and policies.

None gave a clear indication of how vaccine guidelines were supposed to be administered or coordinated.

And that was just the beginning of the challenges.

“You had to figure out how to do everything, how to make everything work. So being a pharmacy – a community pharmacy, retail pharmacy – we had to play by certain rules, but there were no guidelines on how to play by the rules,” Zvaleny said.

In his nearly 25-year career, Zvaleny had no point of reference on organizing emergency use of vaccines for 152 pharmacies. As Giant Food was the first pharmacy to offer the vaccine to consumers, even external help from other retailers was limited.

Beyond ever-changing federal policies, vaccine priorities, storage methods, there was the issue of pharmacies simply receiving the vaccine when promised.

“The demand was just skyrocketing, as you can imagine…it’s a brand-new vaccine that has never

been done before. So that is a lot of training,” Zvaleny explained. “We had to develop all the training. We had certain storage requirements. We had to have certain temperature-monitoring devices, certain transport Please see page 46

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From page 44

containers, a scheduler. All these things you have to build that aren’t built yet. They didn’t exist…we didn’t know when we were going to receive it. The date kept changing.”

Despite the uncertainties, Zvaleny said the reason for Giant Food’s success was the inability to say “no.”

“When you look back at the trajectory we took and the reason we’re so successful is I never said no to anything,” he said. “Actually, I asked for more. If they don’t want it or whoever doesn’t want it, I’ll take the

supply.”

Giant Food’s vaccine campaign began in D.C., which was a bit smoother than some of the other markets the company serves. D.C. had its own vaccine scheduler. Through that federal third party, it was easier to coordinate the correct people who were getting the vaccine at a time when supplies were limited and were available only to essential personnel like healthcare workers.

After D.C., the company’s home state of Maryland was next. Gov. Larry Hogan wanted Giant Food to help pilot the vaccine distribution. Beginning with 22 stores, it was one of the first pharmacies to vaccinate in the state. The problem, as first realized in D.C., was there were only so many doses available.

“We had 4,500 doses of vaccines in 22 stores and there were several million people who wanted it,” Zvaleny said.

As vaccines became available for more people, Zvaleny and his team worked with the Federal Retail Pharmacy Partnership and the respective states to bring in more vaccines for not only the store’s pharmacies but also external clinics the company held.

“We were working on high throughout clinics with [Maryland], working directly wih the governor’s office, working different entities…we built immunization teams. We had 50 pharmacists and techs all the days and nights give [vaccines]. We built central separate teams to do all the billing and the paperwork.”

Throughout 2021, Giant held more than 1,500 external clinics in Maryland. They were held in schools, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities,

2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

juvenile centers, detention centers and homeless shelters. The teams even went to individuals with developmental disabilities.

“We went everywhere…we went outside of our footprint – significantly outside of the footprint – to keep driving that and get those vaccinations there,” Zvaleny said.

Giant Food’s efforts through the pandemic were recognized by Vice President Kamala Harris, who visited a store in the D.C. area to see the operation in motion and address the importance of getting immunized.

Delaware and Virginia were the last of Giant’s market states to ask for the company’s help to coordinate vaccines. To date, Giant has distributed more than 1.1 million vaccines – and it all started with the word “no.”

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2022 Northeast Retailer of the Year

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OCTOBER 2022 • THE GRIFFIN REPORT OF THE NORTHEAST

Ira Kress

2022 Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee

Popular president says brand deserves recognition, not him ‘It’s for what our associates do every single day’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Ira Kress, president of Landover, Maryland-based Giant Food, has been inducted into The Shelby Report’s Food Industry Hall of Fame.

Kress began his grocery career at age 18 in 1984, working as a part-time cashier. Over the ensuing 38 years, he has served in a number of progressively responsible and cross-functional leadership roles at Giant Food and its parent company, Ahold Delhaize.

After serving in several store management roles, Kress transitioned into human resources and held leadership positions in training, staffing, management, development, organizational development and labor relations.

In 2003, he was named VP of human resources and labor relations for Giant Food. He stayed in that role until 2011, when he was named SVP of human resources and labor relations for then parent company Ahold USA. Two years later, Kress returned to Giant Food as SVP of retail operations and assumed responsibility for all store operations and asset protection for Giant Food’s 164 stores throughout its market area of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. In 2019, Kress began serving as the interim president when the then president went to lead Stop & Shop, another Ahold-Delhaize brand. Kress was named president in May 2020.

He and his wife of eight years, Heather, have three children each who range in age from 17 to 32 years old and one grandchild who is 2.

Along with his duties at Giant Food, Kress is an active member of his community. He currently serves on the boards for the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Oncology Advisory Council, the Capital Area Food Bank, the USO National Capital District and the Ahold-Delhaize USA Family Foundation.

Brings teamwork element to life “When you think about culture, Ira obviously has been with Giant Food for a long period of time, coming up through the ranks. But he also has held the roles of VP of HR, the SVP of operations and now president. He knows the business inside and out. And that teamwork element – he is the one that brought that to life, through his teams, through his expectations, through connection. He connects with everybody and reads everything, no matter who’s talking or who sends him an email, he will listen and respond and understand.”

– Brian Wanner, VP, Human Resources

Shows sincerity to all employees “Ira has true leadership just in showing sincerity. That’s sincerity to everyone. All the way down to the courtesy clerks.”

– Dionne Martin, Asset Protection Manager

But Kress rarely talks about himself. For example, when interviewed for his Hall of Fame induction, he immediately touted the company and the great work its associates are doing.

“Being awarded Retailer of the Year – or even me, Ira Kress, in the Hall of Fame – is not what we’re in business to do. It’s not why I lead this organization,” he said.

“For me, I think we do deserve recognition as a brand. It’s for what our associates do every single day. They literally are the ones who are living, breathing and delivering upon our brand promise and our commitment to our customers.

And then the managers and leaders in this organization – not Ira Kress – are the ones delivering Ira Kress what our commitment is to our associates.”

While noting that his years in the grocery industry are not “a long career, just a long time,” he said there are two core reasons why he has stayed: “I love the company. I love Giant.”

He likened his feelings for Giant Food to playing with an all-star athlete. “When you’ve been working with the No. 1 player, it’s hard to suggest you’re ever going to make the decision to say, ‘I think I want to go play for the No. 2 player.’”

He also appreciates how the food retail business has changed over time, saying he “never got bored.”

The second core value that kept Kress around was the company’s ability to adapt and stay relevant, something he finds exciting.

“I’ve never viewed myself as having worked for one organization for 37 years,” he said. “I’ve probably worked for four or five truly different businesses over that period of time. Yes, the name may say Giant or Ahold, but for all intents and purposes there was always something new.”

As he was taking over executive responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, many things were happening and changing. Adaptability was Kress’ key term when it came to his leadership and how the company and its associates led their communities through the worst of COVID.

‘His motivations are from the heart’ “Ira has been here a long time and he is an extremely smart person.

He looks at things analytically. He’s a people’s person and he understands them. His motivations are from the heart and with the interest of the public and the business at hand. From my perspective, he has given me the autonomy to do whatever I need to do. He doesn’t micromanage. I don’t get told what to do, how to do it. We have those conversations and it has worked. He’s very philanthropic with our resources.”

– Paul Zvaleny, Director of Pharmacy Operations “It’s what made us successful, not just throughout the pandemic but frankly throughout the last 86 years,” he said. “I wouldn’t say there’s even been a host of policy changes. I think the impact on people is what’s changed.

“How our associates and our customers view the world has changed, competition has changed, the economy has changed and we’re seeing that impact a lot of those things today. The resiliency that our associates and our customers have shown in navigating through just an extraordinarily uncertain period of time – a scary period of time – has been simply astounding.”

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Kress explained that seeing how the communities that Giant Food inhabits change, accept and adapt to the evolving world that surrounded the pandemic was heartwarming.

“I knew we had great people. I would have never imagined this is how our associates are going to react to it,” he said. “I would have never guessed they would have reacted the way they did, which is with tremendous enthusiasm and passion and commitment to Giant Food.

“They were doing what they do for the company to a degree, but a larger purpose was what they were doing for their community; what they were doing for their neighbor; what they were doing for their customers. For me, just seeing that and seeing it continue for a very long period of time – given the uncertainties and the unknowns and the risks, all of the things that they went through – it was very heartwarming.”

Kress believes Giant Food’s virtue lies within its authenticity and autonomy.

‘Leads through caring courage’ “Ira is Giant. He started in Giant Food. He never really left Giant Food. He eats, sleeps and breathes Giant Food and it shows every day. He leads through caring courage, which is all any business could ever ask…it’s foundational, it’s what makes this culture different. It sets us apart. Ira embodies trying. To me it only makes me work harder. We went through trials and tribulations with COVID and having to navigate those waters, it only made us want to stand behind him.”

– Diane Couchman, VP, Omnichannel Merchandising

Ira Kress

2022 Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee Franchise owners make a majority of the in-store decisions. That’s a trait that helps connect more with their local community. No two stores are exactly the same. And that personalization helps them connect with their communities. To Kress, that’s simply “our brand.”

“The reality is every single one of our current 164 stores is a community store.

It’s not a Giant Food brand store. And they are all unique based on the associates and start there,” he explained. “We hire associates from within the communities that they’re serving. The managers are embedded in the communities in which they’re serving, whether they live in that community or not.

‘Understands the why behind it all’ “Ira has been selfless, giving his time, energy, passion and experience to this business. I think he has invested in learning something about every nook and cranny of this organization and every function. I think that’s one thing that everyone, if you ask them, would say that he understands the detail. He understands the metrics behind it.

He understands the why behind it all. That’s why I enjoy working for him so much.”

– Gregg Dorazio, Director of E-commerce “And it runs with everything from the Boys and Girl Scouts to bake sales to softball and baseball games. They’re embedded in the community…the customers are classically shopping within the community that they live in. It’s their friends and neighbors and family.”

Along with bringing in members of the local community, Giant Food looks to Please see page 54

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Supports inclusion, belonging, diversity “Anytime you work with a leader, they have a wave of decisions they have to make. Coming from the DEI side, he has never said ‘no’ to anything. He has been very supportive in pushing inclusion and belonging and diversity…I’m not looking for a perfect leader.

I’m looking for a leader who wants to be on this learning journey with their associates and do the right thing. Since my interview to now, Ira has been a great partner.”

– Jamie Joshua, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager From page 52

stock store shelves with brands and products that are meaningful to the community. The company considers the demographics of the communities and their lifestyles.

“We’ve got an extraordinarily diverse community base and not just diverse in race and gender, but diverse in life experiences and interests,” Kress said. “Our customers, regardless of their race or gender, experience life through food…that helps us embed ourselves in the community.”

That community impact goes well beyond the stores. Giant Food has four core charitable pillars that include local food insecurity and access, military support, pediatric cancer research and social equality. Beyond the company, the communities organize their own food charitable events.

“Frankly, it’s something that I didn’t build,” Kress said. “It’s been built by the associates in this business…it’s our associates rallying behind the church down the street, with a synagogue down the road or the school that is struggling. That’s

Ira Kress

2022 Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee not something that we put out and say, ‘Do this.’ They do it because they’re a part of that community.”

Kress saw the change that emotions were making in the workplace and throughout Giant Food’s communities when he took over as president.

On the store side, he saw that sense of community being challenged. Everyone wore masks and shoppers couldn’t see each other’s faces and Plexiglass separated them from associates.

On the corporate level, he saw some people retire due to health and safety concerns, while others worked away from the office.

‘Can’t say enough positives about him’ “His leadership is care. First and foremost, it is for each and every one of our associates. The concern he has about the safety of our associates and our consumers…the leadership he demonstrated during [COVID-19] with so many unknowns.

There was no playbook for anybody, any retailer. But the job he did through that, being a leader, being calm and asking the right questions is simply amazing. To see it orchestrated over the last two and a half years, I can’t say enough positives about him.”

– Rick Manzi, VP, Fresh Category Management and Merchandising “I could never put my finger on what people think now or this is how they feel now. It’s different person to person…I think how people think about home life and quality of life is different now. Working in the office is different,” he said.

“Human emotions, they span huge aspects of our lives. And that’s what we Please see page 56

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saw was the people change. Beyond that, there’s not so much a difference in the way we operate our business today. We had to lean in on core qualities and traits of the business and the brand. One of those was trust with our customers in our associates. We had it going in and built it throughout.”

Incredible leadership during pandemic “When you look at his body of work, he has positively impacted so many parts of our business. Ira has spent his whole career making Giant a better company. Just take a look at the last couple of years and what he had to lead us through with the pandemic. He was always looking out for our customers and our associates. Leading through that time period was an incredible accomplishment. I could never see him working anyplace else.

Giant is in his blood. He’s made so many great contributions to this company.”

– Joe Urban, VP, Supply Chain Operations

Kress has based his leadership on open communication. As his tenure as president immediately began with putting out fire after fire, he found that being open and honest with his leadership team, associates and customers was the best option. He still believes that keeping communities informed is the best possible way to maintain trust.

“We were really up front and out front in our communication,” Kress said. “That being with our associates and our customers. We were grounded in the decisions that we made. We were very overt in telling customers and associates where that

Ira Kress

2022 Northeast Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee grounding was coming from.

“There were a lot of thoughts and opinions from customers, from associates, from my leadership team. We decided very early on what our priorities were. Our priority was the safety of our associates and the safety of our customers.

“It was interesting to watch [municipalities] take what we did as a precautionary measure and then make it mandatory…we looked to do what was beyond mandatory and we kept our customers and our associates informed.”

Kress said interaction with people is his favorite part of leading Giant Food.

“I have been known to say, ‘We sell pork and beans for a living.’ It’s not because I love selling pork and beans, I love the ability to interact with and lead people.

We are a consumer business. We literally see the impact of what we do every single day.

Cares about empowering associates “Ira humbly leads with purpose and genuinely cares about embracing change to empower his associates into their full capabilities to guarantee they deliver exceptional customer service.”

– Felis Andrade, Director of External Communications and Community Relations

“We’re all consumers of this business. So for me, one of the things I love about this industry is we’re all in it. All my friends and all my neighbors and all my family – everybody I know – is a customer of this business…that’s the most wonderful thing about it.

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“And the most difficult thing about it is I’ve never been at a neighborhood party or event or a family gathering where someone doesn’t have insight and input for me on what we should do better or different – from the products we carry to where we stock them to what height they are on the aisles.

Because we’re all a part of this business and we’re all a part of a community. I love it.”

‘Dynamic leader’ pushes us to be better “Ira is a really dynamic and inclusive leader. He wants to ensure, when he’s making a decision, that he has considered all perspectives and that he’s heard from everybody. I think he pushes me, pushes all of us, to be better and to think differently.”

– Dyani Hanrahan, VP, Marketing and Community Relations

Ira Kress

2022 Food Industry Hall of Fame Inductee

He’s ‘an inspiration for all of us’ “Ira is approachable and Ira’s down to earth. I’ve had him several times in my stores visiting. I always had great visits with him to the point that before we concluded our store visits he always told me, ‘It feels good in here.’ I was always very proud to hear the comment from him…He is real. If there is stuff that we need to be taking care of, he’ll be real with you. He has always been about our customers. Their experiences are always top of his mind…Ira is a role model for many of us. He started as a produce clerk and now he is the president of the company. That is an inspiration for all of us.”

– Ilham Tarbouz, District Director 91, Count on Us, Count on Me and In-Store Experience