2023 SE Piggly Wiggly Hometown Heroes

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THE SHELBY REPORT OF THE SOUTHEAST • APRIL 2023

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It’s all about relationships for Piggly Wiggly

2023

In this special section, The Shelby Report is proud to recognize Piggly Wiggly, one of the most iconic brands in the grocery industry, as our Hometown Heroes for 2023.

The brand, which has the distinction of being the first self-service grocer in the nation, is leading today’s renaissance of the local community market. As a wholesaler, “The Pig” serves partners ranging in size from single-store operators to companies with 20-plus locations.

In the pages that follow, we’ll showcase Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co., as well as Piggly Wiggly Southeast and Piggly Wiggly Midwest – both owned by C&S Wholesale Grocers – and what they provide.

And it should come as little surprise that relationships are at the core of business for each.

According to Mike Olwig, president of Wisconsin-based Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly, the company’s success wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of Piggly Wiggly Midwest. It gives the grocer the buying power to compete on price and promotional levels, as well as product availability and services such as advertising, payroll and accounting.

“Our ability to lean on them for those…it just gives us more time to focus on our customers and our customers’ experience in our stores,” he said.

That relationship never was more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic, which Olwig said Fox Bros. wouldn’t have been able to weather without the wholesaler.

Retailers relish family feel of doing business with Piggly Wiggly Alabama

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Anthony Marino, Keith Milligan, Steve Garrett and Cody McDaniel are retailers who are part of Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. All own their respective stores and some have been buying from the company for decades.

“I can’t remember the year when it happened, but it’s been, I would say, probably one of the best moves we’ve ever made,” said Milligan of JTM Corp.

PWADC hosts three annual food shows where retailers get to meet and speak directly with the supplier. The Shelby Report caught up with the four retailers, Keith Milligan as well as PWADC President and CEO Jerry McCann, to learn why they chose to become part of the company and why it deserves the title of “Hometown Hero.”

McDaniel spoke to his experience with Hurricane Michael in 2018. His stores in northern Florida were in serious danger, but a conversation with McCann set his mind at ease.

“Michael came over and tracked right across the line where all our stores are. I remember sitting in a room at my house, and we didn’t have power,” he recalled. “I Cody McDaniel was just figuring how much inventory we’d lost. I knew it was going to be a very huge obstacle.

“I called Jerry McCann on the phone and said, ‘Jerry I’m going to have a lot of inventory to replace. I’m really worried about our cash flow because it’s going to be quite a bit of money.’ Jerry said, ‘Whatever you need me to do, we’re here for you.’”

The distributor was able to get McDaniel what he needed.

He was even able to give away some of his inventory to first responders, members of the community and his employees who were affected by the natural disaster.

McCann expounded further: “Right after the hurricane, there were almost riots down there of people trying to get food. People were trying to get in and the police had to show up…they weren’t allowed to serve anybody until they had electricity back.

Jerry McCann “One lady walked up saying, ‘I’ve got

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to have formula for my baby.’ Well, the police still wouldn’t let anybody in. So [McDaniel] told the woman to come back later and go around back…When she came back, he gave her the formula. She asked, ‘How much do I owe you?’ He said, ‘You have it.’ And he went back inside. That’s just one of the many things that all of our stores do to take care of their communities.”

For Milligan, PWADC showed its “hometown hero” mettle during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“When COVID first hit, we were working our employees,” he said. “They were working something like 60, 70, 80 hours a week. I was so afraid that they would be upset. But so many of our customers came in and thanked our employees for being there and being open.

“You could tell their chest is poked out with pride, and we didn’t have a single complaint from a single employee. They felt that they were having a chance to do the most important thing they’d ever done in their life.”

Garrett then spoke to the experience his Garrett Foods’ stores had with COVID-19.

“Our people were able to come together at that point. And they gave their all,” he said. “They gave more than what we could have asked for. We were right there with them all day long because those times when we’d be open, we’d just get completely rushed.

“They did everything we knew to do Steve Garrett – everything we could do – to keep our people safe and still serve and still be there. But our people stood up. People stayed on even when I knew they wanted to go home. We’d even have to do second shifts on some of those days just to be able to work the trucks when the store closed.

“That is just one of those times I really feel proud to have people actually stand up when there’s all these struggles.”

Marino shared some of his family’s history, including his grandfather opening a grocery business in 1925. He likened that family to being part of the PWADC. Until recently, Marino’s stores had been supplied by another company.

“I’m thankful that we’ve got people with parentage and history that we can bounce things off of,” he said. “All of us Anthony Marino

retailers in this business. When I look at business and people say, ‘I hope this happens. I hope that happens.’ Hope is not a strategy. You’ve got to have a plan.

“My plan was to stay with [previous supplier]…when my son, AJ, came into the business, he said, ‘Dad we’re moving.’

I asked him where we’re moving to. He said he was planning on interviewing all the warehouses.

“We put one store in Piggly Wiggly, and we saw that it was one of the best. We wanted to feel them out and compare the programs. But not long after that, we put our stores in and that’s where I see them staying.

“In business, you’ve got ups and downs. Our store is no different. But our warehouse, Piggly Wiggly, is well run and it comes from the top down. Jerry McCann, we call him the Energizer Bunny. I’ve got enough energy in my legs, but Jerry McCann has got more. You’ve got to have good leadership and Jerry McCann brings the best.”

McCann expounded on the culture of the warehouse.

“What we preach at the warehouse all the time, ‘It’s not us and they.’ That’s how we make it work,” he said. “Without these folks, we wouldn’t be here.

“We’ve got really good people who are our customers and also our friends. We’re all in this together and we all push hard to make sure our customers are well serviced.”

Keith Milligan echoed those sentiments and reiterated his stance on The Pig. Please see page 30

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“I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, changing our business to the Piggly Wiggly warehouse is the best thing that we’ve ever done,” he said.

“I feel like the warehouse here is part of our business. It’s not the retailers versus the wholesalers trying to work to take advantage of each other.

We’re working together as one group, and this is just another part of our business.”

McDaniel agreed, describing the relationship as “so much like a family.”

“I can pick up the phone and call Jerry any time of the day or night, seven days a week, and he’s going to answer that phone. He’s going to take the call and talk to me. I don’t feel like I’m called the president of the warehouse. I’m calling somebody that’s a friend. We’re partners in a business and their success has been our success.

“We’ve looked [around], even in the past few years, and I am certain that [PWADC] is the best fit to give our customers the best value every day. The service levels are great. I know the drivers by name…[loads] are on time. They’ve done a good job.”

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Emphasis at PWADC is on building from within to help throughout

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. started in 1959 when 27 Piggly Wiggly owners formed the distributing company in an effort to obtain greater buying power.

The company began with a single warehouse, called the Birmingham Food Terminal, with a rented outside freezer and refrigeration facilities. In 1967, the company – known then as the “Birmingham Warehouse” – relocated to larger facilities. It grew from 115,000 square feet to 185,000 square feet, serving Piggly Wigglys exclusively, according to PWADC archive documents.

Since then, PWADC has posted explosive success, now serving more than 270 stores – not all of them Piggly Wiggly – in seven states.

As noted on its website, “Located in Bessemer, Alabama, PWADC provides independent operators the freshest and highest quality bakery/deli, grocery, meat and produce items, as well as advertising services, distribution warehouse and transportation, real accounting, Retail Pricing Management System, three annual food shows and store engineering.”

The company operates from a 1-million-square-foot warehouse that houses all of its operations, from crane operators to corporate offices. The warehouse is the third over a span of 30 years, according to George Davis, department head of grocery shipping. As of March, Davis has been with PWADC 30 years.

“We’ve grown like kudzu since I started,” he said. “The warehouse was half the size it is now…employees were about half as well. I’ve been through – wow – three expansions of the warehouse. I guess I could say that people are going to

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eat, we need to eat and people need to get their food from somewhere. I’m glad it’s us.”

Meat Receiving Manager Marty Allred is a 40-plus-year veteran of PWADC. He briefly expounded upon the company’s expansion. “We moved down here, where we are now, in 1988, and we’ve added on more forklift drivers, employees, you name it. We’ve grown tremendously.”

The current warehouse has seen major Marty Allred improvements as well.

In previous The Shelby Report coverage, where PWADC was named the 2019 Southeast Wholesaler of the Year, the company was undergoing an extensive $1 million lighting project. The goal was to help the warehouse become more “green and energy efficient,” Matt Peters, VP of finance, said at the time.

Matt Peters At the same time, PWADC completed the installation of electric-power receptacles on the refrigerated units to cool delivery trucks more efficiently.

To maintain a steady workforce, Corporate Director of HR Herb Clark has worked closely with members of the local community to encourage workers to join The Pig. The company has been taking the usual routes of attending job fairs and placing ads and billboards. But Clark has devised some unique recruiting tactics.

Herb Clark

“We speak with teachers and guidance counselors from all area high schools,” he said. “They’ll pull out the kids that aren’t going to college but are good kids and are looking for somewhere to work. And I would say that probably 60 percent of the group didn’t even know we were here.”

The company also is making plans to attend local parent teacher association meetings. “Those are things, years ago, you would have never thought about doing,” Clark said.

While the industry as a whole continues to weather inflation and a slowed supply chain, PWADC works closely with its members because they are the owners.

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parent s ago, . inflawith its “It’s truly a business partnership with the retailers. It’s not just a tagline,” Peters said. “The people that we serve own a piece of our cooperative. We don’t have three or four stockholders, the owners of the company are also the retailers that we service.”

That partnership comes with a number of benefits for members, including POS and field support.

“Retags, remodels, grand openings, new case equipment, research, I mean we truly care about the retailers,” said Kenny Hamilton, director of meat, deli and bakery. “We have people that are going out on the street. They go out and assist our customers and help them be successful. That differentiates us from other distributors that are just offering a quick sale.”

PWADC is focused on building from within to help throughout. The company offers a variety of retail services, including advertising, retail store development, engineering and pricing. Advertising is one of the most prominent.

Without it, retailers can’t build their brand.

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Some of the advertising services PWADC offers its members include: ◆ Customer-tailored circular and newspaper ad layouts ◆ Discounted printing ◆ Web pages/Facebook management ◆ Window and specialty signs and banners designs ◆ Gift certificates Retail store development is one of the distributor’s largest service arms. PWADC finds a way to help, whether co-op members need advice or help with event coordination, merchandising, operations or sales.

“We try to help them wherever we can with any of their analytics,” said Dominic Baldone, director of grocery procurement.

“But it all comes down to what the retailers want to do.”

He added that the services provided are suggestions. And that is one of the main differences between a traditional Dominic Baldone wholesaler and a cooperative – PWADC can provide all the tools, but the retailers know their markets best and how to run their stores.

“If they want to put paper towels in the meat department, we aren’t going to walk into their store and stop them. That’s the retail side of things,” Baldone said. “We might have a hand in it all, but that decision, ultimately, stays with the retailer.”

As an example, many Piggly Wigglys – particularly those PWADC serves – have in-house butchers. The company’s various meat programs help retailers decide what to carry.

The company’s extensive Certified Angus Beef program recognizes the desires of independents and customers for fresh meat prepared in-store, according to Hamilton.

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“Butchers are something that is synonymous with Piggly Wiggly. Most of all of our retailers cut product in-house, fresh daily,” he said.

Hamilton also said CAB program is the company’s mainstay.

“We offer it to all our customers. It’s something that they can use as a brandKenny Hamilton ing tool as long as they go through the Certified Angus Beef class,” he said. “Then we’ll help them to use it as an advertising tool.”

In addition, the wholesaler offers a case-ready program that is mostly used by members as a backup, Hamilton said.

It is particularly popular with those that don’t have access to an in-house butcher.

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B&W Foods ownership preaches ‘value of the Piggly Wiggly brand’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. has been a part of Jay Welborn’s entire life. Welborn, co-owner of B&W Foods in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has partnered with PWADC for 23 years. His father, Jimmy, the founder of B&W, had previously worked for the distributor beginning in 1980.

His late father worked his way up from Jay Welborn a retail counselor to director of store development. During that time, he met Ronnie Baker, a longtime friend and customer of PWADC. In fact, Welborn said his father convinced Baker to switch from his previous distributor to PWADC. “One thing my dad used to preach – which I do today – is the value of the Piggly Wiggly brand,” Welborn said. “We all make our name and live off our reputations, but there’s just some brands and things that stand a little taller than we ever can.”

The two went into business together to open B&W Foods, with their first Piggly Wiggly opening in 1998 in Northport, Alabama. Baker continues to share ownership with Welborn, whose father passed away in 2010. By that time, the business had grown to include four stores.

Welborn was ready to take the reins after having grown up in the industry. He had previously worked in stores, visited them with his father and earn a degree in small company management and entrepreneurship from the University of Alabama.

B&W’s first store opened when he was starting college.

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Welborn said he and his father were discussing their own store and it got the latter’s “retail side flowing again.”

“It was definitely something that I wanted to do, and I think it spurred him into looking at what the options were as we weren’t in a position to buy a store,” he said. “Fortunately, he came across Mr. Baker, and he and my dad saw things the same and they partnered up. It’s all kind of history from there.”

In 2020, B&W opened its fifth store. “Yep, right in the middle of COVID-19,” Welborn said with a chuckle.

As anybody opening a new business would know, there really is no ideal time to do it. That couldn’t have been more apparent than during a global pandemic. But Welborn said the store was available and intriguing.

“We were trying to figure everything out, how we could make it work,” he recalled. “It was too good of an opportunity to pass it up because we were concerned about whether or not our warehouse could handle trying to take on that volume in the middle of everything in that period. But we got it to work and opened on the last day of 2020.”

Structurally, the building was in good shape, though it did need some major renovations. Welborn had to gut it to put in new cases and energy-efficient refrigeration. He also replaced all the doors and wood flooring, as well as installing LED lighting.

It was a difficult process. Not only the physical strain of trying to navigate major renovations while parts of the country were sheltering in place, but it was also the first major project Welborn undertook without his father.

“It was difficult,” he said. “Even when he wasn’t in the best of health, when we opened our first store, he was

very much involved. That was the first one I got to really participate from the very first step and was responsible for making sure the plans that we laid out and the equipment we ordered and everything was as it should be. It was difficult.”

Speaking to accomplishing that goal without his father, Welborn said he would’ve been proud of the fact his son was comfortable enough with the operation to undertake a new store.

“It’s a little bittersweet, probably more sad than proud. In the overall picture, I was involved. But I always had a pretty good safety net. It was only that my dad wasn’t there to see it because I think it was something he would have been really, really proud of.”

Welborn has no plans for a sixth store but is “certainly keeping [his] eyes open.” He is more concerned about making sure his company takes care of its current stores, keeping them staffed and supplied.

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Community involvement is ‘secret sauce’ for Piggly Wiggly Midwest

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Headquartered in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Piggly Wiggly Midwest has been a regional institution since 1911. Founded as the Schultz Brothers Co. by brothers Herman, Arthur and Oscar Schultz, the company was a wholesale dealer dedicated to serving independent grocers.

In 1949, the brothers began operating Piggly Wiggly corporate retail stores, according to Mark McGowan, SVP of retail for C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC (C&S).

By 1962, the company’s name had been changed to Schultz Sav-O Stores Inc., following Schultz Brothers Co.’s purchase of Sav-O Corp., which was a trading stamp company. Schultz Sav-o Stores went public that same year. It operated as a corporate entity for Piggly Wiggly for 20 years, McGowan explained.

In 1982, the company obtained the right to grant franchises under the Piggly Wiggly banner in parts of eastern and central Wisconsin, northern Illinois and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. By 1998, franchise rights had expanded to include all of Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota and Iowa.

The wholesale company continued under the Schultz Sav-O name until June 2001, when it became known as Fresh Brands, Inc., McGowan continued. The company experienced various changes throughout the 2000s. In February 2006, Fresh Brands was purchased by Certifresh Holdings, Inc. and taken private.

The company was acquired the following year by the Butera Family. The Fresh Brands moniker went away in 2009 when it adopted the Piggly Wiggly Midwest name.

As of two years ago, Piggly Wiggly Midwest sold to C&S, McGowan said. The company consists of more than 100 retail stores that include a combination of corporate-owned Piggly Wiggly locations, independent Piggly Wiggly franchise customers and independently-branded (non-Piggly Wiggly)

customers.

The corporate and franchise stores are in Wisconsin, but the independents are scattered throughout Wisconsin and Illinois, according to McGowan. These stores range in size from about 18,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet.

Business is continuing to grow as the company looks for “new opportunities with our existing customers as well as adding new customers to the mix,” said Mike Isken, senior director of finance for Piggly Wiggly Midwest. Those new opportunities are in the planning stages.

“We have a road map outlining perspective new locations,” Isken said.

What really matters to Isken and McGowan is if a location contains the Piggly Wiggly “secret sauce.” “[That] is really our franchise group or the nature of our stores and the way they operate within their communities,” Isken said. “Whether it’s supporting their Little League, heading up charity golf outings for Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, our franchisees are just so engaged in their communities.”

“That’s what matters most – being a part of their community. It’s more than just providing groceries, it’s being a central part of their every day.”

Piggly Wiggly Midwest getting its name ‘back out there,’ supporting communities

by Treva Bennett / senior content creator Piggly Wiggly Midwest is continuing to look for ways to create value for its customers along with accelerating its ability to deliver best-in-class services, according to Beau Oshiro, VP and general manager.

“We remain committed to satisfying our customers’ needs to the fullest and are dedicated to taking the necessary actions to achieve our overall strategic priorities that drive long-term growth,” he said. “That’s our vision for our independents and franchisees that we support.”

Wisconsin-based Piggly Wiggly Midwest was purchased

by C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC (C&S) in August 2021. The following June, Oshiro started his new role.

Headquartered in Sheboygan, Piggly Wiggly Midwest currently serves 116 store locations, including 95 Piggly Wiggly, 11 Butera Markets and 10 independents. It also operates two distribution centers in Sheboygan.

Piggly Wiggly Midwest is a full-service operator, Oshiro said, offering its customers “basically everything to operate a grocery store.” The corporate stores are owned and operated by Piggly Wiggly Midwest, while the franchisees are independently owned and operated.

Oshiro said one of the focuses for the company in 2023 is to grow its independent business. While a franchisee basically agrees to all of the services that Piggly Wiggly Midwest provides, an independent can pick which ones it would like to use.

“They could be a la carte, and that’s how we would service them based on the needs that they ask of us,” he said.

Independents doing business with Piggly Wiggly Midwest

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do not have to change their banners to the Piggly Wiggly name. Piggly Wiggly Midwest will provide their service needs, such as distribution or marketing – “whatever they ask us to partner with them on.”

Since C&S acquired Piggly Wiggly Midwest, Oshiro said it has worked to give back to the community and get the company’s name back out in the public. It offers corporate and franchise support for its stores.

A recent Piggly Wiggly Midwest golf outing resulted in a donation of $100,000 shared between three local organizations – Hunger Task Force, Feeding America Southeastern Wisconsin and Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin. During Thanksgiving, Piggly Wiggly Midwest partnered with the Milwaukee Brewers Community Foundation and Hunger Task Force for their annual drive-thru food drive at American Family Field.

“We had 46,000 pounds of food donated by the community and more than 500 turkeys. We also donated 145 turkeys to the Sheboygan Food Bank,” Oshiro said.

The corporate office hosted a holiday food drive, resulting in a donation of 6,028 pounds of food to the Sheboygan Food Bank. It also sponsored a fundraising campaign where the winner could pick between a Piggly Wiggly-branded 2022 Jeep Wrangler or $50,000 in cash.

Piggly Wiggly Midwest franchisees also are strong supporters of their local communities, Oshiro said. He noted that Malicki’s Piggly Wiggly has partnered with Hunger Task Force on a mobile market.

“Basically, it’s a trailer retrofitted into a mobile grocery store,” he explained. “The franchisee stocks fresh produce, meat and dairy into the trailer, and this mobile market travels to food desert neighborhoods throughout Milwaukee.

Through grants and federal funding, customers pay half price on everything coming out of that mobile market.”

Another franchisee, Fox Brothers Piggly Wiggly, has a roundup program to support local charities. In 2022, it donated more than $350,000. A Piggly Wiggly store in Juneau supported local search and rescue diving teams in the community with a donation to buy new equipment.

“From our franchisee point of view – and a corporate point of view – we’re definitely supporting the vision of supporting our communities that we serve.”

Oshiro said he wants to get the Piggly Wiggly Midwest name “back out there to say, hey, we are in your communities, and we support your communities on top of selling you groceries.”

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For Stinebrink’s, Piggly Wiggly has become ‘best fit for our family’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Family and community are at the center of Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly, which is based in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Local involvement begins at the store level and continues up to Stinebrink’s president, Matt Stinebrink.

Stinebrink owns the company in partnership with his brother, David, and cousins, Tim, Ben and Todd. David’s wife, Kathy, is the company’s chief marketing officer.

Stinebrink’s was begun in 1974 by grandfather Edward and his sons, Mark and Brett.

Not long after opening as a Certified Foods grocery store, the name was changed to Super Value, Stinebrink said. In 1981, Roundy’s grocery chain offered the owners a chance to run a new store in Lake Geneva under a Pick N’ Save banner.

That Pick N’ Save building still stands today as Piggly Wiggly Lake Geneva. In 1990, the family purchased another Pick N’ Save operation in Delavan, Wisconsin. The Stinebrinks didn’t join the Piggly Wiggly family until 2008.

The change came about when the owners of the Pick N’ Save brand decided they wanted to go in a “more corporate direction.” The Stinebrink family wanted to keep the familyowned business independent.

“We started looking at different warehouses and Piggly Wiggly became the best fit for our family,” Stinebrink said.

Since joining Piggly Wiggly, the company has opened two more stores, both in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with the most recent in 2019. There are no plans to further expand, though Stinebrink added “you never know what the future holds.”

Community remains most important to Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly. The company partners with many local vendors to get some exclusive and hard-to-acquire products. For example, it works with a cheesemaker and a local brewery to carry their respective products.

One of the more unique ways the Stinebrinks connect with customers is through their Facebook bourbon club, Kathy Stinebrink said. Their stores have an “extensive” liquor inventory.

She said they wanted to capitalize on the ongoing bourbon craze. And it really helps those who are enthusiastic about bourbon and others who are just looking for a simple way to find it.

“There’s some specific bottles that are really hard to get,” she said. “People will buy up your whole inventory and then go sell on the secondary market. So, we created a space where we could make sure our customers are getting these

hard-to-find bottles.

“We’ll announce that we have something, and they can claim or put a hold on their bottle for a week. That’s been well received and it’s a great way to make sure [bottles] get into the hands of our customers and not just secondary sellers.”

But the more than 1,000-member Facebook group extends past liquor, offering information on wines, beers and events the company hosts.

“Matt does one with his buddy called ‘Fatts and Fausto’s 12 days of Wines of Christmas’... and then also any kind of beer. We’ve done some things with a company called MobCraft Beer out of Milwaukee and they make custom beers,” she said.

Just recently, Stinebrink’s and MobCraft conducted a community poll for four different custom beers, with the winner becoming an exclusive store product for the summer.

Alongside the exclusive beers, David Stinebrink said the company has 13 different single barrel bourbon picks exclusive to its Piggly Wigglys. In fact, the Stinebrinks travel to Kentucky, Tennessee and parts of Wisconsin to find the barrels and decide which to carry.

They also take these collaborations and exclusivity a step forward. They have a partnership with a local cheesemaker that provides two exclusive cheeses to the stores. Both are aged in one of the single barrel bourbon picks the company has from a distillery in Wisconsin, Kathy Stinebrink said.

Their cheesemonger turns the products into an exclusive bourbon cheddar and a bourbon gouda, soaking them in bourbon and providing them to the stores to sell in the deli.

But the connection between Stinebrink’s Piggly Wiggly and the community at large goes well beyond the stores.

Kathy Stinebrink specifically mentioned involvement with the Lake Geneva Junior Chamber, commonly known as the Jaycees, a civic organization focused on developing young adults. In fact, Matt Stinebrink is a past president of a local chapter.

The company also works with Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Wisconsin.

Stinebrink’s puts together an annual golf outing for both organizations.

“It’s just about supporting people that support us,” Kathy Stinebrink said.

Supporting youth is a company priority. Representatives from the company attend the Walworth County Fair every year to participate in the Meat Animal Sale, which is made up of children in the 4-H and FFA programs. The company will buy animals, with the funds generally going toward college education or other things the kids may need.

Stinebrink’s also hosts an annual Easter egg hunt at its stores for children 5 and younger. Hundreds of plastic eggs are hidden throughout the stores, and participants can cash them in for prizes depending on the number they find.

The company’s largest community involvement comes from its Thanksgiving meal donation drive, Matt Stinebrink said. Customers donate money toward providing holiday meals for local food pantries. Every $35 is another meal made. Last year, more than 200 meals were donated from one store.

Fox Bros. credits success to partnership with Piggly Wiggly Midwest

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly is the only 100 percent employee-owned grocery store in southeastern Wisconsin. Moreover, with 10 stores across four counties, it is the largest multi-store Piggly Wiggly group in the state.

Brothers Pat and Bob Fox founded the company in 1988 in Hartland. Within 10 years, they had opened their second store in Oconomowoc, according to Mike Olwig, president of Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly. The company is now headquartered in Oconomowoc.

In 2006, Bob decided to retire, leaving Pat and his wife, Laurie, to take ownership of the stores. The couple got to work, growing the company to six stores by 2011, with all of them in the suburban Milwaukee area. By 2017, they started looking to leave the business.

“Pat and Laurie had many options on what to do as they decided to exit the business.

They could have sold it to other franchisors, but they had the foresight to really give back to the people in the stores and decided to make it 100 percent employee-owned,” Olwig said.

The Foxes continue to be a part of the company to this day on the board of directors.

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However, they officially retired in 2020, according to Michael Fox, their son and the company’s director of professional development.

He added that his parents wanted to give back to the employees who made Fox Bros. the company it is today. In essence, every person that is at least 19 and works 1,000 hours within a year is earning shares in the company.

“That reward [for the employees] is really important to them,” he said. “It also allowed them to stay involved. They spent – at that point 30 years – working on creating this company and being involved in the community. They wanted to make sure that could continue.”

Also important was maintaining the family culture that is the foundation of Fox Bros.

It’s reflected in the company’s most recent – and successful – marketing campaigns, “Our owners are your neighbors.”

“Our stores truly are operated within those communities that the stores are in,” Michael Fox said. “The majority of those people live within 15 minutes of those stores. And being employee-owned, those communities are benefiting directly from the success of their local grocery store.”

Despite the industry’s current labor woes, he said the campaign has seen “a lot of success” in adding team members and driving retention.

Olwig noted that the success of Fox Bros. Piggly Wiggly wouldn’t be possible without the partnership of its supplier, Piggly Wiggly Midwest.

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Since its inception, Fox Brothers Piggly Wiggly has worked with PWM, which Olwig said gives the grocer the buying power to compete on “price level, promotional level and product availability.”

“They’re also a partner in the services that they provide – advertising assistance, payroll and accounting and marketing,” he said. “Our ability to lean on them for those services, it just gives us more time to focus on our customers and our customers’ experience in our stores.”

That relationship never was more apparent than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’ll never forget those days,” Olwig said. “You walk into a store and you see empty shelves, there are completely wiped out meat departments. During that time, we did whatever we could. And I know Piggly Wiggly Midwest did whatever they could, too. We were able to make it through. I know we wouldn’t have been able to do that without them.”

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Thanks to Piggly Wiggly Midwest, Frank’s can be ‘two stores in one’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Frank’s Piggly Wiggly started small, beginning in 1981 with 5,000 square feet of space in downtown Elkhorn, Wisconsin.

Within a year, however, the company had moved across the street to a location twice that size, according to owners Stephanie, Steve and Frank Lueptow. By 1991, it had outgrown that location. The company decided to build a 40,000-square-feet location that it still occupies today.

The family opened a second store in 2009, taking over a 30,000-square-foot location just eight miles away in East Troy, Wisconsin, Frank Lueptow said. Customers are known to frequent both stores. Though close in distance and featuring the same layout, the sites differentiate themselves in many ways.

“We’re a small chain, so we don’t have district managers. We have different managers that we really empower,” Steve Leuptow said.

He shared an example of the stores’ specialty items.

“Maybe Amanda in Elkhorn makes something better or different than the way Kevin does in East Troy,” Leuptow continued. “So that customer might shop here one day because they like Amanda’s eggplant better or maybe Kevin has a better salad recipe … we empower our managers, and they sometimes make what they’re passionate about.”

The company works closely with its distributor, Piggly Wiggly Midwest, carrying all the “Pig brands,” Lueptow said. But what sets Frank’s Piggly Wiggly apart from the other PWM members was described by Stephanie Lueptow as being “two stores in one.”

“We say we’re two stores in one. We’re Piggly Wiggly. We’ve got small, cheaper prices and then we’re also a specialty store,” she said.

The stores each offer prepared foods alongside an in-store butcher. All the items come fresh from the deli’s kitchen. The stores even have their own card system that identifies items that might separate them from the average grocer. The card system is like a shelf-tag advertisement.

“But they aren’t really deals. It’s more things that we feel that make us someplace special,” Stephanie Lueptow said. “It’s more meaning the specialty items that we create in the store.

Things like the bacon-wrapped-tenderloin, the Al Capone rosé, the stuffed tenderloin with cream cheese and the peppers … they’re the above and beyond stuff that makes us unique.”

While the company saw success with online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, its use has tapered off.

Elkhorn Store Manager Scott Atwell said most people want to touch and feel their food, something they couldn’t always do during the pandemic.

“There are people trying for a sense of normalcy. They want to come in and they want to look at that ribeye before they put it in their cart. They want to see the different options,” he said.

Personal connection is the most important aspect of the business. That’s why the family says it will never implement self-checkout lanes.

“I feel the customer doesn’t want self-checkouts, even though a lot of chains are going that way,” Steve Leuptow said.

Sarah Hewlett, human resources director, said the company values tradition.

“We want to be the hometown hero where you see the same cashiers or go to Adriana because you know that she can speak Spanish … customers really do love that. That’s the cornerstone of us for our customers,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean the Leuptow family ignores customers’ interests. Stephanie Leuptow acts as the company’s unofficial marketing coordinator.

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“She has a brilliant mind for that,” Hewlett explained. “She knows or at least sees what is upcoming. Like we’re doing a lot of keto stuff right now, we’re moving into plant-based, which is what our [customers] are looking at.”

The passion the Leuptows bring to the grocery business is generational – three generations, to be exact. And those generations work across the two stores. In total, nearly a dozen family members hold various roles. Some were born into the business, while others married in. And then some have become unofficial family simply because they love where they work.

Taking care of their employees is one of Steve Leuptow’s highest priorities.

“We try to be competitive, very competitive wages and benefits. That’s very important,” he said. “But it’s also important to have a work-family feeling where people care about each other. You like the person working next to you and your manager cares about you.”

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Independents, down-home roots focus of Piggly Wiggly Southeast

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Building on the brand’s iconic history, C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC (C&S) operates corporate Piggly Wiggly stores while serving independent franchisees under a chain-style model known as Piggly Wiggly Southeast. The grocer offers the selections and assortments of a national chain with the service and customization of a community-based retailer.

C&S acquired Piggly Wiggly Carolina, a longtime supplier and retail entity across South Carolina and Georgia, in 2014 after a long partnership between the two companies, according to John Owens, VP and general manager of the Southeast for C&S. The partnership between Piggly Wiggly Southeast and C&S dates to the early 2010s. Struggling financially, Piggly Wiggly wasn’t doing enough volume to help support its independent customers. Piggly Wiggly Carolina made the decision to exit the distribution side of the business and partner with C&S. That, in turn, eventually led to the acquisition.

Owens, an industry veteran who was working for a different company at the time, said the decision was made to mutually benefit C&S, Piggly Wiggly Southeast, and the vendor community at large.

C&S offered to buy what was then known as “Piggly Wiggly Retail Services” under Piggly Wiggly Carolina. It is now an organization within C&S known as Retail Services. Retail Services provides the merchandising, marketing, accounting, franchising and refrigeration services to more than 50 stores in South Carolina and parts of Georgia, Owens said.

C&S wanted to focus on continued support of independent-owned Piggly Wiggly stores. That’s the origin of much of the merchandising and slogans, including “Down home. Down the street,” “Piggly Wiggly, local since forever” and “When you see this face, you know you’re in the right place.”

C&S also holds the Piggly Wiggly brand, which was acquired by C&S in 2003, as part of the acquisition of the Flemming Company.

No matter where you find “The Pig,” C&S wants to ensure that what it offers is going to benefit communities. Each Piggly Wiggly has national connections while staying true to its down-home roots. This comes in the form of branding, merchandising and e-commerce.

Circulars are some of the most common – and diverse – examples of branding, according to John Gianakas, senior director of national merchandising for C&S. The company distributes circulars to Piggly Wigglys on a weekly basis. Each area is different and some can be unique to specific stores.

“We have independent owners, and they own the content of the circular,” Gianakas explained. “We produce a circular for them and then they make any changes that they would like to make.

“If they would like to add items into the circular, if they want to lower the retails in the circular, if they want to do any features, human interest stories, anything they want – we facilitate on their behalf.”

C&S also hosts The Pig’s websites. Piggly Wiggly operates the main site, pigglywiggly.com, as well as distinct pages for both Piggly Wiggly Southeast and Piggly Wiggly Midwest.

The main website helps direct customers to the proper website. Gianakas gave an example of people in Louisiana hoping to find the website for their local Piggly Wiggly.

“Let’s say they want to see a Pig store that they want to know something more about or see their circular, they can click on that location, and it will take them to their website,” he said.

Website hosting is something that C&S was handling long before it acquired the Piggly Wiggly name. At the beginning of 2023, it relaunched the website with new graphics,

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logos and branding campaigns, as well as improved navigation, Gianakas said.

The hosting site is also the retailers’ main portal to The Pig’s brand. There, they can access logos, uniforms, branding information and “Piggly Wiggly Swag.”

The iconic pig C&S has also been working on the Piggly Wiggly brand.

Gianakas said it updated all the logos, merchandising and packaging for the first time in more than 20 years. This included redesigning of the Piggly Wiggly private-branded products, which last occurred in the 1990s.

Branding also is a large part of C&S’s services. The Pig is an iconic brand, Owens said.

“Whether it be Jimmy Buffet or Bill Murray or somebody who’s visiting from France who goes to Myrtle Beach and buys a t-shirt and wears it back, you can see the pig face show up anywhere. It’s a local thing,” he said.

These branding campaigns change about every three years, but C&S always wants to emphasize the independent retailers that are working to feed communities. As of March, Piggly Wiggly was undergoing its “it’s not” campaign. Slogans such as “It’s not the holidays without the Pig” or “It’s not a family picnic without the Pig” can be seen throughout stores.

“It’s always something to show we’re a part of your community,” Owens said. “We invest in the community.

We’re local. We’re locally operated. We’re not owned by some foreign conglomerate or some huge corporation. Each one is owned by members within the communities that they service.”

The campaigns are implemented throughout the more than 500 Piggly Wigglys across the country. Owners are notified and directed to their portals to purchase signs, uniforms or various advertising materials. They can take the campaign as far as they’d like.

Some owners source billboards or buy local radio or TV ad space. They can customize their store layout, décor, and offerings in accordance with the Piggly Wiggly brand. “They have the flexibility to cater to their customers and their community,” Gianakas said.

Keeping close to the pen Piggly Wiggly experienced much success during the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift from dining out to at home affected the supermarket industry and Gianakas said Piggly Wiggly owners tended to fare very well. He attributed that to Piggly Wiggly’s homestyle connection to communities and the safety they provided.

“People became uncomfortable going to the big box stores in the midst of the pandemic because they’re around more people,” he said. “They felt more comfortable going into more neighborhood-type stores.

“We found that our independent owners had a vested interest because they own the business. They wanted to make sure that it was safe for the customers.”

Gianakas noted that many national brands took similar

precautions, with plexiglass, advanced sanitation practices and personal protective equipment practices quite common.

But Pig owners did more than that. They took time to care for loyal customers, get to know new faces – even though they were hidden by masks – and invest even more support into local organizations, which made all the difference.

“We found that Piggly Wiggly stores, certainly to the ones that we manage … outpaced the rest of the market,” he said. “And when they were able to outpace the rest of the market from a sales perspective, that translated to improved customer satisfaction and updated stores.”

C&S helps its members facilitate these upgrades. The company employs a full-time design consultant for independents whose sole job is to serve as a general advisor for any changes they would like to make. That could include providing computer-aided designs, connecting with equipment vendors and identifying energy-saving practices.

“He acts as a kind of project manager for remodels or for upgrades,” Owens said. “He can bring in contractors, electricians, painters, refrigeration experts, whoever it might be.

They’ll work with the store owners to bring whatever they might need to make the store better.”

‘Mud and clay’ The process of starting any business can be daunting.

Luckily, C&S helps prospective Pig owners through the process. One of the first steps to becoming a Piggly Wiggly owner is identifying a location.

That process is determined by several factors. Some Piggly Wigglys can be opened through repurposed or vacant buildings while others must be “built up from the mud and clay.” Once a location has been identified, C&S helps owners’ vet the prospective sales among other statistics.

“We will look at everything from the expense structure to the prospective business,” Gianakas said. “What is the population? Who is the target demographic? How does that fit with the Piggly Wiggly brand, with the products and services that are offered by Piggly Wiggly? And then we will help them with sales projections.”

After the stats have been pinpointed, C&S continues to work with the owner to design a potential store layout and identify the best products to carry. In some cases, it also will aid in finding financial support.

When it comes time for the store to open, the company will schedule a grand opening ceremony. C&S also will invite local media and community leaders to the celebration, generating as much exposure as possible.

C&S will continue to partner with the store for four weeks to ensure everything runs smoothly, Gianakas said. Then it all comes back to the continuous services C&S provides, such as merchandising and advertising.

The company also offers its members access to product specialists. For the 53 stores that Piggly Wiggly Southeast covers, there are two meat product specialists (who are former department managers) and one specialist each for produce and deli-bakery.

And much like the weekly circulars that C&S provides, the company sends out a weekly newsletter to help maintain communication with stores and keep owners current on products and operations.

At the same time, owners frequently communicate with each other. Sometimes it’s to share business practices.

Other times, it’s just to catch up and maintain friendships.

“Some grew up with each other. They know each other.

They don’t really compete,” Gianakas said. “They see each other as part of a team. They are a Piggly Wiggly family.”

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Industry veteran who later became an owner reflects on storied career

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Lynn Willard has been working with Piggly Wiggly since he was 16, starting as a part-time bagger. He continued into college, eventually deciding to leave school – and the grocery industry. But that didn’t last long.

“I said, ‘You know what? I miss the grocery business.’ I enjoyed it a lot,” he said. “I really liked what I was doing. I liked everything about it. So, I went back to the Piggly Wiggly, got a job and the rest is kind of history.”

He has worked with Piggly Wiggly Carolina, now known as Piggly Wiggly Lynn Willard Southeast, since the family-owned business’ purchase by C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC (C&S) in 2014. Piggly Wiggly Carolina had been facing some financial difficulties. That’s when Willard decided to become an owner.

“I approached Piggly Wiggly about selling some stores to me and I was able to secure some funding, because I didn’t have that kind of money,” he said. “And the short story is – it worked out.”

Willard began the ownership portion of his career with six Piggly Wigglys, doing business as Lowcountry Grocers. He’s since added eight more, with all 14 in South Carolina.

According to Willard, the move from managing to owning stores wasn’t “as bad as you might think.” He said he’s handled just about anything in the store. He got his first leadership position in 1992, when he became a corporate assistant store manager. He continued to run stores on a

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day-to-day basis for nine years.

In 2001, he became a district manager, supervising about 13 company-owned stores through Piggly Wiggly Carolina.

By 2006, he was director of operations, with oversight of all retail locations for Piggly Wiggly Carolina. At the time, that was 86 stores.

“When I transitioned to ownership, I was already very confident and comfortable doing the day-to-day and operating a grocery store. What I had to adjust to was being an owner,” Willard said.

“Structuring and managing healthcare policies, 401(k), rent negotiations and leases, managing cash flow. The list is long,” he said. “I had to adjust and learn from an owner’s point of view. But even some of that – with the experience I had – wasn’t as difficult as you might think,” Willard explained.

He added that the change would have been much more difficult were it not for the help of an experienced team of managers and workers. He knew them all quite well. And over the years, he’s learned to adapt.

“I’ve had to delegate more and also trust the team a little more,” said Willard, adding that involves communication and making sure “everybody is on the same page. I’m not able to put my hands in it as it once was.”

Willard likes to touch base with all his stores, visiting one nearly every day of the week. He likes to know their ins and

outs.

He also said his management style has evolved. At one point in his career, he would use store walks to point out what needed to be fixed or improved from a technical aspect.

“Now, it’s how can I help? How can I assist? What do you have that I can help you with? What are your needs?”

Being part of the team is most important to him. Willard’s operational background allows him to see his stores “in the bigger picture.” Overall issues, trends or practices are consistently shared. The team’s coordination skills have been put to the test with ongoing store remodels. Two have been completed and a “major remodel” of Willard’s store in Florence, South Carolina, is well under way. He has plans to continue the upgrades well into 2024.

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Lowcountry Grocers proud to carry ‘The Pig’ banner in competitive market

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator Piggly Wiggly in North Charleston, South Carolina, has weathered some challenges over the past few decades.

It began in the 1990s when the city decided that the retail center shared by The Pig, a BI-LO and a few other businesses should be blocked off from the main road.

“Immediately, that BI-LO bailed out,” said Craig Kelley, director of operations said. “But we stayed and kind of suffered because of that cutoff.”

The store had done extremely well up until that point. It then saw diminished returns as more customers had to adjust to the new traffic configuration. The store Craig Kelly sits on the side of a six-lane highway with a concrete barrier between the road and parking lot. A single four-way traffic light is the customers’ only access point.

Still, the store hung on, which Manager Freddie Broach attributed to its devoted customers and workers.

When Piggly Wiggly Carolina dissolved in 2014, Lynn Willard decided to take over ownership of the site and a few others.

Willard went to work updating the location under his company’s name, Lowcountry Grocers. Most of the remodel was a Freddie Broach facelift, but he provided sound leadership and a solid path forward.

“The good thing about it is Mr. Willard is my boss. He’s all I have to answer to,” Kelly said. “Everything we do is

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something near and dear to his and our hearts, so we trust him to do it and he trusts us.”

Kelly said the group of 14 stores owned by Willard works cooperatively as the market areas Willard operates have become “highly saturated.”

“The market is very competitive. So many competitors are coming into the area, so we’ve got to be able to continuously compete with all these big brands,” he said.

The North Charleston store is famous for its in-store butcher. It saw a lot of success during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Broach.

“I think it played in our favor because you couldn’t get much meat throughout the whole pandemic. You couldn’t buy in bulk. You sometimes couldn’t find it at all,” he said.

“We got people going through these processing techniques, and they’re working hard and people really appreciated it.”

Workers in the meat department cut almost every single piece of meat that goes on the store shelves. Labor might be the only thing holding back the operation. “If I could hire 15 people and make payroll limits, I’d do it,” Kelly said.

He went on to note that labor has “always been an issue for any grocer.”

While the butcher is something Kelly and Broach are particularly proud of, what they admire most about the store is its dedication to a charitable event known as “The Basket Brigade.”

Begun about 20 years ago, the event aims to get meals in the hands of those who need them at the holidays. During the first, about 10 or 15 families received baskets, according to Kelly. However, since North Charleston and the other Piggly Wigglys within Lowcountry Grocers have joined in to help, the event has grown exponentially. Within the past year, 3,500 families received food that was donated by the grocers.

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‘No matter who you walk in as, you’re family’ at Piggly Wiggly Southeast

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator The McLeod family is somewhat unique in its business interests. Ricky McLeod’s grandfather has been in the grocery industry since the 1940s. After his death, McLeod’s father, Billy, took over the food retail side and continues in it to this day. In fact, at age 92, he still comes into the office Monday through Friday, Ricky Ricky McLeod McLeod said.

Alongside the McLeods’ grocery business, known as Piggly Wiggly Central, they own and manage a farm. Run by McLeod’s father and brother, the site boasts 400 heads of black Angus beef cattle and about 3,500 acres of row crops.

And the McLeod family has a longtime personal relationship with The Pig. McLeod’s grandfather’s store was called Mac Supermarkets until he met Joe Newton, founder of Piggly Wiggly Carolina.

“Mr. Joe Newton, back in the day, was building the warehouse in Charleston and he was coming around to all the independents to get them to put the Piggly Wiggly name on the side of their building,” McLeod explained.

McLeod even met the legendary wholesaler when he was a young grocery clerk.

“He would come around in his car to all the Piggly Wigglys.

He was the nicest and the smartest guy that I’ve ever known,” McLeod said. “He built the Piggly Wiggly brand in South Carolina, and everybody was his family.

“He was out checking on all the independents. He would see what they needed, asking ‘what can I do to make it

better,’” McLeod said. “He’s just one of a kind.”

McLeod said Piggly Wiggly is a brand that people have always gravitated to because “no matter who you walk in as, you’re family.”

In addition to his role as co-owner of the family’s Piggly Wigglys, McLeod looks after 150 head of Texas longhorns on property he purchased from his father. According to a report in The Sumter Item, McLeod is the owner of the only registered herd of Texas longhorns in South Carolina. He also owns three Mac’s Place Spirits liquor stores, Mac’s Place Party Shop and a restaurant called Willie Sue’s.

Out of all his businesses, ranching is by far his favorite. He said it’s the best way to “get away from everything. The cows are just peaceful, and you can’t help but feel at peace when you’re out there taking care of them.”

However, the grocery business is the most stressful.

At one point, the family had 16 Piggly Wigglys. That is now down to eight across seven counties in South Carolina. When downsizing, McLeod sold a few to Piggly Wiggly Carolina alumnus Lynn Willard, who also bought some stores from Piggly Wiggly Southeast.

While the McLeods’ businesses were not failing, the family realized they weren’t thriving and there was more to gain from letting some locations go. “It also saved me about 100,000 miles a year on my car,” McLeod said.

The eight grocery stores have seen much success. In fact, they continue

to be one of family’s more profitable businesses. Earlier this year, two of the stores finished remodels. McLeod said the projects were focused primarily on the meat and produce departments, which received energy-efficient refrigeration. They were the third and fourth stores to receive this treatment.

The project to replace the refrigeration in all eight stores has been a nearly three-year project. The locations are also receiving LED fixtures, fresh paint and new equipment.

“We’ve been in this business since 1952 or so,” he said.

“And if you know anything about the grocery business or just business in general, you’re always putting money into it. We’re constantly putting money back into the stores.

Whether it’s painting, whether it’s retiling or ordering new equipment, you’re constantly doing something.”

Fogle’s, Inc. owner: Opportunity ‘never been better’ for independents

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator “Piggly Wiggly is an excellent name here in the South. Everybody knows it. It has a good reputation.” That’s how Chuck Fogle, VP at Fogle’s, Inc., explained switching the family business to The Pig. The Fogle family owns six Piggly Wiggly stores across South Carolina. The family has been in the grocery business since the Chuck Fogle mid-80s. In 1998, Fogle’s, Inc. switched its banner from Giant Food World to the famous pig.

Fogle doesn’t care to talk much about himself or his business, saying instead what really matters is the way his customers are treated. Asked about his community involvement or the success of the stores, he replied: “We know where our blessing comes from, and we’ll just leave it at that … we believe in supporting the community.”

Business was good before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Fogle’s, Inc. saw the same boom as many other independents. Again, Fogle just commended his teams and their support of their communities.

“When [the pandemic] started, all the news media talked about was gloom and doom, and our people and customers were scared,” he recalled. “We didn’t know what was going to happen.

“We have a good team, but we all stuck together and served the customer and just kept working. Everybody kept their heads down and went to work for each other.”

Fogle’s pandemic experience was perhaps a bit unique than others. As it approached, his company was putting the finishing touches on a store, which celebrated its grand opening in February 2020. Within 60 days, the country shut down.

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“It probably couldn’t have been timed worse. But we made it,” he said.

Since the pandemic, Fogle has been working to remodel and expand the other stores. He’s completed the renovation of one and is preparing to undertake two more. He said the most recent remodel was probably the most extensive. It began in 2021 and continued until the end of 2022.

“We added space to pretty much every department, including the back room and the work areas. It was a big project,” he said.

One of the next two stores is going to get similar treatment.

“One that we plan on doing this year is enlarging the footprint a little bit, but we’re getting all new equipment, new decor, it’s going to be a whole redesign,” he said.

He hopes to get those updates started mid-year.

Fogle has also increased pay for his staff “several times,” noting “it’s the right thing to do.” Perhaps as a result, all his stores are fully staffed, something not many grocers can claim in the current work climate.

While staffing isn’t a main issue, there isn’t as much “depth” as he’d like.

“We’re fully staffed, but there’s not really any depth in all our departments,” he said.

“If somebody retires or leaves, we will have to go outside of the company to replace them. When we get a new location or expand, we try and promote from within, if possible.”

In all his years in the grocery industry, what has truly shocked him most is the drop in the number of stores. He recalled when his hometown of Orangeburg, South Carolina, had “six or seven supermarkets in town. Now there are maybe three supermarkets.”

However, he did say that now is the best time to be an independent. “The market is wide open for folks that want to get into the business and try their best,” he said. “I just think the opportunity has never been better.”

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