The Virginian-Pilot
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Ron Dennis, who has served as president of the Farm Fresh supermarket chain for more than 12 years, announced Monday he will retire at the end of the week.
Supervalu Inc., the chain's parent company, will name a successor at a later date, the company said in a written statement. Brian Huff, Supervalu's senior vice president of specialty retail, will take over Farm Fresh's operations in the interim.
The regional chain is based in Virginia Beach and has 45 stores in Hampton Roads, Richmond and Elizabeth City, N.C.
Dennis, 65, started in the supermarket business 52 years ago as a meat cutter apprentice at the Publix chain, according to Supervalu. In late 1997, he joined Farm Fresh as president after food distributor Richfood Holdings Inc. announced plans to buy the regional supermarkets, which were then headquartered in Norfolk.
Before that, Dennis served as president of Kash n' Karry Supermarkets, a subsidiary of Food Lion, based in Tampa, Fla. He previously spent most of his career at the Florida division of Albertsons, a chain that Supervalu bought in 2006. Publix Super Markets Inc. bought Albertsons' 49 stores in Florida in 2008.
Both Dennis and Supervalu officials declined to comment on his departure, Farm Fresh spokeswoman Susan Mayo said. In the company's statement, Dennis said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family.
Dennis took over a grocery retailer in rocky financial shape. Farm Fresh filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 1998, overwhelmed by debt from a 1988 leveraged buyout. Richfood, based in Richmond, bought most of Farm Fresh's assets.
Farm Fresh's sales had slipped amid heavy local competition, and Dennis was tasked with boosting its position. In 1997, Farm Fresh had lost its No. 1 spot in local grocery store market share to Food Lion. Farm Fresh remains in second place after Food Lion, which has almost twice as many stores, but Farm Fresh has narrowed the gap considerably in recent years, according to Food World, an industry publication that releases annual market surveys.
Supervalu, the grocery distribution giant based in Eden Prairie, Minn., bought Farm Fresh along with the rest of the Richfood operations in 1999.
Dennis oversaw a large-scale remodeling of stores throughout the region. He brought the first supermarket in 30 years to Norfolk's Berkley neighborhood, returned the chain to northeastern North Carolina, and opened the first Farm Fresh in downtown Norfolk, called The Market at Harbor Heights under a new banner for the chain, in fall 2007.
Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com
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Now you won't have any
Now you won't have any reason to miss your anger management classes now Ron.
P.S. You and your former associates suck
Congrats
You can now finally spend as much time with Colleen as you want to Ron.
Ron Dennis
I have worked for Ron Dennis for twelve years. He is a dynamic leader who is committed to his customers, associates and to the community. He is a very savvy business leader who is always one step ahead. He has a passion for detail and for accomplishing great things. Through his leadership, he has developed the finest, world class supermarkets in the Hampton Roads area. He has helped the local economy and he has provided jobs for over 5,000 associates with great benefits. He is a coach, mentor and trainer and he brings out the best in others. He joined Farm Fresh when the company was in bankruptcy and he turned the company around into a profitable organization. How many other people have made that accomplishment in their lifetime? Ron is a tough, but fair boss. He will be missed by many. His numerous contributions to Hampton Roads charities are too long to list. He was always the first to respond to natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the first to initiate a major fund raiser for the American Red Cross following the events of September 11, 2001. He started a Farm Fresh tradition of welcoming home every naval carrier returning to port following a 6 month + deployment wi
Ron Dennis retirering
i have met him personally as a worker at Farm fresh he is a great worker and be missed by many. for those who say that the managers dont care i work with managers that do care. they would bend over backward if they can to make sure to keep people happy. i work at the corporate store and run into Ron many times. they do take time to talk and built a great place to work.
Ron Dennis Retirement
The retirement of Ron Dennis is a sad day for all Farm Fresh Associates and for the Hampton Roads community.
Twelve years ago Ron took over a tired bankrupt company and through dynamic leadership and determined effort transformed it into Hampton Roads' leading supermarket. Farm Fresh now stands as a national leader in supermarket innovation. Ron's legacy is the thousands of Farm Fresh Associates who make the company a World Class Store everyday.
During his tenure at Farm Fresh Ron was instrumental in provide Hampton Roads charitable and civic organizations with millions of dollars. Ask CHKD, the Girl Scouts, Nauticus, the Neptune Festival, etc., etc., etc. what they think of Ron Dennis and Farm Fresh! Hopefully the void his retirement creates will be filled. If not Hampton Roads will be the lesser for it.
So Ron enjoy your retirement. May you share many fruitful joyful years with Nora and the Boys. You certainly deserve it!
whining
Sounds like some folks are not happy in their work...I hear Food Lion is hiring
Ron
how right you are
Marketplace at Ghent has been going downhill since it opened.
They started out with a large selection, but that is being consistently reduced in order to stock more low quality products. The staff there is very good, the problems I am seeing comes from corporate.
FarmFresh
This by far one of the worst companies I have worked for, in my life. Every manager acts as if R.D. is GOD. He is not. This is a good ol boy company, it is time to let go of ALL the senior management and get new fresher ideas. Every manager that works for FF is scared to death of R.D. If you look at the SuperValu supply chain you can see that change is happening from the top down, which is good. How do managers tell others what to do and how to do it because they read about it? Where are the managers who can do your job and theirs? Those are the true leaders. One of R.D.'s best statements is "Great Leaders are what leaders want their companies to become," if this is true then take all of rest of senior management with you.
Upscale no more
Farm Fresh (along with Harris Teeter) tries to be upscale by having higher prices, however the product selection, the store brands and the store atmosphere are sub-par, mediocre at best. This area needs to attract a Wegman's. Wegman's is a dream compared to the junk supermarkets we have in this area. The stores are attractive, they have excellent shopper specials, specialty services and their store brand is normally higher quality than the name brand.