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GOURMET NEWS SEPTEMBER 2015 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 1 2 BRIEFS All in the Family at Tony's Market much younger." Customers came from the neighborhood, and the store was staffed by one employee plus Avie's mother and father and the three Rosacci kids. Over the years, the store grew out of its space and gradually into the spaces that had been occupied by the other businesses in the small shopping center. Tony's Market added a deli department, a bakery and a center store. The meat orders during holiday seasons started to generate so much business that customers lined up around the building, and Tony had to bring in a police officer to keep the crowds of customers within the fire marshal's regula- tions. "Our little building couldn't handle it, so we opened our second store," Avie says. "Then we added the other two over the next 10 or 12 years." "It was kind of Dad's dream that came to fruition, but Dad never dreamed of what it is today," she continues. "It grew over time. It took us close to 20 years to open that sec- ond store." Tony's Market now comprises four Den- ver metro area stores ranging from 2,500 to 8,000 square feet, plus Tony's Burgers, a ca- sual restaurant inside its downtown Denver store, and Tony Rosacci's Fine Catering, a full service catering division that entered the picture in 2004 and serves weddings and galas as well as supporting the com- pany's headquarters, warehousing, floral department and commissary operations. For 11 years, until the team built a new fa- cility with its own kitchen, the catering di- vision fed the Denver Broncos, and today, Tony Rosacci's Fine Catering is in its sec- ond season of feeding the Colorado Ava- lanche hockey team and its coaches. "That's been fun, feeding the team and the staff," Avie says. "With the Broncos, we started at 4 a.m. and would end most nights around 9 p.m. feeding them up to four meals a day and snacks, and that would go on until the season ended." Each of the four stores is unique to its neighborhood, with the product assort- ment at the downtown location favoring or- ganic and local produce as well as prepared foods featuring whole grains and low fats for the urban professional clientele there, and stores in the neighborhoods populated by families and seniors offering products that lean more toward comfort foods like twice-baked potatoes, fried chicken and pasta dishes as well as the local and organic favorites. Each store still does its own meat-cutting in-house, with butchers at each location. All the beef is premium choice, and it's all aged. Beef is ground several times a day, and all the meat is sold fresh. Anything that stays in the store too long to be sold fresh is frozen and then donated to charity. "Tony's is still really known for the beef and the meats. People still call us by our own name of Tony's Meats, which is what we opened as," Avie says. Today, Tony has retired to the golf course, Daniel Rosacci is now CEO of Tony's Mar- ket and Mick is the company's head chef. As chief operations officer, Avie is in charge of employee training and compliance with government regulations and is also attend- ing school to learn nutrition therapy, an area of study that she became interested in while she was feeding the Broncos. "I like to see people take better care of themselves, whether that's 10 percent better or 60 per- cent better," she says. A wide range of customers shop at the stores, but what they tend to have in com- mon is that they have busy lives and they want high-quality products and they want to get into the store, find what they need, and get out fast, which is why it's so very important to Avie that the 280 to 300 em- ployees in the stores are well-trained and that customer service is excellent. "Our customer service is above and beyond. We tell our employees to hug them with your words because they have many choices," Avie says. "We understand the pace of how America lives today. We're really aware of getting them in and out. When they come in, we want to take care of them as quickly and efficiently as possible and get them out to their soccer practice or wherever they need to be." GN BY LORRIE BAUMANN Avie Rosacci, Chief Operations Officer of family-owned Tony's Market, with four stores in Denver, knows exactly how her fa- ther started the business: that happened when her little brother pointed out an abandoned 7-11 store to their father one day in 1978. Her father could not have imagined at that time what the little butcher shop he'd always dreamed of would turn into, she says. "It's beyond our wildest dreams," she says. "We opened as a little butcher shop, and we thought that was going to be it." Tony Rosacci started working at the age of 9 in a small Italian corner market in De- troit. He earned $3 a week. Except for a stint in the Army, he was in the grocery business all his life. By the late 1960s, he was in California working for Ralph's and moved the family from California to Little- ton, Colorado in 1970 to work for King Soopers, now part of The Kroger Company before moving on to a smaller butcher shop, Ed's Meats. "As we were growing up, he always talked about how someday he'd have a little butcher shop of his own," Avie says. The family talked about it so much that the idea was the foundation of some of the family games: Tony would tell the kids stories of his own butcher shop, and Avie would be behind the cash register while lit- tle brother Danny and brother Mick would help Dad. Then in 1978, Tony and Danny drove past the abandoned 7-11 on their way home from church one Sunday, and Danny suggested that the building could make that little butcher shop. "They went to the bank for a loan, didn't get the loan, so they sold the house and took the pro- ceeds to open the store," Avie remembers. "He left Ed's, and we did open, literally, a small butcher shop." That store had white powder-coated meat cases, and Tony wasn't a grocer; he was a butcher. "No produce, no deli. It was a butcher shop," Avie says. "I don't think we even had seafood. We might have had some frozen crab legs. I remember painting the special on the front window when I was Meijer Opens Two More Wisconsin Stores in Wauwatosa and Oak Creek Continuing an estimated $750 million investment in Wisconsin, Meijer opened two more stores in Wauwatosa and Oak Creek on August 5. The new supercenters create nearly 600 jobs. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based company now operates 222 stores in six states and plans to open two to three new Wisconsin supercenters per year through 2019. The retailer also partners with local farmers and businesses, when available, to provide locally- grown produce and other grocery products. Albertsons Signs with KeHE KeHE Distributors has been selected by Albertsons Companies, Inc. as the primary distribution partner for natural and organic, specialty and fresh products to its nationwide network of over 2,200 grocery stores in 33 states and the District of Columbia. The award significantly expands KeHE's existing business with Albertsons, particularly in the western United States. Mike Leone, KeHE's Chief Commercial Officer said, "Our account team has delivered superior operational results and helped Albertsons Companies grow its business. This decision is an affirmation of that." Fresh Thyme Opens 4th and 5th Indianapolis Stores Carme and Fishers are the newest communities in greater Indianapolis to welcome a Fresh Thyme Farmers Market. The two stores opened on August 6. Fresh Thyme Farmers Market is a full-service specialty retailer focusing on value-priced fresh, healthy, natural and organic offerings. It boasts an extensive produce department with organic and local fruits and vegetables, a natural meat department, healthy deli foods to go, bakery goods, 400 bulk food bins, dairy and frozen, and health supplement products. Fresh Thyme is scheduled to open 60 stores by 2019. Spicely Organics Expands Product Line San Francisco retailer Spicely Organics has expanded its product line to include even more top quality and delicious organic herbs and spices, organic chocolate, organic tea, organic gluten free spices, organic wholesale spices and more. All of Spicely Organics' organic spices and seasonings are shipped, steam-sterilized and packaged under very strict guidelines. Spicely Organics sells a wide range of organic spices, including popular choices like vanilla, cinnamon and paprika, along with Himalayan pink salt, gray sea salt and many other varieties. Stop & Shop Agrees To Acquire 25 A&P Stores In Greater New York The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC has entered into an agreement with The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company to acquire 25 A&P stores in Greater New York for $146 million. The agreement is subject to further terms and conditions set forth therein and subject to court approval in A&P's bankruptcy case filed on July 19, 2015, which include the potential of a subsequent auction under which other higher bid or bids could be re- ceived and accepted by A&P for these stores. The agreement is also conditioned on regulatory requirements, including ex- piration of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Im- provements Act of 1976. "Stop & Shop is always looking for con- venient locations to better serve our cus- tomers," said Don Sussman, Stop & Shop's New York Metro Division President. "We are very happy to have the opportunity to expand our presence in greater New York and serve new customers. We look forward to provid- ing customers with delivering unmatched se- lection, quality and value that they have come to expect from Stop & Shop." Upon completion of the transaction, Stop & Shop plans to convert these Wald- baum's, Pathmark and A&P stores into Stop & Shop stores. The sale is currently expected to close within the second half of 2015. GN

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