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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2016 www.gourmetnews.com RETAILER NEWS 1 1 Dennis Gibson Takes Helm at King Soopers Dennis Gibson has been promoted to Pres- ident of The Kroger Company's King Soop- ers division, effective July 1. Gibson replaces Russ Dispense, who retired after 51 years of service. Gibson previously served as president of the company's QFC division based in Seattle since 2014 and is relocating to Denver, where King Soopers is headquartered. He brings 40 years of retail industry experience to his new role. He began his career in 1976 with Grand Central discount department stores in Salt Lake City, Utah. He joined Fred Meyer in 1984, where he held leader- ship roles of increasing responsibility for the next 27 years including store and dis- trict management, regional director and group vice president for store operations. In 2011, Gibson was named vice president of operations in Kroger's Columbus division, and in 2013 he was named to vice president of merchandising. He was promoted to his role at the QFC division in 2014. "Dennis is a proven executive whose pas- sion for people and results has earned re- spect in our company and the industry," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and CEO. "Dennis's commitment to our as- sociates and customers will help ensure our business continues to grow. We look for- ward to his continued leadership at King Soopers." GN Kroger Announces Retirement of Bob Mariano Roundy's CEO Bob Mariano is retiring ef- fective September 1, after which he will serve as Strategic Adviser to Kroger and Roundy's for two years. Don Rosanova, President of Mariano's, and Michael Marx, President of Roundy's Supermarkets Wis- consin, will continue to serve in their cur- rent roles leading the two supermarket divisions. "Bob has been a tremendous leader for Roundy's and the entire supermarket in- dustry. The centerpiece of his career, of course, is the Mariano's chain of stores in his hometown of Chicago," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's Chairman and CEO. "We see a bright future ahead for our Pick 'N Save and Metro Market stores in Wis- consin and for Mariano's stores in Chicago. And we look forward to our continued partnership with Bob as a strategic consult- ant and advisor. The entire Kroger and Roundy's family extends our best wishes to Bob and his family in retirement." Mariano, 66, began his career in the grocery industry in 1967, when he worked as a part-time deli clerk at Dominick's su- permarket in Chicago. He served in vari- ous roles of increasing responsibility, including senior vice president, before being named president and CEO of Do- minick's in 1995. He led the company through an initial public offering in 1996 before the company was purchased by Safeway in 1998. Mariano took on leader- ship of Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc. in 2002. Roundy's opened the first store under the Mariano's banner in 2010 in Ar- lington Heights, a suburb of Chicago. Today there are 34 Mariano's store loca- tions throughout the Chicago area. GN Phoenicia Continued from PAGE 1 customers about the products' cooking techniques and origins." The stores' product mix includes more than 50,000 SKUs representing products from more than 50 countries and is focused on international specialty items, especially Middle Eastern, Eastern European and Eu- ropean specialties. Many of the bakery items and prepared foods are produced in house, with some commissaried over from the west side location to the downtown store. "There are other stores who sell some of the same products, like olive oils and cheeses, and they call it gourmet, but these were staples that we grew up with and were always in our home... So, we try to keep the prices reasonable on these quality selections. We work to transfer cost saving to our customers through the economies of scale provided by our im- port buying power at our west side Hous- ton headquarters." The Tcholakian family are ethnic Arme- nians who were living in Lebanon when civil war broke out there. As the war inten- sified, the family began looking for a way out in 1979, particularly since Arpi was eight months pregnant with her youngest and wanted a safe place to raise her chil- dren. The family had a cousin in Houston who lived next to a hospital, so when flight became a matter of survival, Houston it was. Zohrab, an architectural engineer, got a job in the oil industry, and things were going fine until the oil industry collapsed in the early 1980s. Zohrab decided that the time was right to leave the industry and start his own business, following the exam- ple of his father, who had owned a neigh- borhood store in Beirut. "He didn't want to wait for his pink slip, so he convinced my mom," Ann-Marie says. In 1983, he and Arpi opened a little cafe on the west side of Houston where they of- fered deli items and shawarmas, which Arpi described to her customers as a sandwich that resem- bled "a Middle Eastern burrito." "Back when my parents started, they had to edu- cate people. They always wanted to make it interna- tional because they had a mix of culinary influences being Armenians born in cosmopolitan, European- influenced Lebanon," says Ann-Marie. "Back then, when my parents started, not many knew what hummus dip was in Texas. Now everybody knows what hummus is." As the cafe's following grew, the Tcholakians added more and more gro- cery to the business. "It was a struggle in the '80s for my parents to keep the busi- ness open. It just took a lot of work and dedi- cation to keep the business alive in the 1980s in a collapsed economy," Ann-Marie says. "My brothers and I used to do our home- work and watch TV in the back of the store. People knew our lives." The downtown store opened five years ago after the developer of the building in which the store is now located offered them a space on the ground floor of a residential tower in a neighborhood that hadn't seen a grocery store for 40 years. "We were very attracted to what the city was doing and what the Downtown District was doing. There is a lovely park next door called Discovery Green with lots of programming and culture, catering to Houston's diversity. It was a natural fit for Phoenicia," Ann-Marie says. "We've always felt very connected to the Hous- ton's growth, and it was really ex- citing to be part of the revitalization of downtown." In addition to the grocery, downtown Phoenicia Foods has an in-house beer and wine bar called MKT BAR. This gastropub concept offers comfort food with an international twist, artisan beers, boutique wines, music and art pro- gramming and has become a hub for lo- cals and visitors alike. Monday nights are Fun and Games Nights with retro board games, ping pong and more. Wednesdays are Vinyl and Vino Nights with guest disc jockeys playing their favorite vinyl records on stage. Tuesdays and Thursdays are popular MKT Steak Nights, "offering a nice steak for a minimal amount of money, which draws people from the neighborhood," Ann-Marie says. Car- toons & Cereal is a new event on Satur- day mornings, with retro cartoons on the televisions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. "People are always gravitating to the TVs," Ann- Marie says. "It's always been our goal to make Phoenicia Specialty Foods and MKT BAR down-to-earth and fun." "For the downtown location, we work hard to create events that attract attention, to gain a clientele. In the urban market space, you have to do a little more to cap- ture people's attention and to create a neighborhood destination and feel," Ann- Marie says. "Downtown Houston is still emerging, and so we had to put a lot of en- ergy in from the beginning to grow the business. That's the reason why MKT BAR exists today." "A lot of people come to MKT BAR for a music performance for example, and then they buy their feta cheese to take home. It's a symbiotic relationship be- tween MKT BAR and the grocery," she continues. "There are other customers who come for the groceries and discover MKT BAR and are amazed. They work hand in hand very well." GN

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