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“The Future is NOW”

ROFDARepoRt

ROFDARepoRtA Shelby Publishing Special Section

2013

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December 2013

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How would you characterize your first year leading ROFDA?

One word comes to mind: success-ful. I think anytime you can make in-cremental improvements that build a greater foundation for things to come, it’s hard to think of a better way to characterize our year.

We are very fortunate to have started from all the good Mr. Ferrell Franklin brought to ROFDA and that of Mr. Jim Morton. Without their lead-ership and many contributions to this organization, we could not be where we are today.

Furthermore, our chairman, Jay Campbell, president and CEO of Associated Grocers-Baton Rouge, un-selfishly gave of himself. I, personally, am indebted to him for his counsel, patience, perspective and leadership. I have joked with Jay on several occa-sions in the last year about his second full-time job as chairman of ROFDA.

Lastly, our Board of Directors has been amazing. I have witnessed their willingness to come together and act for the greater good of the indepen-dent grocery retailers they serve.

Can you summarize some of your accomplishments?

When I look back at the last 12 months, I am amazed at what we’ve done. It really does provide a great example of how a cooperative works. That said, our accomplishments have much less to do with me than they do about us. My job is simply to facilitate—get the right people to the table, and good things happen.

To start, our directors met early in the year to discuss our future. We came away with ROFDA’s new purpose, mission and four strategic initiatives.

Can you speak specifically about each of your strategic initiatives?

Absolutely, I can speak to each and give you some examples of what

we’re doing.As it relates to the first item, to

Enhance Industry Identity, we recognized ours might be under the radar, so to speak. We are a 51-year-old organization and much of the industry doesn’t know about us. It’s surely an issue, if we wish to be effec-tive as a co-op. We are taking action in the way we present ourselves and communicate with the industry. Recently at ROFDA’s fall conference, we announced our new branding that included a new logo and tagline. Both are more in tune with who we are and what we do. At the same time, we launched our new website that better reflects our organization. The most critical pieces have come in our abil-ity to better define ourselves within our members’ organizations, trade groups and the press. This interview is a good example.

Also, we have met with some key trade association leaders like David McConnell, president and CEO of Global Market Development Center (GMDC), Leslie Sarasin, president and CEO of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Peter Larkin, president and CEO of the National Grocers Association (NGA). These trade associations are important to our members and ROFDA. As such, we are finding new and effective ways to collaborate. Peter, in fact, spoke at our fall conference about our shared interests and efforts.

Doesn’t our second initiative—Improve Communication and Information Sharing Methods—seem like an issue with every orga-nization? We’ll throw in the fact that we have 14 members all in different parts of the country and more than 80 associates, and you might recog-nize our challenge. While modern technology allows us to efficiently connect, we went a step further with ROFDA’s new web portal to more effectively connect. This tool will con-tinue to evolve but will provide the

means to further improve our ability to communicate.

We’ve also seen a ton of activity regarding share groups. This past year, our heads of IT, procurement, risk management and CEOs have met to discuss issues and share informa-tion. We intend to facilitate more in the future. Information sharing is a critical piece of our cooperative.

Our third initiative, Expand Aggregated Activity, can be misun-derstood. Some jump to the conclu-sion that’s all about group buying. ROFDA has no intention of becoming a centralized procurement group. In fact, we shall never supersede the relationship between our members and their suppliers. However, we are finding effective ways to align inter-ests with suppliers and use our scale

for special offers or promotions that are passed down to the independent grocers our members serve. Our ag-gregated opportunities also include considerations like data, best prac-tices and business development.

Lastly, Operational Fairness: This initiative supports a whole other level of information sharing for the purpose of benchmarking our perfor-

mance, creating standards and taking consistent positions. All these things lend themselves to creating parity for the independent grocer.

What challenges have you faced?May I state the obvious? If so, I

would have to say time. There never seems to be enough time to do all those things that we recognize need to be done. But, the realist in me keeps my focus on the incremental gains that will allow us to continue to improve. The optimist in me knows that we can do it.

What’s next for ROFDA?Our members are a smart, strong

and passionate group. They care deeply about the independent retail grocers they serve. ROFDA’s collec-

tive knowledge, scale and leadership will enhance their efforts not just to survive but also to thrive.

Jim Morton, ROFDA’s first presi-dent and CEO, coined our first tagline, “Building for the Future.” At our fall conference we introduced the theme “The Future is NOW.” It’s really what Jim Morton and Ferrell Franklin pre-pared us for…we simply need to act.

Francis Cameron president and CEO, ROFDA

Jay Campbell and Francis Cameron salute Gary Millard (center) of Reily Foods on his retirement at the 2013 ROFDA Spring Conference.

Francis Cameron became president and CEO of Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) on Sept. 1, 2012. He joined ROFDA in 2010, first in the role of VP of business development and then EVP and COO.

Cameron recently finished his first year leading the organization. The Shelby Report gathered his perspective relative to the last year and discussed future plans for ROFDA.

Cameron Completes a Successful First Year at Helm of ROFDA

Purpose Statement A cooperative formed to facilitate and enhance the success of Independent Retail Grocers.

Mission Statement“Cooperatively united to utilize

and leverage all available resources, industry best practices, and business relationships to provide added value to our Independent Retail Grocers.”

Strategic Initiatives• Enhance Industry Identity• Improve Communication and

Information Sharing Methods• Expand Aggregated Activity• Support “Operational Fairness”

December 2013

4 Shelby Publishing

Promoting, Supporting and Servicing the Independent Retailer

The diverse resources that make up ROFDA are revealed through its members and associates. Rather than create redundancy, Francis Cameron, ROFDA’s president and CEO, believes in taking advantage of the resources and expertise that cur-rently exist to efficiently support the needs of the co-op.

“If we are truly committed to collaboration and our structure as a cooperative, we must seek out methods that harness our collective talent,” said Cameron.

This philosophy has proven itself in ROFDA’s recent announcements regarding its new branding and web presence.

Creating a new identityIn the past year ROFDA announced a new Pur-

pose Statement and Mission Statement (see page 3). At the spring board of directors meeting, it was decided that the ROFDA brand should reflect the evolution of the organization and make the recent changes evident to the industry.

Chris Miller, president of Associated Grocers of Florida, suggested that the members’ creative teams submit designs for consideration. This sug-gestion led to a “logo & tagline” initiative. True to their collaborative nature, the development of a new identity took the form of a contest involving all of the members. Although development of an iden-tity in this manner is unconventional, the results were 26 well-thought-out entries, which were then voted upon and narrowed down to five contenders. Final voting revealed one clear winner submitted by Affiliated Foods Midwest.

Martin Arter, president and CEO of Affiliated Foods Midwest, empowered and supported his team, led by Mandy Lauck in marketing, to create ROFDA’s new logo design.

ROFDA: ‘Strength in Unity’A byproduct of the new branding was a new

tagline that reflects the group’s identity.Neal Berube is president and CEO of Associated

Food Stores in Salt Lake City. His company’s mar-keting team, which was led by Jason Sokol, along with Rand Mickelson and KC Carlson, provided this evocative tagline: “Strength in Unity.”

It became the creative theme and an important element in representing the brand. The logo is a simple representation of the three important ROFDA relationships: Members, Associates and Suppliers, who are interlinked to meet the mission of adding value to the independent grocer.

Developing a website that is an actual hub of communications for ROFDA

As is the case for many organizations, ROFDA’s first website, developed in 2001, was a static bro-chure with the primary objective to deliver basic information about ROFDA on the web.

Realizing that the site could deliver much more in terms of member communication, interaction and efficiencies for the organization, Cameron be-gan an important initiative to update the site.

Media Solutions Corp. (MSC), a digital solutions company with extensive retail wholesaler and inde-pendent markets ex-perience, was chosen to help ROFDA take advantage of current technology and create a site that would be an asset and that would contribute to the goals of the organization.

MSC’s website development process mirrors ROFDA’s collaborative values

MSC’s website development process started with a “wholistic” approach to understand the big-pic-ture view of the website.

“Beyond the new and improved features and functions, we wanted to create a website that works hard to deliver a total experience that meets the needs of the users,” says Jim Lukens, MSC’s general manager. “Naturally, a site should be visu-ally appealing and architecturally sound, but it also needs to create an accurate impression of who ROFDA is; what it stands for; and why that is of benefit to its stakeholders.”

The first step of the process was to create clarity for the important facets of the new website, such as an understanding of the ROFDA brand, the users and targets of the website and the specific details—domain names, hosting, etc.

In many respects, with surveys and interviews as part of the process, the MSC approach mirrored the collaborative nature of ROFDA.

The first step was a survey sent out to a number of stakeholders that used both closed and open-

Cooperative Resources

December 2013

Shelby Publishing 5

ended questions, allowing for important feedback, which guided the site development.

Some of the learnings from the survey were:• Online registration is very important, with 82.5

percent stating it would be extremely useful or very useful.

• 79 percent of the responses indicated a like-lihood to use online payment options, thus payment options beyond Paypal needed to be considered.

• The site would be viewed from a number of devices, such as mobile, tablets and laptops.

Respondents also were in favor of the creation of a private forum for the exchange of ideas and infor-mation; a membership directory; and the capabilu-ity to use the site for polling and opinion surveys.

Website evolves into an important & secure hub of communications for ROFDA

MSC’s first step, “Clarify,” led to the formation of the goals and guiding principles for the site:

1.) Become a hub for members, associates and suppliers for an ongoing exchange of infor-mation and ideas in a secure environment;

2.) Reduce paperwork and create more efficien-cy for site updates and changes; and

3.) Clearly communicate the ROFDA brand.

Web design and develop-ment based on goals & guiding principles

MSC’s second step, “Create,” revolved around meeting the goals and guiding principles for the site. To achieve the first goal, the site’s scheme was divided into two important sectors—public facing and membership only.

The public-facing side’s content strategy rests on

a clear communication of ROFDA’s brand, mission and scope of membership.

The membership-only side of the site starts with a log-in area, which leads to members, associates and suppliers to their respective areas, with both shared and partitioned features and functions.

Features include:• Conference & Events (detailed information,

registration and payments)• Photo Gallery• Forums with various interest categories• Calendar & News• ROFDA Directory• Library for various documents

The site is developed responsively, meaning that it is optimized for viewing from different devices such as mobile, tablet, laptop or desktop.

ROFDA’s new website reduces paperwork and increases efficiency

The new ROFDA website is built on a content management system (CMS) platform, allowing ROFDA personnel direct access to the site for up-dates and administration purposes. One example, conference management, includes flexible form development for event/activity registration. Lists of event attendees are compiled automatically and exported with ease. Online payments are tracked and handled securely. The new ROFDA Directory allows associates and suppliers to create a page about their company and its offerings.

ROFDA’s Forums are an important feature of the site as the membership is able to communicate about ideas, information and trends year-round. The conferences are an integral part of ROFDA, and it is anticipated that the Forum communications will add additional strength to their agendas.

MSC’s third phase, “Connect,” is not meant to be a conclusion of the process but to create readi-ness and enable future development. It includes a comprehensive review of the site and optimization, training and analytics. For ROFDA, the launch of the site is the “Connect” phase, enabling it to strength-en and enhance its values and, importantly, com-municate and connect with the industry.

With its new design, the ROFDA website has become a part of the fabric of “Strength in Unity.”

MSC Website Development Process

1. CLARIFY 2.CREATE

3.CONNECT

ABOUT MSC…GM Jim Lukens directs the vi-sion of MSC. With more than 40 years in the supermarket industry in positions ranging from stock clerk to president/CEO, Lukens has a keen understanding of what indepen-dent grocery stores need today to com-pete—affordable digital solutions. MSC cre-ates programs that will enable retailers to succeed.

ROFDA MembersWell Represented onNCB Co-op 100 List

National Cooperative Bank (NCB) released its latest Co-op 100 list in October, ranking the na-tion’s cooperative businesses by revenues. The top co-op industry in the nation is agriculture, with $139.2 billion in revenues, followed by grocery and food distribution at $36.1 billion.

Among ROFDA members, Unified Grocers Inc. in Commerce, Calif., is the highest-ranking company on the list at 11, with 2012 revenues of nearly $3.8 billion.

The next ROFDA member on the list is Associ-ated Wholesalers Inc. in Robesonia, Pa., at $2.3 billion (No. 18); Associated Food Stores, Salt Lake City, Utah, with $2.0 billion (21); Central Grocers Cooperative, Franklin Park, Ill., with $1.97 billion (22); Affiliated Foods Midwest Co-op, Norfolk, Neb., with $1.5 billion (33); Affiliated Foods Inc., Amaril-lo, Texas, $1.46 billion (36); URM Stores, Spokane, Wash., $957 million (59); Piggly Wiggly Alabama, Bessemer, Ala., $734 million (83); and Associated Grocers Inc., Baton Rouge, La., $685 million (92).

The highest ranking grocery co-op on the list—

at number four—is Wakefern Food Corp. of Keas-bey, N.J., with revenues of $11 billion. Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. in Kansas City, Kan., report-ed revenues of $7.8 billion to remain at number six.

In total, the country’s co-op businesses have revenues of $226.4 billion, a 5 percent increase from 2011.

In addition to agriculture and grocery/food distribution, other co-op categories include energy & communications, finance, hardware & lumber, healthcare, recreation and pharmaceutical distri-bution.

“The NCB Co-op 100 is a great reminder of the substantial impact and important role cooperative businesses play in our national economy across every sector. As we continue to see improvements in the market, there is an increase in the formation of new cooperatives in urban, suburban and rural setting—offering competitive goods and services to meet the needs of these communities,” said Charles E. Snyder, president and CEO of NCB, whose mis-sion is to provide financing to promote the growth and expansion of these businesses, thereby sup-porting underserved communities and cooperative expansion initiatives. “As a socially responsible financial institution, created to address the needs of our nation’s cooperatives, we are proud of our role in supporting the growth of these organiza-

tions, while also giving back to the communities they serve.”

The top two co-ops are in agriculture: CHS Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., reported $40.6 billion in revenues in 2012 and maintained its first place position, while Land O’ Lakes, also based in St. Paul, reported $14.1 billion in revenues, earning the No. 2 ranking this year. Land O’Lakes eclipsed Dairy Farmers of America, Kansas City, Mo., whose revenues were down over the past year to $12.1 billion from $13.0 billion the previous year.

Cooperatives provide more than 2 million jobs and create more than $75 billion in annual wages with revenue of nearly $650 billion.

Although similar to other business models, a co-operative has several unique features. It is owned and controlled by its members, who have joined together to use the cooperative’s goods, services and facilities. A board of directors, elected by the membership, sets the cooperative’s policies and procedures. By pooling resources, members can leverage their shared power to buy, sell, market or bargain as one group, achieving economies of scale and sharing in any profits generated. In addition, communities benefit both socially and fiscally by the cooperatives’ ability to access and deliver goods and services from across the nation.

December 2013

Shelby Publishing6

ROFDA has a plan. Actually, it always had a plan, according to Jay Campbell, president and CEO of As-sociated Grocers Inc. in Baton Rouge, La.—a longtime member of ROFDA as well as its predecessor organization, the Southeast Food Cooperative As-sociation (SFCA).

Case in point: The retirement of former President and CEO Fer-rell Franklin. Campbell says ROFDA was well prepared, having groomed current ROFDA President and CEO Francis Cameron for the role for several years prior to Franklin’s an-

nouncement.“...When Ferrell Franklin made the

decision to retire...we had already begun a search process prior to that, and obviously we had done some strategic planning for continuity of the business,” said Campbell. “We had brought Francis in earlier just to be sure that we had an appropriate backup in the event of any problem that we might have had with Ferrell—from a health or accident perspec-tive, or anything of that nature. With timely forward planning, we knew that we were going to have to plan for the possibility of management conti-nuity like any other business does.”

What makes ROFDA unique, how-ever, is that the organization has had only three leaders in its history: Cam-eron, Franklin and, prior to Franklin’s tenure that began in 2000, Mr. Jim Morton.

“We’ve been blessed with continu-ity of good and effective leadership,” said Campbell, who has served as ROFDA’s chairman for a total of four years now; Fall 2001 to Fall 2003 and Fall 2011 to Fall 2013.

He came into the chairmanship shortly after Ferrell Franklin became president and CEO in 2000 and again was chairman during Cameron’s transition into the top spot at ROFDA in September 2012.

“I would say that we have been very fortunate to experience a very smooth transition from Ferrell to Francis,” Campbell said. “I think Fer-rell facilitated that. He was selfless in this process to ensure that Francis was able to make the decisions nec-essary while Ferrell was still there. They worked very collaboratively together so the transition was quite smooth.”

Cameron has proved, according to Campbell, that ROFDA is ready to “take on some new and creative things,” including updating the orga-nization’s logo and website and even its purpose and mission statements.

“We have clarified that through di-rect communications with the indus-try trade press—that ROFDA exists and well represents its 14 retailer-owned companies, and that ROFDA can be an extraordinary organization

to assist independent retail grocers through their wholesale suppliers and meeting their needs in the mar-ketplace.”

Part of that has entailed joint pro-motions, according to Campbell.

“…Not joint procurement, but joint promotions—by going to the vendor community and making it quite clear that we can act as a group in the mar-ketplace and that we can be a con-siderable force given the network of retail stores that we serve throughout the country.”

ROFDA membership has been sup-portive.

“...That is something that we have been focusing on and that is not a matter of semantics at all,” Campbell said of ROFDA’s joint promotional ef-forts. “It is that we can go to a vendor and commit that we can promote aggressively their organization and its products during a period of time where we can make a real statement in the marketplace. I think we have proven through our successes that we can do that.”

Chairman Jay Campbell: ROFDA a ‘Brotherhood’ of Retailer-Owned Companies

J.H. “Jay” Campbell, Jr., Chairman, ROFDA

Facing challenges head onCampbell, better than any-

one perhaps, understands the challenges that come along with running a business; and in no other business are the chal-lenges probably more abun-dant or fierce than in the food retail sector.

“The retail environment is a very tough environ-ment,” Campbell said. “It’s highly competitive. It’s a cross-channel retail grocery business, and that makes it very difficult sometimes for the indepen-dent to be effective in their competing processes. So each of our retailer-owned companies are working very hard with their respective retailers to grow the independent retail grocer market share in their marketplace.

“The competitive landscape is always going to be a significant challenge for ROFDA as an or-ganization and also, more importantly, for the retailer-owned companies and the retailers that they serve,” he said. “It’s really not as much about ROFDA as it is about the independent grocer and what can we do to further their ability to compete in the marketplace. I think we put as much emphasis as we possibly can on value-added programs and services at the ROFDA level that trickle all the way to the retailer-owned company and ultimately to the independent grocer.”

The chairman’s jobSimilar challenges face ROFDA and the organiza-

tion’s leadership.The chairman’s job, for instance, largely involves

serving as an intermediary between the CEO, the board and the shareholders of ROFDA.

“The CEO has an access point (the ROFDA chair-man) to discuss matters of interest relating to ROFDA, its members, board of directors and share-holders,” according to Campbell.

While, generally speaking, his job as chairman has not taken up “a great deal of time,” Campbell reveals it has its “peaks and valleys.”

The past couple of years have been busy for Campbell due to the management transition, as well as ROFDA’s 50th anniversary that it celebrated over the course of 2012. That, of course, has been coupled with the organization’s various confer-ences, in addition to ensuring that specific requests of ROFDA members are met or addressed.

And ROFDA has been successful in fulfilling those needs due to effective communication and teamwork. For Campbell, his company’s member-ship in ROFDA, and holding the chairman’s role especially, has always been about the relationships built and maintained with ROFDA people.

“It’s always offered me the opportunity to be around people and talk with them directly about things, to listen to their concerns and try to develop favorable solutions to issues, concerns or prob-lems, or just try to find answers to questions that a member might have.

“It puts you kind of on the firing line to a certain extent, to be of assistance, and to be of service to other folks in the organization,” Campbell added. “I have always enjoyed that opportunity and privilege.”

Looking forwardCampbell will finish out his

chairman’s term this year, and as immediate past chair, will remain a member of ROFDA’s executive committee.

“I hope to continue to do things that are important for the organization and help, in any way that I possibly can, the new chairman,” Campbell said. “And be sure that the organization remains responsive to its members.”

Martin Arter, president and CEO of Affiliated Foods Midwest, is slated to take over as ROFDA’s chairman, pending election. Arter currently serves as secretary of the organization.

Campbell again stresses the importance of relationships when asked to impart his advice to ROFDA’s incoming chair. Campbell is particularly mindful of new CEOs or executives who might be coming into the ROFDA group for the first time.

“I think it is incumbent upon us, who have been around a longer period of time, to ensure that they are welcomed fully and that we embrace them wholly to be sure that their organization is getting the representation they need, and that they feel they have the ear of the entire organization and all of the members of ROFDA,” Campbell said. “We are a brotherhood of retailer-owned companies and we owe it to one another to work very closely together and try and share as much as we can to improve all of our operations for the independent retail gro-cers that we serve.”

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DEPARTMENT LEADERSHIP PLATFORMSRefRigeRated Meat & fRozen aisle

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December 2013

Shelby Publishing 11

Here are some highlights from ROFDA’s history book:

1962• The Southeastern Food Coop-

erative Association (SFCA) was founded.

1983• Hillar Moore, president and

CEO of Associated Grocers Ba-ton Rouge, is SFCA chairman.

• Affiliated Foods, Amarillo, Texas, joins SFCA.

• The oldest meeting minutes on file are from Oct. 13, 1983; in the early years the distributors would get together somewhat informally to exchange ideas, and no one officially was recording the minutes. Four of today’s ROFDA members were SFCA members in 1983—AG Baton Rouge, AG Birmingham, AG Florida and Affiliated Foods Amarillo.

1984• Affiliated Foods Midwest, Nor-

folk, Neb., joins SFCA.

1988• SFCA changes its name to Re-

tailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA), based on the expanding geography of its member co-ops.

1989• AWI in Robesonia, Pa., joins

ROFDA—the first to join under the new name.

1990• Jim Morton is hired as ROFDA’s

first executive director.

1991• Olean Wholesale Grocery Co-

operative in Olean, N.Y., joins ROFDA.

1992• Associated Food Stores, Salt

Lake City, becomes a ROFDA member.

• Ferrell Franklin is hired as assis-tant director under Jim Morton.

1993• Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distrib-

uting Co. in Bessemer be-comes a member of ROFDA.

1996• Associated Grocers New Eng-

land in Pembroke, N.H., joins ROFDA.

• ROFDA is incorporated as a cooperative. Before that, it had been a nonprofit association, but the aim of the association to “do things in an aggregate way that would generate in-come,” as Franklin described it, led to the change.

1997• CERTCO in Madison, Wis., joins.

1999• URM Stores, Spokane, Wash.,

becomes a member of ROFDA.• Unified Grocers, Los Angeles,

joins.• AG of the South resigns its

ROFDA membership.

2000• AG of the South rejoins ROFDA

under its new leader, Gerry Totoritis.

• Ferrell Franklin succeeds Mor-ton as president and CEO of ROFDA.

2004• Associated Grocers of Seattle

joins ROFDA.

2007• AG of Seattle merges with Uni-

fied Grocers.• Central Grocers in Joliet, Ill.,

becomes a member of ROF-DA.

2012• Francis Cameron succeeds

Ferrell Franklin as president and CEO of ROFDA.

2013• Cameron and the ROFDA

board of directors develop a new purpose, mission and four strategic initiatives as well as a new, modern logo.

ROFDA Working on Second Half-Century of History

ROFDA MembershipRetailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates offers three categories of membership:

* Regular Members are made up exclusively of Retailer Owned Food Distributors, defined as those primarily engaged in the wholesale distribution of food and related services in the United States, and having at least 66-2/3 percent of its issued and outstanding voting stock owned by active retail outlets.

* Associate Members are firms regularly engaged in the supply of services or products to Regular Members.

* Honorary Members are those former members or associates who are not presently active in the food industry, but permitted to retain an association with the organization in recognition of past service and dedication to the association.Francis Cameron, ROFDA president and CEO, with his family: Cole, Teri and Kaci

It was 1962 when a few cooperative food distributors around the Southeast formed the Southeastern Food Cooperative Association (SFCA). The coopera-tive’s purpose was, and remains today, “to facilitate and enhance the success of Independent Retail Grocers.”

The “Southeast” portion of the name eventually no longer applied, as cooperatives across the country recognized the advantages of being part of a cooperative-only group. A name change was approved by the board of direc-

tors in 1988, and Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) emerged.

Just this year, a new mission statement was adopted to launch the group into its second half-century:

“Cooperatively united to utilize and leverage all available resources, indus-try best practices, and business relationships to provide added value to our Independent Retail Grocers.”

December 2013

ROFDA Supports Members’ Communities

ROFDA’s members and the independent retailers they support have a proven history of giving back to the communities they serve.

In that light, ROFDA has begun to use its conferences as a means to support causes important to its members, associates and suppliers.

ROFDA’s first impromptu effort was reflected in raising money for Hurri-cane Sandy relief at the 2012 Fall Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.

J.H. “Jay” Campbell, Jr., president and CEO of Associated Grocers in Baton Rouge, La., and ROFDA chairman, served as auctioneer for three top golfers.

Attendees could purchase one of the top golfers to fill a spot on their team in the ROFDA Scramble played the next day. Ron King from Western Family, Sean Wright with GVH Millennium and Mike Bauers from Capstone Logistics provided their golf skills to the highest bidder.

When the enthusiastic bidding was over, the ROFDA Conference attendees had raised more than $13,000 for the American Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief effort.

ROFDA carried the momentum from the evening before into the next day in recognizing Veterans Day and the many veterans represented in the audience. In honor of those veterans, ROFDA made a cash donation in their names to The Wounded Warrior Project.

ROFDA’s 2013 Spring Conference provided another opportunity for partici-pants to gather, engage and collaborate.

At the Chairman’s Dinner, Jay Campbell again emceed an evening of fun, en-tertainment and generosity. The group chose to support St. Jude Children’s Re-search Hospital in Memphis. At the spring event, all golf teams were auctioned to the highest bidder. Upon the conclusion of the evening, ROFDA participants raised more than $21,000 for the cause.

All told, ROFDA exceeded $35,000 in donations to support meaningful causes during its last fiscal year, which concluded at the end of August.

At ROFDA’s recent Fall Conference members chose to support the cause of longtime ROFDA associate member, Wells/Blue Bunny. Wells is celebrating 100 years by aligning with Make-A-Wish to help grant the wishes of 100 kids with life-threatening medical conditions.

“There are many worthy charities, but Make-A-Wish is a perfect fit for Wells and the Blue Bunny brand, and has touched everyone in our organization with their great work for kids with life-threatening medical conditions,” said Michael W. “Mike” Crone, SVP of sales for Wells. “We are honored that ROFDA would choose to help us celebrate our 100th birthday by supporting Make-A-Wish.”

At a tailgate-themed party, ROFDA members raised money to support Wells in this worthy cause.

“The generosity of those affiliated with ROFDA never ceases to amaze me,” said Francis Cameron, ROFDA president and CEO. “It’s inspiring. We continu-ally seek out new ways to use our collective power for the greater good. It’s really what ROFDA is all about.”

Group raised more than $35,000 for good causes in latest fiscal year

At the 2012 ROFDA Fall Conference, money was raised for Hurricane Sandy relief through “auctioning” some top golfers—Sean Wright, Mike Bauers and Ron King. Jay Campbell served as auctioneer.

“There are many worthy charities, but Make-A-Wish is a perfect fit for Wells and the Blue Bunny brand and has touched everyone in our organization with their great work

for kids with life-threatening medical conditions. We are hon-ored that ROFDA would choose to help us celebrate our 100th birthday by supporting Make-A-Wish.”

—Mike Crone, SVP-sales, Wells

“Hurricane Sandy is the biggest U.S. disaster response by the Red Cross in more than five years, and the generous sup-port of so many people and companies across the country

have enabled the Red Cross to provide food, shelter, relief sup-plies and comfort to tens of thousands of people impacted by Sandy, especially in New York and New Jersey.”

—The American Red Cross

“We continually seek out new ways to use our collective pow-er for the greater good. It’s really what ROFDA is all about.”

—Francis Cameron, president and CEO, ROFDA

Ken Nemeth, Central Grocers, Joliet, Ill.Jim Denges stepped down as presi-

dent and CEO of Central Grocers, one of the nation’s leading grocery cooperatives, in the summer of 2013. The new top executive is Ken Ne-meth, who joined Central Grocers as EVP and COO in March 2012 after serving as president and CEO of Valu Merchandisers Co., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) in Kansas City, Kan.

“I appreciate the confidence that Jim and the board of directors have placed in me,” said Nemeth of his appointment by the board. “We’re working toward a smooth transition and I look forward to continuing the exceptional work that has been done by employees and members at all

levels of this organization.”Founded in 1917, Joliet, Ill.-based

Central Grocers has grown to become the nation’s seventh largest grocery cooperative on consolidated annual sales of more than $2 billion. Cooper-ative members range from 3,000-s.f. neighborhood grocers to 100,000-s.f. warehouse outlets. Central Grocers supplies more than 20,000 products, including dry groceries, deli products, fresh produce and meats, dairy and frozen foods, to more than 500 retail stores in the Midwest market.

Denges retired following a 35-year career with Central Grocers, the last six as president and CEO.

“After three and a half decades of commitment to Central Grocers, our

members and our stores, I could not be more pleased with where our com-pany stands today,” said Denges. “We have experienced sustained growth and established exceptional operating efficiencies across our facilities. I am confident that I am leaving Central Grocers well situated for continued success as we near our second cen-tury of service.”

Central Grocers maintains a 1 mil-lion-s.f. distribution center and oper-ates a fleet of more than 80 trucks and 400 trailers. The co-op employs 600 full- and part-time employees at the wholesale level and includes more than 6,000 employees when all retail outlets are factored in.

Ken Nemeth,president and CEO, Central Grocers

ROFDA’s New CEOs

Shelby Publishing12

December 2013

Shelby Publishing 13

The board of directors of Unified Grocers chose the co-op’s president, Robert R. “Bob” Ling, to add the CEO title on May 1 this year.

Ling had been president of the Southern California-based company for two years before being chosen to succeed Al Plamann in the CEO role.

Plamann had joined Unified prede-cessor company Certified Grocers of California in 1989, so his career with the company had spanned about 24 years by the time he retired. During his tenure Unified, annual sales grew from $1.8 billion to nearly $4 billion.

Ling, as president and CEO in 2013, has big shoes to fill, but he has a strong background, and a strong team, to help him toward the com-pany’s goals.

He’s been with Unified since 1996, previously serving as EVP, general counsel and secretary, with respon-sibility for the company’s HR, labor relations, real estate and government relations functions. Earlier in his ca-reer, he was a partner in a Milwaukee law firm and then served in a number of roles at MegaFoods Stores Inc. in Mesa, Ariz., including acting president and CEO, prior to joining the company that would become Unified.

“Bob Ling is an outstanding ad-ministrator and a thoughtful and creative leader,” said Richard “Dick” Goodspeed, chairman of the Unified board, when Ling’s promotion to CEO was announced in February. “Hav-ing spent 16 years as a top executive at our company, he understands our business, he knows our retail mem-bers and customers, he has built strong relationships with the vendor community and he works well with our associates. We believe that Bob Ling is an excellent choice to lead our company at this point in time.”

Ling has been candid about the fact that Unified is in a transitional

period, not only with the leadership change but also due to competitive and economic conditions. The good news is that the company has the team members to guide it to a bright new future.

“Not only have we had my tran-sition as CEO but we’ve had other changes in our organization,” Ling notes. “We have some fresh eyes from internal advancements but also some new folks coming in. I think that has created across the company a com-mitment to look at everything we do and to see if we can’t do it better,

and I’ve been very encouraged by the response both from our members and our employees that we need to work really hard to make sure that we’re moving our organization forward in a very positive way.”

ROFDA membership yields benefitsLing has a place on the ROFDA

board now that he’s a CEO, and he says this greater level of participating in the group is “a learning experi-ence” for him.

But from all his prior experience, he knows that “ROFDA stands for the notion of, A, servicing its members and shareholders, but it also stands for the notion of open exchange of information and ideas so that we can all serve our shareholders better, and that’s not only a great mission, it’s one that we endorse completely and we hope to contribute to that and benefit from those types of exchanges.

“I think we’re all in favor of learn-ing from others in the organization,” he continues. “We’ve seen some early benefits from those exchanges—the sharing of information and work-ing together with some of the other ROFDA members.”

Having a common purpose is key at ROFDA.

“We all have the same objectives and challenges in terms of making sure we’re serving our members and our shareholders effectively,” Ling says. “We certainly are humble enough to know that we don’t know everything. If there’s a good idea out there that can be shared, we’re more than happy to take it on.”

Independent grocers are invigorating, challenging

Leading a co-op, one deals with the joys and challenges inherent in the entrepreneurial class, Ling says.

“In terms of working for and being a leader of a co-op, the best thing about it is the chance to work with a diverse group of passionate entre-preneurs who are very anxious and dedicated to building their businesses and serving their customers in their particular areas. The flip side of that in terms of what’s the most chal-lenging is that you have to deal with

a collection of passionate, diverse entrepreneurs who are very focused on their businesses,” he says. “Some-times they’re not all on the same page in terms of what’s best for their busi-nesses. And reconciling all of those divergent views and expectations is probably the biggest challenge.”

Outside market forces also play a role in the challenges faced by Unified and its members in the West.

“I think California and Arizona and other areas in our marketing areas are particularly hard-hit by the reces-sion, especially in the housing sec-tor and some others, which so much drives the economy in California and Arizona,” Ling says.

“Layered on top of that was the impact of immigration issues and in many cases a very aggressive stance on that…in Arizona, and even here in California, (we were impacted) due to the failure to come up with accept-able immigration reform. It helped to drive away many Hispanic consum-ers from our states and therefore our stores.”

The good news is that “we are see-ing some signs of growth economi-cally and recovery economically, not only in California but certainly into the Pacific Northwest,” he adds.

Developing tools for success for members

Unified has a number of projects under way on the technology front that are designed to benefit its mem-ber retailers.

One of the most wide-ranging is the Scan Data Initiative, which now is being rolled out to retailers and in-volves not only the gathering of data

but applying the analytics that allow the data to guide retailer decisions.

“We’re really excited about how it’s going to be able to help us and our members be much more effective retailers,” Ling says. “We have nearly 600 stores already signed up and we expect that roster to grow as we con-tinue it throughout the year.”

Ling says Unified has made a concerted effort to acquaint retail-ers with the program, “getting out there selling it and presenting it and dialoguing” about it.

And retailers have been receptive.“As we’ve rolled this out and

explained not only the purpose but the benefits that we all can derive from it, the reception has been great,” he says. “We went from zero to 600 stores participating in a matter of less than six months. We’re going to continue to build the offering, and starting now, as we gather and have a better ability to analyze the data, I’m sure we’re going to be able to get even more excitement and participa-tion. They’ll be able to see what this information can do for us.”

As retailers begin to see benefits, it could become even more well en-trenched.

“Retailers do talk to each other, and they’re the best advocates there could be.”

Unified now has about 425 mem-bers, which represents “many more stores than that,” Ling reports.

Unified has seen a pickup in the number of new store openings and remodels among its members and the industry as a whole, and there may be opportunities for more as market-place dynamics change.

“With all the things going on, whether it be Fresh & Easy or the Albertsons spinoff to everything else that’s going on in the industry, there is a lot of activity and a lot of availability of stores, and I think our members will be very anxious to take advantage of good opportunities,” Ling says.

Unified remains focused on help-ing its retailers “provide a real value proposition,” says Ling. “And that’s not just necessarily being price-com-petitive but also to make sure that both quality and service and, where appropriate, differentiation is front and center. But there clearly remains a focus, from the consumer stand-point, of price and value. I think our members have been very effective in answering that call, or responding to those conditions.”

ROFDA’s New CEOsBob Ling, Unified Grocers Inc., Commerce, Calif.

Bob Ling, president and CEO, Unified Grocers

“I think we’re all in favor of learning from others in the orga-nization. We’ve seen some early benefits from those ex-changes—the sharing of information and working together

with some of the other ROFDA members.”

December 2013

ROFDA’s New CEOsRay Sprinkle, URM Stores, Spokane, Wash.

The grocery business is a family business for Ray Sprinkle.

His father, Charles “Chuck” Sprin-kle, worked for a range of grocery wholesalers and retailers during his career. He started at the Dillon orga-nization in Kansas, and then spent time at United Grocers in Richmond, Calif., Fleming Cos., Save Mart and Skaggs Alpha Beta.

“He had a long career in the gro-cery industry,” Sprinkle says, “so I grew up in it.”

And he chose to follow that path.“When I graduated from college I

went into Ralston Purina, the sales side of it. From there I went into Fleming; then I went with Super Store Industries out of Northern California. Then I joined Fleming again, and 10 years ago I was with Fleming outside of Philadelphia, and when Fleming’s demise came about, I joined URM,” he recalls.

He joined URM Stores as VP of pro-curement, retail services and profit centers, working with Dean Sonnen-berg, the co-op’s longtime president and CEO. By the time Sonnenberg retired—March 1 this year—the URM board of directors had selected Sprinkle to succeed him.

Sprinkle says that being chosen to lead URM has been “a dream come true for me.”

Being a part of the URM family has been pretty good for Sprinkle’s own family, too, especially wife Kim.

When the family moved from the East Coast (Philadelphia) to the West Coast (Spokane, Wash.) for Ray to join URM, it was he and Kim’s eighth move in their 25 years of marriage.

“My family has sacrificed a lot to al-low me to pursue my career,” Sprinkle acknowledges. “Hopefully this is my last move.”

ROFDA affiliation valuable for a new CEO

Sprinkle says that being a member

of ROFDA is good for both him and URM Stores.

“From a URM perspective, it allows us to leverage the power of the other ROFDA members, which would help lower cost of goods as we meet with the national CPG companies. We’ve had several programs and several success stories along those lines,” Sprinkle says. “In addition to that, it helps us with other services and pro-grams that we couldn’t do ourselves, but it allows us to meet with service providers and negotiate programs with them that make it mutually ben-eficial—not only for URM but also for our membership.

“And then we’re able to learn from other members what’s working, what’s not working; it allows us to shorten the learning curve,” he adds. “Another thing ROFDA helps us do is work with other members within ROFDA to eliminate some duplication so that we can combine some of the things that we do so we don’t have to do them individually.”

On a personal level, “For me, being a new CEO, it’s given me an immedi-ate peer group that I have a relation-ship with that I can pick up the phone and call them,” Sprinkle says. “We have some outstanding CEOs in the group that have been CEOs for quite a while, and I can pick their brain and get some opinions from them that help me.

“From that standpoint it’s just been a great relationship with the ROFDA group. All of them are just first-class individuals and very good at what they do. That has helped me signifi-cantly in my new role as CEO.”

A welcoming work familyAsked what he enjoys about lead-

ing URM, Sprinkle says, “The first thing I have to tell you is that we have an outstanding staff that has just been extremely supportive of the transition and has embraced some of

the changes and new ideas.“We also have just an outstand-

ing relationship with our member-owners, which obviously is unique; they’re our shareholders and our customers.”

Sonnenberg led URM as CEO from 2003 until 2013 and had been with the company for 37 years when he retired.

While Sprinkle has brought in new ideas as the leader of the company, some things remain constant.

“I think the foundation was al-ready laid, and we’ll continue to try to become more efficient and lower our cost of doing business,” he says.

“At the same time, we’re trying to bring in some lower cost of goods. We will put a focus on IT and IT devel-opment and the support at retail,” according to Sprinkle. “And I want to open lines of communications not only with our employees but also with our membership.”

To help with communication, URM installed a new portal “that allows us to communicate directly with all our stores as well as our employees. We will be moving shortly to allow the vendor community on that portal as well,” he says.

URM also is part of RORC, which develops and writes programs for the company’s front-end systems.

URM serves members in four states—Washington, Idaho, Montana and Oregon. Its store groups include Family Foods, Harvest Foods, Trading Co. Stores, Super 1 Foods, Center-Place Market, Yoke’s Fresh Market and Rosauers Supermarkets.

“We have a very aggressive group of retailers that have continually reinvested into their future, which is ultimately our future,” he points out.

URM’s members are investing in remodels, and together, URM and its members are “aggressively going af-ter new sites and stores as we speak.”

While the independent grocer members of URM “continually face competition from the national op-erators that continue to build and remodel,” such as Walmart Super-centers and WinCo, they continue to compete well in the Northwest, where natural, organic, local products are in high demand. URM has its own produce subsidiary, Peirone Produce, that supplies member stores and URM’s own corporate stores, which include Rosauers and Cash & Carry.

Kim and Ray Sprinkle at the ROFDA Spring Conference earlier this year.

Another ROFDA member will have a new CEO by next year’s fall conference in November.

Jim Ried, president and CEO of Olean Wholesale Grocers Co-op Inc. in Olean, N.Y., has set his plans to retire, and his successor has been named. Ried will step down Sept. 30, 2014, and hand the reins to Bob Ketchner, who currently serves as the co-op’s director of financial services.

The CEO announced his retirement about a year in ad-vance, which will give him “the opportunity to thank you all personally,” Ried said in a Sept. 20 letter to the company’s members and associates.

“I will be working with Bob over the next 12 months to en-sure a transparent succession and most importantly that he understands the importance of our tremendous relationships with Western Family Foods, DeJarnett Sales, ROFDA, NGA, The Food Industry Alliance of NY, our lending institutions, insur-

ance providers, legal team and all of the other industry lead-ers who have been instrumental in our success and growth.”

Ried has spent nearly his whole life in the grocery busi-ness. He started in the business at age eight, with his dad Charles A. “Charlie” Ried, who ran a small grocery store under the family name in Allegany, N.Y. Young Jim cleaned the meat room and performed other basic store tasks before becoming a cashier. In 1973, his father opened a larger store in Allegany, and Jim returned to the family business after having spent a year as a food broker. In 1976, the Rieds opened a store in Olean, and in 1988, the Allegany store closed. That was when Jim Ried moved to the next phase of his career at Olean Wholesale Grocery Co-op. He had risen to COO when he was tapped to be the president and CEO, succeeding Jim Robinson, in 2005.

Olean Wholesale has been a member of ROFDA since 1991. Jim Ried

Olean’s Ried to Retire in 2014

Shelby Publishing14

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Are you ready for the Big Game? Easy-to-eat finger foods—that’s the

goal this time of year.

Feb. 14th

KraftRecipes.com has some special recipes for that special someone.

April 21st EasterFamily meals, rejuvenating and reconnecting!

Memorial DayFire up the grill! Get the hot dogs ready, the cheese for the burgers…

July 4th

Grillin’ with burgers and hotdogs, and the family’s favorite salads.

Labor DayA few more outdoor grilling days left, so be ready.

ThanksgivingHam, turkey, cookies,

snacks and appetizers— we have you covered.

Holiday Entertaining

Easy, tasty meal solutions that satisfy everyone’s tastebuds.

Back 2 school!Means back to a hectic routine! Make Mom’s life easier with these simple lunch and quick dinner solutions.

Recipe Makers

Recipe Makers•Easy-to-prepare meal enhancers for meat, vegetables and fish dishes.•Available in 9 varieties for oven, skillet or slow cooker preparation.•Drives the purchase of key recipe ingredients for increased basket ring.

PLANTERS•Unleash the “Power of the Peanut” for the perfect football party snack.•America’s favorite brand of nuts offers so many options to satisfy any taste.•TheNUT•ritionlinefeatures 9 options including new Sustaining Energy.

OSCAR MAYER Hot Dogs•Bold new flavors tap into taste trends your shoppers are seeking.•Provide quick serving ideas at gatherings.

Velveeta •Known for its smooth and creamy texture. •Ideal ingredient for dips and nacho toppings.

Kraft Natural Shredded Cheese•A key ingredient in your favorite winter recipe.

Deluxe Mac and Cheese•Easy to make, perfect for those chilly winter days. •Available in 3 delicious flavors.

Kraft Mayo •Bound salads, new sandwich spreads, sauces, dips, dressings and more.•Kraft Mayo with Olive Oil—a premium-tasting mayo with half the fat and calories.

Crystal Light •An increasing number of women are ditching diet sodas in favor of iced teas.•Crystal Light is available in multiple package options including new Liquid Concentrates.

Kraft BBQ Sauce•Kraft Barbecue Sauce contains no artificial preservatives, ensuring that it tastes great.•Visible spices give the sauce an attractive homemade quality.

OSCAR MAYER Hot Dogs•Introduction of new flavors and premium options to reignite purchase intention.•Competitively priced and seasonally branded classics.

Capri Sun •Opportunity to expand into tween drinkers with spouted pouch product.•New hybrid flavors targeted to tween/teen consumers.

Cool Whip •Many Americans can’t imagine a holiday without it—pumpkin pie wouldn’t be the same.•Can be used in desserts, sweet dips and salads.

Maxwell House & Gevalia Coffee• The perfect complement to holiday celebrations! Maxwell House Ground Coffee is custom roasted and available in a wide range of roasts, blends and decaffeinated varieties. • From traditional to flavored, Gevalia offers more than 50 varieties of premium coffee, each delivering a unique taste experience.

OSCAR MAYER Bacon •Turkey bacon is the fastest-growing segment in bacon.•No artificial preservatives, nitrates, nitrites or flavors.•50% less fat.

Kraft Mac & Cheese•It says ‘easy’ right on the box, so it’s ideal for busy Moms—from box to table in under 10 minutes.•Available in 22 varieties of flavors and shapes.

Kraft Singles•Made without artificial preservatives or artificial flavors.•Process slices drive category volume and is a favorite choice for burgers.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese •Great for wraps, sandwiches, entrees, desserts and more!•Made with real ingredients, locally-sourced milk* and fresh cream — from farm to fridge in 6 days.**

Jell-O•Perfect for sharing the love in lots of ways.•Available in more than a dozen delicious, fun flavors.

Stove Top •There’s a delicious flavor to please every taste and complement any meal.•Stove Top stuffing mix is ready for the table in just five minutes!

Cracker Barrel •Unique cheddars that are perfect to impress your guests for the holidays, or take weekday snacking to new heights. •Varieties: Extra Sharp Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Aged Reserve and Vermont White.

LUNCHABLES UPLOADED Lunch Combinations •Lunchtime gets an upgrade with exciting varieties with older-kid appeal.•Full-sized, branded kid-favorite treats.•Full-sized drinks that kids want.

start the year right!F I N I S HF I N I S H

Spring!Springtime’s the time

to grow beverage sales, so display merchandisers prominently! Show MiO, and both the powder and liquid concentrate forms of Crystal Light and Kool-Aid.

win with Kraft in 2014.

1 grow shopper loyaltyLet Kraft’s Shopper Insights help you attract the right customers and keep them coming back.

2 drive more tripsLeverage Kraft’s innovative new product pipeline and increase your speed-to-shelf, to drive more trips to your store.

3 increase your shoppers’ basket ringImprove your in-store conversion to help grow basket ring.

4 simplify the shelfEnsure you are implementing the best fact-based principles of Category Management.

5 bigger and better promotionsLeverage Kraft’s Shopper Marketing support on new items, power brands and key seasons of shopping.

www.agsouth.com

Together we make a great team; we’re proud to work with our ROFDA partners in developing effective and profitable growth in 2014.teamwork

see Kraft’s latest grocery innovations

we’ve got a game planto help drive shopper loyalty in 2014.Let’s face it, the shopping environment is changing; your shoppers are frequenting multiple outlets and channels. Let Kraft’s Category Leadership help you drive more trips to your store, increase buyer conversion in-store and grow your shopper loyalty.

Look for additional details throughout 2014 on how Kraft can help you drive profitable growth.

get started

Recipe Makers •Provides a jumpstart to a home-made meal.•Drives fresh meal prep back to center of store with highly incremental sales!•Drives the purchase of key fresh recipe ingredients for increased basket ring and store sales.•Kraft continues its commitment to establish a New Meal Starter Category in-store.

OSCAR MAYER P3 PORTABLE PROTEIN PACK•The power of real meat, cheese and nuts in one tasty protein-rich wholesome snack.•At least 13 grams of protein.•No artificial preservatives.•4 varieties: Applewood Smoked Turkey, Marbled Colby Cheese, Roasted Almonds; Applewood Smoked Ham, Sharp Cheddar, Roasted Almonds; Rotisserie Seasoned Chicken, Mild Cheddar, Lightly-Salted Peanuts; and Oven Roasted Turkey, Mild Cheddar, Lightly-Salted Peanuts.•Available in single or multi-packs.

Gevalia Coffee Café Style Single Serve Cups •Proprietary Gevalia technology delivers Café Style Beverages and flavors to the single serve category.•Espresso roast coffee topped with a velvety layer of froth, made with real milk.•Builds on strength of the Maxwell House and Gevalia single-serve introductions.•Seasonal shippers to encourage distribution and drive incremental sales.•3 varieties: Gevalia Kaffe Cappuccino, Mocha Latte and Caramel Macchiato.

LUNCHABLES UPLOADED Lunch Combinations •Lunchtime gets an upgrade with exciting varieties with older-kid appeal.•Full-sized, branded kid-favorite treats.•Full-sized drinks that kids want.•Packaging graphics that appeal and differentiate.•7 new varieties: • Turkey & Ham Sub Sandwich• Deep Dish Pizza with Pepperoni • 6-Piece Chicken Dunks• Nachos Grande Cheese Dip & Salsa• Ham & American Sub Sandwich• Chicken Soft Tacos.

meet the new players for 2014.

Kraft Singles (with no artificial preservatives or flavors)•Kraft Singles have always been made with

milk and no artificial flavors — and now with no artificial preservatives.•Same great taste, melt and quality of Kraft Singles.•Available in 8oz., 12oz. and 16oz. packages of both yellow and white American.

LUNCHABLES KABOBBLES Lunch Combinations•A whole new and fun way for kids to build and eat their favorite foods.•Meat & Cheese kabobs with pretzel stick skewers.•Available in 3 varieties: •Pepperoni & American Cheese

with pretzel stick “skewers”, a treat and a drink•Chicken Poppers & American Cheese with pretzel stick “skewers”, a treat and a drink •Chicken Poppers & American Cheese with pretzel stick “skewers”, a treat and a fruit smoothie.

MiO Energy and MiO Fit •The liquid concentrates category has experienced continued sensational growth since launch!•4 new flavors: MiO Fit Lemon Lime, MiO Fit Orange, MiO Energy Açai Berry and MiO Energy Tropical Passion Fruit.

©2013 Kraft

December 2013

Shelby Publishing 23

NGA and ROFDA Seek Out Profitable CollaborationAs president and CEO of the Na-

tional Grocers Association (NGA), Peter Larkin is vitally concerned with the health of independent grocers across America. So are retailer-owned co-ops—food distributors that are owned by their independent member retailers—many of which are mem-bers of ROFDA.

So it makes sense that the two national trade associations would take their common goal—keeping independent grocers strong—and fig-ure out if, in partnership, they could enhance offerings for their members and eliminate duplicate efforts.

“I think our collaboration goes back to the mission of both of our organizations,” Larkin said. “Clearly, our mission is to support the inde-pendent grocers and the wholesalers that serve them. ROFDA focuses on

the wholesale side, but by strengthening their wholesalers, delivering that value to retailers, I think both organizations in today’s environment are always looking for how we can be relevant to our members and how we can add more value. We don’t want to be doing things that our retailers either don’t value or are unaware of, so everything we do individually and whatever we are going to do collaboratively is all designed to increase our value proposition to the independent grocery channel.”

Larkin has known of ROFDA for many of his 30 years in the food industry, but he became more familiar with the organization when he served as presi-dent and CEO of the California Grocers Association (CGA). Some of his mem-bers and associate members also were members of ROFDA.

“My first attendance at a ROFDA event came shortly after I started at NGA,” said Larkin, who took the helm of NGA on July 1, 2010. Since then, he has been a presenter at a number of ROFDA’s conferences, providing members and associate members with updates on what’s happening in Washington and at NGA.

He is on the program for the Fall Conference this November in Carlsbad, Calif.

Asked about the membership overlap between NGA and ROFDA, Larkin said, “I think about 95 percent of the co-ops that participate in ROFDA are NGA members. How does that translate into how many of the retail-ers are members…it’s really hard for me to parse that….A simpli-

fied way of answering the question is that we have a very broad cross-over in our various audiences.”

Larkin spoke to The Shelby Report the week prior to NGA’s board meeting in Chicago, where NGA conducted its revised Trading Partner Business Program. For the first time, not only NGA retailer and wholesaler members but also associate (supplier) members and ROFDA members were invited to attend the two-day meeting. The setting allowed “either one-on-one or one-to-many business meetings with their trading partners,” Larkin said.

In the spirit of collaboration, he shared the five areas where ROFDA and NGA believe there are opportunities to work together.

“We don’t want to be doing things that our retailers either don’t value or are unaware of, so everything we do indi-vidually and whatever we are going to do collaboratively

is all designed to increase our value proposition to the inde-pendent grocery channel.”

Peter Larkin president and CEO,

National Grocers Association

1. Trade Relations/ Industry RelationsLarkin: The first is something we

have been talking about and I think it makes a lot of sense for us to collabo-rate in the area of trade relations/industry relations. In this arena, it’s really seeking opportunities to work together to address issues with our trading partners...When we were talk-ing to ROFDA about this opportunity, they said they would be interested in bringing some of the ROFDA whole-saler CEOs to Chicago and to schedule meetings as part of our program with some of the key supplier companies. That is happening.

The total between the retailers, wholesalers and suppliers—over 50 companies that will be there during that two-day period for scheduled meetings. I don’t have the exact total but I think there will be 200 to 250 individual trading partner meetings, and ROFDA will be a key part of that.

2. TechnologyReally what we have been talking

about is aligning our various technol-ogy initiatives to ensure that we’re exploring opportunities to bring new solutions to our members, but at the same time not duplicating efforts or working at cross-purposes. I think you may know from some of the columns I have had in your publica-tion or some of the reports you have done on our conventions that we have three major technology initiatives that we have launched or are in the process of developing further. That has to do with our Innovation Center, our Solutions Center and our startup company Personiphi, which is a di-rect-to-consumer marketing program creating a network of independent grocers throughout the country.

We have shared all of the details of our plan and our direction with ROF-DA. They are also working on some technology initiatives that would aggregate some of the data they have available through their members. And as I say, our joint work would be to make sure that we’re working with-out duplicating effort and not going at cross-purposes with one another.

3. Affinity Programs and ServicesIf you look at our website, you’ll

see that we offer services and pro-grams to our members—debit and credit card processing, a whole laun-dry list of things that are attractive to independent grocers—and ROFDA has similar programs. What we have discussed is ways to seek opportuni-ties to collaborate in that arena by

bringing the right mix of products and services to our members. We haven’t actually done anything jointly yet, but we’ve started the conversa-tions about, again, how to do it with-out duplicating efforts.

4. Education and ResearchThis is something where ROFDA

doesn’t really have the staff size or the depth within the organization to do a lot in terms of educational programs or research projects, so we have talked about ways that we can work together to promote and support our education and research programs, whether it’s our weekly Webinar Wednesdays; our various conferences and meetings; a research project like our Economic Impact Study that you know about so well (see data next page).

In this whole arena of education and research, we’ll make sure we’re talking and staying in touch with each other to look for new opportuni-ties. That would also include an area that we both currently do some work in, and that is in terms of our share groups. We have an expanding share group program here. We have share groups for hu-man resources, CFOs, next-generation leaders. We’re looking at meat, we’re looking at produce; we’re looking at doing one for companies that operate as ESOPs. And ROFDA has a variety of share groups in technology and other logistics, so we’re going to stay in touch on what our share groups’ plans are and how we may be able to cross-pollinate those.

5. Government AffairsROFDA doesn’t really do any work

in the government affairs or legal arena. We have talked about sharing some of the information and resourc-es that we have for our members and at least providing that information to ROFDA so they can share whatever they see fit with their members, and then hopefully engage them in grass-roots activity when appropriate.

There are some issues we deal with in the government relations arena that are very kind of wholesal-er-specific, when it comes to hours of service for truck drivers or OSHA regulations….There’s a whole variety of issues that are really more whole-saler-specific than retailer-specific, and we think by sharing that with ROFDA we may have an expanded reach with the good work we’re doing here in Washington, D.C.

24

December 2013

Shelby Publishing

The National Grocers Association (NGA), with sup-port from its Grocers Research & Education Founda-tion, as well as sponsorship from Mondelez Interna-tional, Nielsen and The Shelby Report, released in April 2013 the findings of its “Independent Grocers Impact America” study. A key finding: The independent grocery channel is responsible for about 1 percent of America’s economy.

From single-store operators to multi-store regional operators, the independent grocery channel, which includes nearly 21,000 of the 36,500 U.S. supermarkets, generates $129.5 billion in annual sales, representing nearly 25 percent of the total domestic market. Indepen-

dents operate supermarkets of all formats and sizes that cater to a wide variety of consumer tastes.

These grocers are directly responsible for creating and maintaining 945,000 stable, reliable jobs that gener-ate just more than $30 billion in wages paid to long-term employees, ranging from those who have established careers in the industry to young people seeking their first work experience.

When factoring in the impact of the goods and services purchased but not resold (equipment, supplies, technol-ogy, transportation, legal, real estate, etc.) and the ripple effect of that economic activity, the total number of jobs created jumps to 1.5 million with total wages of $58 bil-

lion.Independent supermarkets and the wholesalers that

serve them also are a major source of tax revenue for the federal, state and local governments. All told, the independent channel and its employees generate about $14 billion in state and local taxes and $13 billion in federal taxes. The combined total of $27 billion is equal to approximately 1.75 percent of federal, state and local tax revenues.

For more in-depth information—including Congres-sional distict, State House district and State Senate district level data—visit www.grocersimpactamerica.com.

Independent Grocery Channel Makes Up 1 Percent Of America’s Economy

Independent Grocers Impact America

Impact by state

Direct Jobs - 15,090

# Indep. Stores - 463

$2.2 billion

$460.4 million

$375 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 2,420

# Indep. Stores - 72

$300.7 million

$83.1 million

$68.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$1.1 billion

$254.1 million

$201.9 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 9,560

# Indep. Stores - 270

$2.1 billion

$238.9 million

$208.3 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 6,430

# Indep. Stores - 205

$3.6 billion

$468.6 million

$416 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 13,980

# Indep. Stores - 319

$19.7 billion

$3.9 billion

$3.8 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 105,280

# Indep. Stores - 2,691

December 2013

25

$1.9 billion

$605.4 million

$575.7 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 15,750

# Indep. Stores - 228

$359.8 million

$91.8 million

$80.3 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 3,100

# Indep. Stores - 39

Direct Jobs - 30,710

# Indep. Stores - 590

$3.5 billion

$914.0 million

$844.0 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 16,140

# Indep. Stores - 435

$2.8 billion

$474.4 million

$438.7 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 5,590

# Indep. Stores - 122

$855 million

$186.6 million

$146.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$837 million

$184.1 million

$141.3 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 5,340

# Indep. Stores - 117

$5.2 billion

$1.1 billion

$1.06 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 34,500

# Indep. Stores - 873

$2.8 billion

$689.2 million

$574.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 21,470

# Indep. Stores - 468

$1.5 billion

$229.4 million

$190.2 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 8,600

# Indep. Stores - 246

$1.3 billion

$310 million

$256.1 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 10,310

# Indep. Stores - 197

Shelby Publishing

26

December 2013

Shelby Publishing

Direct Jobs - 10,270

# Indep. Stores - 387

$2.1 billion

$278.4 million

$224.9 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 16,260

# Indep. Stores - 381

$1.7 billion

$440.9 million

$340.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$625.7 million

$77.6 million

$64.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 2,960

# Indep. Stores - 115

$2.3 billion

$452.5 million

$417.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 13,560

# Indep. Stores - 274

$2.8 billion

$728.3 million

$687.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 24,330

# Indep. Stores - 340

$3.1 billion

$961.2 million

$880.9 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 29,980

# Indep. Stores - 753

$2.2 billion

$599.4 million

$556.2 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 18,480

# Indep. Stores - 368

Direct Jobs - 7,520

# Indep. Stores - 271

$961.6 million

$202.7 million

$154.4 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Independent Grocers Impact America

With 30 years and nearly 2000 in-store bank branches from coast to coast,Financial Supermarkets, Inc. continues to be your best partner for growth.

IN-STORE BANK BRANCH DESIGN AND INSTALLATIONSince 1984, FSI has been providing relationships that bring retailers and financial institutions together uniting design, construction, and

installation services for successful long-term partnerships. Our innovative designs and training support programs help tenants

reach new levels of success in your store.

phone: 800.992.4978e-mail: fsi@supermarketbank.com

www.supermarketbank.com

LEARN MORE...

•FinancialSupermarkets,Inc.beganlicensingitstrademark,TheSupermarketBank®,inMay1984.

•FSIisthepioneerofthein-storebankingconceptintheUnitedStatesandremainsarespectedleaderandconsultantinthisexpandingsegment.

•Ourteamofretailers,bankers,innovativedesigners,seasonedprojectmanagers,marketingconsultants,andsalestrainershasmorethan400yearscombinedretailexperience.

Thank you to our retail partners, members, vendors, and employees who have supported our mission to create win-win-win relationships since 1984. HERE’s TO 30 yEARs & MORE!

phone: 800.992.4978e-mail: fsi@supermarketbank.com

www.supermarketbank.com

LEARN MORE...

•FinancialSupermarkets,Inc.beganlicensingitstrademark,TheSupermarketBank®,inMay1984.

•FSIisthepioneerofthein-storebankingconceptintheUnitedStatesandremainsarespectedleaderandconsultantinthisexpandingsegment.

•Ourteamofretailers,bankers,innovativedesigners,seasonedprojectmanagers,marketingconsultants,andsalestrainershasmorethan400yearscombinedretailexperience.

Thank you to our retail partners, members, vendors, and employees who have supported our mission to create win-win-win relationships since 1984. HERE’s TO 30 yEARs & MORE!

With 30 years and nearly 2000 in-store bank branches from coast to coast,Financial Supermarkets, Inc. continues to be your best partner for growth.

IN-STORE BANK BRANCH DESIGN AND INSTALLATIONSince 1984, FSI has been providing relationships that bring retailers and financial institutions together uniting design, construction, and

installation services for successful long-term partnerships. Our innovative designs and training support programs help tenants

reach new levels of success in your store.

December 2013

31

Independent Grocers Impact America

Shelby Publishing

$3.1 billion

$702.8 million

$598.6 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 25,700

# Indep. Stores - 508

$605.0 million

$220.3 million

$181.9 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 7,810

# Indep. Stores - 152

$362.6 million

$78.9 million

$63.7 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 2,590

# Indep. Stores - 78

$1.3 billion

$215.5 million

$188 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 5,990

# Indep. Stores - 121

$803.6 million

$225.6 million

$199.3 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 7,080

# Indep. Stores - 83

$4.3 billion

$1.8 billion

$1.7 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 52,070

# Indep. Stores - 685

$1.1 billion

$197.8 million

$153.7 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 6,710

# Indep. Stores - 152

$6.8 billion

$2.9 billion

$2.8 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 93,480

# Indep. Stores - 2,022

32

December 2013

Shelby PublishingShelby Publishing

$2.1 billion

$296.4 million

$270.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 9,550

# Indep. Stores - 260

Direct Jobs - 18,000

# Indep. Stores - 477

$2.9 billion

$569.2 million

$503.6 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Independent Grocers Impact America

$267.8 million

$94.1 million

$80.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 4,030

# Indep. Stores - 85

$5.6 billion

$1.2 billion

$1.06 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 44,370

# Indep. Stores - 821

$1.2 billion

$482.1 million

$365.6 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 16,180

# Indep. Stores - 319

$6.9 billion

$1.8 billion

$1.7 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 58,310

# Indep. Stores - 1,035

$362.5 million

$77.9 million

$70.2 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 1,910

# Indep. Stores - 46

Direct Jobs - 14,920

# Indep. Stores - 335

$2.5 billion

$449.2 million

$380.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

December 2013

33

Direct Jobs - 14,240

# Indep. Stores - 477

$2.7 billion

$434.5 million

$362.6 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$1.8 billion

$424.3 million

$369.3 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 14,100

# Indep. Stores - 196

Direct Jobs - 7,990

# Indep. Stores - 238

$1.4 billion

$243.4 million

$213.5 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$217.7 million

$86.6 million

$65.4 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 3,580

# Indep. Stores - 87

$11.5 billion

$2 billion

$1.8 billion

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 58,340

# Indep. Stores - 1,393

$243.1 million

$78.4 million

$66.2 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 2,420

# Indep. Stores - 51

Direct Jobs - 3,830

# Indep. Stores - 162

$668 million

$105.3 million

$80.6 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

$3.2 billion

$805.6 million

$723.2 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 20,350

# Indep. Stores - 395

$281.8 million

$34.6 million

$26.1 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 1,160

# Indep. Stores - 39

$3.2 billion

$587.2 million

$523.8 million

Sales

Direct Wages

Taxes

Direct Jobs - 21,060

# Indep. Stores - 414

Shelby Publishing

34

December 2013

Shelby Publishing

Directing ROFDA“Get the right people to the table, and good things happen.”—President/CEO Francis Cameron

Ma

rtin

Arte

rPresident & CEO, Affiliated

Foods MW Cooperative, Inc.

ran

dy

Arc

eneA

ux

President & CEO, Affiliated Foods, Inc.

Jay

cAm

pbel

l

President & CEO, Associated Grocers, Inc.

BoB

lin

G

President & CEO, UnifiedGrocers, Inc.

ray

Spri

nkl

e

President & CEO, URM Stores, Inc.

Chr

isto

pher

mic

hAe

l

CEO, AssociatedWholesalers, Inc.

Ken

nem

eth

President & CEO, Central Grocers, Inc.

ran

dy

Sim

on

President & CEO, CERTCO, Inc.

JiM

ried

President & CEO, Olean Wholesale Grocery Co-Op, Inc.

dav

idbu

llAr

d

President & CEO, Piggly Wiggly Alabama Dist. Co., Inc.

nea

lbe

rube

President & CEO, Associated Food Stores, Inc.

MiK

ebo

urG

oin

e

President & CEO, Associated Grocers of New England, Inc.

sta

nAl

exAn

der

President & CEO, Associated Grocers of the South, Inc.

Chr

isto

pher

mil

ler

President, Associated Grocers of Florida, Inc.

Fra

nC

isc

Amer

on

President & CEO,ROFDA