CHICAGO, IL — May 7, 2007 — The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) announced the Grand Prize winners of the 2007 Store Manager Superior Service Awards here today at the FMI Show:
• Lewis F. "Bud" Kennedy, manager of the Green Hills Farms, Inc., supermarket in Syracuse, NY — Category A, companies with 1-49 stores.
• Kenneth Hall, Jr., manager of the Schnuck Markets, Inc., store in East St. Louis, IL — Category B, companies with 50-199 stores.
• Don Blair, manager of a BI-LO, LLC, supermarket in Rock Hill, SC — Category C, companies with 200 or more stores.
Lewis F. "Bud" Kennedy was recognized for outstanding customer service and store leadership, managing the Green Hills supermarket for 46 years. He regularly helps customers carry bags out to their cars. During inclement weather, he drives home customers who walk to the store. He and his employees help plow driveways to ensure seniors can get out during snow storms. They deliver free Thanksgiving turkeys and Christmas trees to the store’s most loyal customers as part of an innovative frequent shopper program.
After a severe tornado caused a power outage in Syracuse in 1998, Green Hills lost all of its perishable items. Kennedy worked more than 20 hours a day for a week to restock the store with fresh products. He installed a generator and reopened the store three days before power was restored in the city.
In 2001, Inc. magazine featured the supermarket as the "Best Little Grocery Store in America," highlighting its excellent customer service and loyalty.
Kenneth Hall, Jr., earned the award for managing successful inner-city supermarkets, especially for revitalizing a struggling store in East St. Louis. He worked with the mayor, state representatives and labor leaders to ensure that the store continued to operate and provide jobs for numerous community residents. The store is now the center of a new retail development area in the heart of the city.
Hall serves as chairman of the Board of the Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital. He is an active member of the East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, the Southwest Region of the YMCA, the Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone and the Metro East Weather Crisis Task Force.
Don Blair was honored for performing extensive community service and delivering some of the best sales and earnings results for the company. His community work includes raising more than $41,000 for the local United Way campaign over the past four years. Blair partnered with the Rock Hill Police Department to collect more than $20,000 to develop a camp for disadvantaged youth in Rock Hill — the Worthy Boys & Girls Club. He supports local schools, churches, soup kitchens and other charities and causes.
Blair’s store is recognized as a Center of Excellent by the BI-LO School of Business. Under his leadership, sales have increased $240,000 per week, a 48 percent increase, over the past six years. The citizens of Rock Hill voted his store the "Best Supermarket" the past two years.
The three grand prize winners were chosen from a group of nine finalists. The other six finalists:
• Ron Frasier, manager of a Hannaford Bros. Co. store in Colonie, NY.
• Steven Girton, manager of a Nell’s Shurfine Markets, Inc., store in Carlisle, PA.
• Joseph "Wood" Martin, manager of a Harris Teeter, Inc., store in Wilmington, NC.
• Judy Plogsted, manager of a Bigg’s SUPERVALU Co. store in Harrison, OH.
• Rose Richardson, manager of a Chief Supermarkets store in Defiance, OH.
• Pat Scullin, manager of a Giant Eagle, Inc., store in Lyndhurst, OH.
All the finalists received two tickets to the FMI Show, three nights of hotel accommodations in Chicago and a certificate of achievement. The grand prize winners each were presented a $1,000 check and award plaque at the Speaks 2007 state-of-the-industry super session.
For this FMI awards program, companies submit entries that demonstrate how store managers have excelled in serving their customers, companies or communities. The entries are judged on originality and creativity, and their impact on sales growth, customer satisfaction or community relations.
Contact:
Bill Greer
202-220-0667
wgreer@fmi.org
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