Last updated on February 11th, 2024
Rochester, New York-based Wegmans Food Markets Inc. has announced that Marty Gardner, SVP of merchandising, distribution, manufacturing, food safety and pharmacy, will retire in May, following a 40-year-career with the company.
“Marty has made a significant impact through his passion for excellence across every area of our company,” said Colleen Wegman, president and CEO. “He cares deeply about helping all of us be our best and inspires a strong sense of responsibility, ensuring we’ve thought everything through and are doing the right thing.”
Gardner joined Wegmans as a night manager in 1982 at the Lyell Avenue store. From there, he held positions in merchandising, becoming VP of meat and seafood merchandising in 1996, and was then promoted to SVP of merchandising seven years later. Over the past 19 years, Gardner has worked with merchandising areas for fresh foods, center store, Wegmans Brand and pharmacy, as well as operations for distribution, manufacturing, food safety and quality assurance.
Throughout his career, Gardner’s teams have implemented many important initiatives that keep Wegmans on the leading edge of the industry. With every project he worked on, he always emphasized high standards while keeping two important thoughts in mind: how can we help our people and how can we benefit our customers.
During his time as Wegmans Brand manager, Gardner’s team established a process for creating products by surveying customers to determine which products were most desirable. The vision was to create Wegmans branded products that customers would prefer. Items including WPOP, Wegmans ultra-soft diapers and ultimate chocolate chip cookies were all created as a result of this process.
Wegmans reinvested in its culinary and customer-focused product development process with its “Win Our Way In” program. Implemented under his guidance, the program provides customers with the opportunity to provide feedback on new Wegmans products before they hit store shelves.
Gardner advised on many industry initiatives including FMI’s direct product profitability, leading its team in efficient consumer response, implementing “New Ways of Working Together” and perishable category management. Gardner served on the GS1 U.S. Board of Governors for nine years.
“Marty will be greatly missed, and his legacy of high standards and caring will be a part of us forever,” said Colleen Wegman. “On behalf of all of us, we wish Marty the very best in his retirement.”
Wegmans Food Markets Inc. is a 106-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts and North Carolina. The company has been named one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” by Fortune magazine for 25 consecutive years, ranking No. 3 in 2022. The company also ranked No. 1 on People’s 2021 “Companies That Care” list.
For more information, visit wegmans.com.
