Balls Food Stores has been recognized as The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s 2025 Retailer of the Year, an honor that celebrates the company’s dedication to innovation, community service and operational excellence.
Scott Bayne, EVP of operations, attributes this recognition to the company’s forward-thinking leadership, commitment to its teammates and ongoing transformation into a teammate stock ownership plan (TSOP).
Bayne, who has been with BFS for 11 years, has experience on both the operations and merchandising sides of the business, but the majority of his time has been spent in operations.
“It’s a little bit of a different career path than most. But if you have both, it gives you a more rounded management mindset and better vision on what you’re looking for in the store, in my opinion,” he said.
Empowering teammates through ownership
Bayne said the TSOP is “a great opportunity” provided by the Ball family. BFS is led by President David Ball, a third-generation family member. The move provides “the opportunity for [teammates] to get stock every year and for us to be able to grow with some of the tax advantages of being a [TSOP].”
Bayne emphasized that the transition, which took place on July 15, 2024, marks just the beginning.
“We’ve got to continue to work on informing our teammates that they’re now owners – taking that ownership and how they look at running the business and working in the business, and how we take care of our guests,” he said.
As part of this shift, the company has transitioned its focus from customer service to hospitality.
“We want people to be treated as they would be treated if they were in your home,” Bayne said. “So, we are going to be working on operational excellence and hospitality with all of our teammate owners over the next few years.”
BFS 2030: Roadmap for growth
A key driver for the future of Balls Food Stores is Project BFS 2030, a strategic plan aimed at achieving transformational growth, Bayne said. The project focuses on modernizing operations, embracing innovation and shedding outdated business practices.
“One of the worst phrases in business is when you’ve been around a long time, you keep doing it the way you’ve always been doing it,” Bayne noted. “BFS 2030 is giving us some initiatives that we can work on to improve our operating of the company at another level.”
One major component of BFS 2030 is the company’s IT roadmap, which includes a five-year strategy for digital transformation. In addition, a recent private-label initiative has been undertaken, with data-driven product placements aimed at helping increase sales, particularly in the company’s Hen House stores.
A 12-week test was conducted using horizontal and block sets of certain private label categories, collecting data as to which set customers preferred. Over the next three months, that set will be rolled out into all locations.
Bayne noted that people are concerned about their spending, particularly considering inflation.
“All the reports on private label sales, we’ve seen the highest distribution in our Price Chopper stores and our company overall, but our Hen House has been on the lower end of that,” he explained. “We’re going to help that price perception by expanding our private label sets in our Hen House stores and doing the rest of our stores the way the measurement proved out.”
Also part of the BFS 2030 project is growing through store acquisitions.
According to Bayne, the company wants to ensure it is teaching, training and coaching teammates so they are ready for the next level.
“You can’t just buy five stores and think you can jump over there and let everybody run,” he said. “You have to have a structure where you’ve trained people and they’re ready for that next step. That’s something that we’ll be working on to make sure this 2030 [project] is achievable.”
[RELATED: BFS Charts Future With Employee Ownership, Growth Initiatives]
Adapting to changing consumer trends
Balls Food Stores is also keeping up with consumer trends by expanding its product assortment to meet the evolving demands of younger shoppers. Bayne said it is important to not become complacent.
“The younger population wants the boba teas and the seaweed chips and things that maybe I might not eat, but they’re looking for those things,” Bayne said. “So, we’ve just rolled out an expanded Asian product [line]. We’ve expanded our Hispanic products.
“We have one of the biggest Hispanic stores in the city, where you can get the tres leches cakes, the fresh tortillas, the thinly sliced meats, the tamales and the fresh churros. Really, it’s knowing what we need to do for the community and how things are changing in our environment. Maybe becoming a little bit more of a melting pot.”
Pet products are another key area of focus and opportunity. “People don’t skimp on their pets,” Bayne explained. “They’ll spend anything if their pet wants it. They’re part of the family in a lot of cases.”
Balls Food Stores is looking to expand its pet category to compete with online retailers such as Amazon and Chewy, ensuring customers have a compelling reason to shop in-store.
A number of exclusive or specialty products, developed over the years, also draw customers to BFS stores. These include Tippins Pies, deli-made chicken salad, Hereford beef and Ozark Mountain poultry.
Bayne noted that the company recently put more focus on average weekly movement of items in-store. This identified areas that could be downsized, like light bulbs and school and office supplies, and areas to expand, including retro candy and energy drinks.
“I like to look for a lot of industry best practices … everything’s tagged. You don’t keep stuff for six months, and everything has a place. It really makes it easier on our teammates to do their jobs. There’s not a lot of clutter and excess stuff that you have around.”
Balls has changed its water, CSD (carbonated soft drink) and paper sections to a deeper base. This provides the inventory customers seek, and shelves don’t have to be refilled as often.
Bayne said the shelf height has been changed in the HBC and GM departments, going from 72 to 60 inches. This improves the appearance and brings more inventory turns, “so it’s financially right for the company.”
The liquor departments also feature lowered shelf height. This provides improved customer service, as teammates can better see and assist shoppers. It also reduces stock and increases inventory turns “substantially,” Bayne said.
Ongoing investments in infrastructure, efficiency
Over the past 12 years, Balls Food Stores has invested about $150 million into store remodels and operational improvements.
“We’ve been remodeling and closing some underperforming stores. When I got here, we had 28 stores, and now we have 25. But we’re doing more business in those 25 stores than the company did when [there were] 30 stores. And the stores are in better condition,” Bayne said.
He noted if the company is to reach its goal of transformational growth, “We have to acquire, we have to keep our facilities up, and we going to have to continue to grow.”
With the high cost of ground-up construction of new stores, Bayne said acquiring stores likely will be more feasible financially.
The company has implemented innovative loss-prevention measures, including the Gatekeeper cart security system and Everseen technology at self-checkouts to reduce shrink.
Another major investment is the company’s 125,000-square-foot central warehouse facility, which has improved supply chain efficiency.
While BFS is a member of AWG, it does some direct buying for produce from more than 150 local farmers. The warehouse has a 40,000-square-foot cooler with three different temperature zones for produce. All the docks are refrigerated to maintain the cold chain.
About 25,000 square feet is designated to store equipment, while the rest houses dry grocery and some office space.
“It’s going to run millions this year through the facility. It really helps us with margin,” Bayne said. “From a produce standpoint, we can really watch the quality because it’s coming out of our facility.”
Bayne added that the company will continue to maximize performance at the facility, which provides a lower cost to the stores and customers.
Legacy of community commitment
Balls Food Stores’ deep-rooted community involvement is another reason it has earned Retailer of the Year honors.
“I think we have a true servant leader in our leader, and he’s been in the industry for well over 50 years,” Bayne said. “And it’s family owned, third generation, 102 years in the business, the last remaining founder of AWG, the only … founding member that’s still in the business. What they’ve done in the community they don’t brag enough about.”
The company’s philanthropic efforts include working with 28 food pantries in the Kansas City metro area. Ball recently made a commitment to feed more people for less through its food bank donations.
On the first delivery after that commitment, Bayne got a call from one of the company’s food bank partners. “Their trucks were almost double what they used to get. When they did a cost analysis, their costs went down by 46 percent.”
He said the Ball family’s philanthropy is evident around town.
“I see the Ball Family YMCA, and Kaw Valley Center (KVC) has the Ball Family Conference Center that David’s mother helped start. KVC works with over 70,000 kids a year.”
Bayne also pointed out that providing 2,400 jobs in the community also gives back.
“We have family members that the husband, wife, son and daughter all work in our organization,” he said. “They’re able to have a house and cars and send their kids to school.”