Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) has named Mark Deuschle its next president and CEO. Deuschle succeeds Jeff Pedersen, who announced in January his plans to step down after the organization’s spring conference to join Alliance Retail Group, where he has been appointed chief customer officer. With more than 30 years of experience in […]
Tag: ROFDA
NGA Appoints Kirtland, Raya To Board, Presents Industry Service Award To Jones
The National Grocers Association (NGA), the trade association representing the independent supermarket industry, has appointed Amy Kirtland EVP of independents, fresh and exclusive brands at KeHE Distributors, and Lori Raya, chief merchandising and marketing officer at SpartanNash, to fill vacancies on its board of directors. Kirtland serves KeHE’s customers in the areas of grocery independents […]
UPDATED: ROFDA To Join Forces With NGA Jan. 1
The Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) organization will merge under the National Grocers Association (NGA) umbrella, effective Jan. 1, 2020. The announcement was made this morning at the NGA and ROFDA co-located fall conference in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. ROFDA’s current share groups and buying programs will continue to operate under this new […]
Transportation Issues Felt Throughout Grocery Industry
Randy Arceneaux is president and CEO of Affiliated Foods in Amarillo, Texas. If there is one thing Texans understand, it is the oil business. The oil business had a good year in 2018, and so did Affiliated Foods. “We grew a little over 5 percent, and the encouraging thing for us this year is that, […]
NGA’s Larkin Examines Issues Facing New Congress
The 2018 mid-term elections changed the makeup of Congress, with 100 new members who took office in January. National Grocers Association (NGA) President Peter Larkin told the grocers in attendance at the November 2018 ROFDA Fall Conference in Arizona to invite these new members to their stores and talk about the issues impacting them on […]
Harps Food Stores Thrives In Walmart’s Back Yard
Affiliated Foods President and CEO Randy Arceneaux, the current chairman of ROFDA, said asking a retailer to speak at the organization’s fall conference was “one of the beautiful things that we started a few years ago. They’re the true heroes of our business, especially independent operators.” Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG) President and CEO David Smith […]
Piggly Wiggly’s Bullard Got Education In More Than One Form In The Army
ROFDA Member: Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. Editor’s note: The following is a portion of 2018’s ROFDA Report honoring ROFDA vets. The full report is available in the December 2018 editions of The Shelby Report. David Bullard, president and CEO of Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Co. (PWADC), took a break from college to serve in […]
The Future Of Retail Is Want-Driven Vs. Need-Based
First of all, brick-and-mortar stores are “never, ever going away.” But what they need to become may make some people uncomfortable. That is according to Michael Rogosa, global research director at Planet Retail RNG, who spoke to ROFDA members about the long-term future of retail during the group’s spring conference. He said that as brick-and-mortar […]
URM Stores Continues To Strengthen Its Value Proposition For Retailers
Ray Sprinkle has been at the helm of URM Stores Inc. in Spokane, Washington, for four years now. During that time, the retailer-owned co-op has enjoyed some bright spots, like sales growth and a frozen and refrigerated warehouse expansion, while also weathering some storms, including a data breach. The future looks to be mostly sunny, […]
At Hanover Co-op Food Stores, ‘Local’ Actually Means Local
Associated Grocers of New England member If you’ve ever seen a picture postcard of a quaint New England town, then you have a pretty good idea about the communities Hanover Co-op Food Stores serves, according to Allan Reetz, director of public relations. The 81-year-old co-op operates four retail stores in the Upper Connecticut River Valley, […]
ROFDA Fall Conference: ‘Bold Moves’ Needed In New Era Of Grocery
How does an independent grocer leverage e-commerce in this “new era” of grocery retailing? That is the question Steve Bishop, managing partner, Brick Meets Click, attempted to answer at the ROFDA Fall Conference. While e-commerce is a small percentage of sales today, it is a disproportionately important part of the business. Bishop said Amazon’s acquisition […]
ROFDA And Rosie To Bring Online Shopping To 2,000 Independents
Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates (ROFDA) and Rosie, an e-commerce company, have entered into a new partnership, announced at the National Grocers Association’s Fall Leadership Meetings, that will bring Rosie’s online shopping platform to 2,000 independent grocery stores across the U.S. over the next two years. “The partnership will provide omni-channel online shopping programs, […]
Bo Jackson Says: Brand Name Is Meaningless Without A Reputation For Quality
Vincent “Bo” Jackson, a Heisman Trophy winner, a two-sport athlete and a businessman with more than two decades of experience, doesn’t take a half-hearted approach to anything if his track record is any indication. And the zealousness that has defined his athletic career also characterizes his more recent business ventures, including VEJ Holdings LLC, a […]
2012 ROFDA Report
Celebrating 50 years of promoting, supporting and servicing the independent retail grocer with the Retailer Owned Food Distributors & Associates. Read from the leaders of ROFDA on what drives their entrepreneurial spirit and how they lead their organizations to success in the 2012 ROFDA Report. Open publication
ROFDA Fall Conference Coverage: Campbell Talks Independents And Independence
by Kristen Cloud/staff writer Independents and independence have more in common than simply their pronunciations. That was the message Jay Campbell, president and CEO of Associated Grocers of Baton Rouge, shared during ROFDA’s 2012 Fall Conference. “Even though they’re called independent retail grocers, they will be the first to tell you that they are dependent […]
ROFDA Spring Conference 2011 Town Hall meeting, Part 2
The Shelby Report’s ROFDA coverage, continued from Part 1. [gn_spoiler title=”Q: My question has to do with two things we’re stuck with—death and taxes. What strategies or plans do you have in place to try and moderate or control rising health insurance costs, and from the tax side, state unemployment insurance, which we see going […]
