Soup to Nutz

April 2010
by Maria Maggio

Congratulations to Foodtown on its 55th anniversary! We are thrilled to help you celebrate this important milestone. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, the Food Circus/ Foodtown family lost one of its own this week when Joseph Azzolina passed away on April 16 after a long illness. The last time I saw Mr. Azzolina was in November at the Hazlet, NJ store opening. He was standing at the podium welcoming local dignitaries, employees, shoppers and industry colleagues to the latest addition to the Food Circus family. Mr. Azzolina was the son of Sicilian immigrants who came to America for a better life. Not only did he achieve that, but he left his family with a magnificent legacy. For more on Mr. Azzolina’s lifetime achievements please see page 4 (of the print edition). When I spoke with Lou Scaduto Jr., Mr Azzolina’s nephew, he told me his uncle lived a great life. As we celebrate this special anniversary of Foodtown, so too we celebrate the life of a great American, Joseph Azzolina.

As I traveled from store to store taking photos and hearing the stories from owners and employees who started their careers in the Foodtown stores, I found myself humming the Simon and Garfunkel song, “America.” Janice Tyrrell told me about her father being one of the founders of Foodtown, buying groceries in bulk at better prices with a few other store owners and storing them in their family garage until there wasn’t any more room and they had to rent a warehouse. Jeff Dickerson proudly showed me photos of the Dickerson family history in the supermarket business in Mt. Tabor, NJ. Billy Estevez told me his family’s story of coming to the United States from the Dominican Republic and starting with one store. They just opened their seventh store in Yonkers, NY. This is family business at its best, the American Dream in reality.

It took a village to get this project to print. From Bill Donahoe, Foodtown’s president and COO and Janet Modena, his executive assistant; to Terri Maloney, editorial director of Food Trade News and Food World, who literally put the entire project together with ample assistance from Jenny Jones and the folks at Electronic Ink; to Ed Hunt, VP of operations at PSK Supermarkets for helping coordinate the Katz’ stores; to Lou Scaduto Jr., VP of operations and merchandising for Food Circus, whose email prepared everyone in the Food Circus Stores for our arrival; to Robin Estevez of the Estevez Group, who I promise to stop emailing as soon as this is printed; to the many store managers who had to coerce some store associates “ham it up” for the camera; and to all the “meat men” as I called them who made my job so much more fun! Lastly, I owe a big thank you to a very patient friend who followed me on Google Earth as I ventured through Brooklyn and kept me calm when I got lost in the Bronx. Without his help I would probably still be roaming around a few of the boroughs of New York City!
 
Philabundance needs our help! Marlo Delsordo contacted me recently telling me that Philabundance, the food bank that helps all Philadelphians in need, is in need itself…they need produce! If you can help, please contact them at www.philabundance.org and check out their ad on page 31 (of the print edition).
 
I had a chance to catch up with Tony DeVinney, retired, Acme at Judy Spires’ going away party last month. Tony is looking well these days, enjoying retirement and spending time with his grandchildren and his wife Lorraine. We also ran into Jack Zumba, supposedly retired from White Rose, at the White Rose show at the Meadowlands last month. He tells us he’s busier than ever.

Mark your calendars for June 1. Dennis Hickey of White Rose is going to be the guest speaker at the NJFC’s Trade Relations Conference at the Borgata in Atlantic City. Ernie Vespole of Acosta will receive the Max Stone Award that evening. This is a fun evening followed by a day of great golf at Galloway National Golf Club. Also, AMR/MAFTO’s annual golf outing is also coming up on May 3 at the LuLu County Club in North Hills, PA. This outing is always a winner with the best prizes in town! Don’t miss it.

Safeway, parent company of Genuardi’s Markets, announced that the company and 100 vendor partners are donating $3.4 million to schools through Safeway’s annual 10 percent Back to Schools Program. This is the fifth year that Safeway and product manufacturers have made a major contribution in support of education through the 10% Back to Schools program. Thousands of schools and education programs nationwide participated and earned donations. Locally, Genuardi’s distributed nearly $100,000 to the schools and organizations that participated in the five-week program. Radnor Elementary School in Radnor and Sabold Elementary School in Springfield, Delaware County, were among the top five schools in the Genuardi’s area to earn funds. Through the program, which runs August and September, 10 percent of the sale price of more than 2,500 selected products goes to support education. When customers purchase these products using their Safeway/Genuardi’s Club Card, they automatically accumulate donations that they can assign to a school of their choice.The donation checks are being delivered at a time when many school systems and other education programs are facing unprecedented cuts. Some schools are eliminating courses and increasing class size. In addition, the tough economy has impacted libraries, museums and other education and enrichment programs that rely on donations.“The eScrip Program and the 10% Back to Schools Program provide us with the means to enrich the programming for our 550 students through cultural arts programs and science assemblies such as the Franklin Institute,” said Sheila Palmer, president of Radnor Elementary PTO. Joan Kaplan, eScrip coordinator for Radnor Elementary School, added, “Within the five-week span of the 10% Back to Schools program, our school earned $1,382. These funds also allow us to improve technology in the classrooms. We are so appreciative of Genuardi’s generous support and the support of our Radnor Elementary School families.”

The food industry is making great strides in making our world a “greener” place to live. For the third year in a row, C&S Wholesale Grocers is helping The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero program restore native forests for wildlife by offsetting the annual carbon dioxide emissions of its corporate headquarters buildings (including the estimated roundtrip commutes of its employees) and a percentage of two warehouse facilities. This year, C&S will support the planting of almost 10,000 trees and the restoration of 33 acres at two Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges: Grand Cote and Lake Ophelia. Since the company’s first grant to The Conservation Fund, C&S has supported the planting of approximately 15,000 trees and the restoration of 50 acres on behalf of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Environmental sustainability is important to us. We're gathering and interpreting data and using it to evaluate improvements in our business operations that will help reduce our impact on the planet,” said Scott Charlton, C&S executive vice president of operations. “At the same time, we are supporting a program that makes a difference on the ground – for climate, wildlife and local communities.”

“C&S Wholesale Grocers is helping The Conservation Fund address many of the greatest environmental challenges of our time,” said Jena Meredith, The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero director. “We applaud C&S for reducing its impact on the planet and increasing its environmental commitment every year. Their leadership creates healthier forests, protects biodiversity and enhances our nation's public recreation areas.” Go Zero works with individuals and companies like C&S Wholesale Grocers to help reduce, and then offset, the carbon footprint of everyday activities. Donations help plant native trees in protected parks and wildlife refuges. The trees will capture and store carbon over time, while also creating forest habitats that are critical to birds, fish, bears and other wildlife.

By now you all know of my interest in sustainability, but even I was surprised when I recently read about college aged students choosing schools based on how “green” they are. Apparently students today care about a college’s commitment to sustainability and it is affecting their choices of where to go for their undergraduate studies. Leave it to the Princeton Review to come up with the solution. In partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council, The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges is now available free online. Fourteen colleges got the top rating of 99 this year. In our area Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA made the list. For more information and the entire listing, go to www.princetonreview.com.
 
Fresh, a great little restaurant in Basking Ridge just became the seventh restaurant in the state of New Jersey to be certified by the Green Restaurant Association (GRA). The GRA, based in Boston, MA has been around since 1990 helping food businesses become more environmentally sustainable. The certification process is difficult and requires a re-certification each year. I ate at Fresh with a friend last fall and it was, well, fresh! I had a turkey cobb salad, my favorite, and my friend had a Greek salad. We followed it up with a Frogurt, the same one that’s sold in Bloomingdale’s in New York. The other six certified restaurants in New Jersey belong to the McLoone’s restaurants located mainly in Monmouth County and Steve and Cookie’s By the Bay in Margate. Eno Terra, just outside of Princeton, in Kingston rounds out the group.

The International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association (IDDBA) 46th annual seminar and expo is just around the corner. We got a sneak preview of the Show & Sell Center Merchandising Pavilion, a model store featuring innovative and actionable concepts. The Show & Sell Center is always filled with the latest and greatest ideas fresh from world class retail merchandisers and food professionals. Hundreds of ideas bring a fresh perspective to the challenge of attracting (and keeping) customers.

The folks at the IDDBA are busy doing many things in addition to putting together their annual showcase. They now offer a Food Safety Certification Reimbursement Program (FSCRP) to promote food safety certification for retail dairy, deli and bakery department employees. This program reimburses IDDBA member retailers for food safety certification test fees (up to the published cost) for dairy, deli, and bakery employees who successfully complete the certification exam. Since its inception in 2003, the FSCRP has reimbursed retailers over $190,000 to certify nearly 5,000 department managers and associates. “We think, as do many retailers that it’s important for perishable department managers and associates to be skilled in handling food safely and uphold the highest standards in personal hygiene,” said IDDBA’s director of education, Mary Kay O’Connor. “This IDDBA program supports retailers’ efforts to achieve this goal.” Retailers participating in the FSCRP include Big Y Foods, Hy-Vee and The Great A&P Tea Company. Food safety certification exams from the following organizations are eligible under the IDDBA FSCRP: Prometric (certified professional food manager); National Registry of Food Safety Professionals (food safety manager certification or FMI-SuperSafeMark7); and National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (ServSafe7 food protection manager certification).For more information or an application for reimbursement, go to www.iddba.org/certification.aspx.

Attention all IDDBA member companies and their employees: an application form, a letter of recommendation, and a transcript are all that’s needed to apply for an academic scholarship from IDDBA. Scholarships range from $250 to $1,000, and employees of IDDBA-member companies are eligible. More information and an online or printable application are available at www.iddba.org/scholarships.aspx.

Wedding wishes go out to Stephen Raiola, Farmland Dairies, and his bride, Alana Valli, who were married on April 24th. The newlyweds are enjoying their honeymoon in Hawaii.

On a personal note, I want to congratulate my son, Gino Marfuggi, who is graduating from the Golf Academy of America this month. Some of you may be seeing him on the golf course later this season, so get your game on, he lives for the game of golf!

Birthday shout outs for this renaissance-like month of April go out to: Charlie Poletti, Acosta; Larry Weaver, Keller’s Creamery; Ron Benjamin, Innovative Food Sales; Phil Lempert, the Supermarket Guru; and Ann Speakman, wife of Best-Met’s CFO, Bill Speakman.
 
Celebrating marital bliss this month: Joanna and Michael Morabito III, Morabito Baking Co; Diane and Doug Buchanan, Brandywine Brokerage; and Jutta and Larry Weaver, Keller’s Creamery. Happy anniversary to all!

Quote of the month: “Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion.” - Jack Kerouac

Please let us know of about your life events, achievements, activities. Email: mmaggio@best-met.com