Acme’s Dan Croce to be Honored by N.J. Food Council

Dan Croce, president of Acme Markets, and his executive team will receive an Industry Achievement Award at the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC) Annual Night of Distinction Reception scheduled for March 16 at The Palace at Somerset Park, in Somerset, N.J.

This year, Croce and his team converted almost 40 former A&P/Pathmark stores, doubling the size of the chain’s footprint in the Garden State to 84 locations.  Through aggressive planning, teamwork and strong leadership, each store was converted in less than 60 hours and the entire project was completed in five weeks.

A seasoned grocery executive with 31 years of experience, Croce joined Malvern, Pa.-based Acme, now a division of Albertsons, in 2005 as a district manager, the first ever recruited outside of the company.  He held this role for three years before becoming director of operations in 2008. His subsequent positions at Acme were VP of sales support, VP of operations and VP of merchandising/marketing before his promotion to president. Before joining Acme, Croce worked  for SuperFresh/A&P Food Markets.

Also slated to be honored at the NJFC event are Rafael Cuellar, president and CEO of Cuellar Family ShopRites; Barry Schiro, president of CBA Industries; and council President and CEO Linda Doherty.

Trenton-based NJFC has almost 400 members representing more than 1,200 retail food stores, wholesalers, manufacturers and service companies.