News Briefs

Tops Markets LLC has promoted Kathy Sautter to the role of director, corporate communications and public relations.

Sautter began her career at Tops as a public relations specialist in 2016, moving up to the position of public relations manager two years later. In her new role, she will handle all external Tops corporate communication, public relations, and manage internal company communication. Sautter will also oversee local governmental affairs, fostering the relationships that the grocer has established in its operating area.

Additionally, as Tops finalizes its merger activities with Price Chopper/Market 32, Sautter will work closely with Northeast Shared Services to ensure continuity and support for Tops in the future. During her time with the company, Sautter was instrumental in overseeing crisis communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of a mass shooting last May at a Tops store in Buffalo, N.Y. 

A resident of Lancaster, N.Y., where she lives with her husband, Sautter is a Grammy Award winner with the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, a recipient of Progressive Grocer’s Top Women in Grocery Award in 2018 and a local children’s book author. 

Williamsville, N.Y.-based Tops Markets LLC operates 150 supermarkets, including five franchise stores, and employs more than 14,000 associates in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The banner’s parent company, Northeast Grocery Inc., is No. 44 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.

Kaivac has elevated Bob Robinson, Jr. to company president. He steps in for exiting President Bob Robinson, Sr., who will continue as the CEO of the cleaning system provider.

Robinson, Jr. was promoted from his most recent position as chief growth officer. He has served in several capacities during his two and a half decades with the family business and, among other accomplishments, is credited with helping to quadruple revenue in the sales division.

[Read more: "How Efficient Day Cleaning Satisfies Customers, Empowers Employees"]

“This year is our 25th year in business, and we are at a nexus point where opportunity and destiny meet,” declared Robinson, Sr. “Bob Jr. is the right person to lead Kaivac as we change the way the world cleans.”

For his part, the junior Robinson said he is humbled to take on new leadership tasks. “I firmly believe that we are the right company with the right products manufactured by the right people to take our industry by storm. I eagerly look forward to what 2023 and beyond will bring,” he said. 

It’s been a time of growth for the Hamilton, Ohio-based Kaivac, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic that brought sanitation to the forefront of grocery operations. Kaivac works with retailers to deploy an array of science-based cleaning systems, including “No – Touch” solutions, designed for restrooms, hard surface floors, commercial kitchens and other spaces.

eGrowcery, a white-label e-commerce platform developer, and AdAdapted, an advertising technology solution that gets CPG brands onto shopping lists and into carts, have partnered to help retailers grow their digital footprint and related sales. The move will also support efforts by CPG brands to personalize the shopping experience and drive engagement, purchase intent and increased spend on retailers’ digital advertising platforms.

“This partnership is all about eGrowcery and AdAdapted driving more platform eyeballs and enabling more sales for the retailers we serve,” said Patrick Hughes, CEO of Birmingham, Mich.-based eGrowcery. “It creates the optimal combination of shoppable promotional messages that are relevant to the shoppers’ needs and match those with our retail client’s objectives. If we are not continually helping our retailers grow, we are not doing our job."

[Read more: “eGrowcery Platform Now Includes Prepared Foods”]

The joint AdAdapted-eGrowcery offering helps retailers and brands extend their reach to where customers organically spend their time online, while also giving them a first-to-market path to conversion with just one click.

“AdAdapted and eGrowcery are creating a superior digital shopping experience that will drive measurable results for both suppliers and retailers,” said Molly McFarland, co-founder and chief revenue officer of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based AdAdapted. “AdAdapted’s patented shoppable technology and experienced sales and execution team, combined with eGrowcery’s superior e-commerce experience, creates a win for the customer, advertiser and retailer.”

CVS and Walgreens have fulfilled their commitments to source 100% cage-free eggs nationally three years ahead of schedule. CVS, which has 9,900 stores, fulfilled its commitment in December 2022, and Walgreens, which has 8,886 stores, fulfilled its commitment this month. Both worked with The Humane League to accelerate the timeline of their fulfillments.

[Read more: "Scrambling to Meet Shoppers’ Preference for Specialty Eggs"]

“These accelerated cage-free fulfillments by Walgreens and CVS are precedent-setting for the retail industry and prove there’s no reason other companies can’t, at the very least, meet their 2025 commitments to go cage-free,” said Tim Sage, corporate relations specialist at The Humane League, which is based in New York. “By demonstrating a commitment to the ethical and humane treatment of animals in their supply chains, these retail leaders are acknowledging that confining hens in cages is inhumane and unacceptable.” 

The Humane League has worked with 2,300 companies to establish cage-free commitments. 

Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens, which operates retail locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, is No. 5 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. With its CVS Pharmacy subsidiary operating almost 10,000 locations nationwide, Woonsocket, R.I.-based CVS Health is No. 7 on PG’s list.

Invafresh, which provides a cloud-based fresh retail platform for grocers, has named Sarah Sandberg as its first chief customer officer. She joins the company’s executive team to spearhead the scaling of its customer engagement strategy across the business at a time of ongoing expansion.

Most recently, Sandberg served as SVP of customer success at Lightspeed Commerce. Before that, she was an SVP of customer success at NuOrder, which was acquired by Lightspeed in 2021. Sandberg's background also includes senior roles with Etail Solutions and Fuel Cycle.

[Read more: "Weis Markets Opts for Invafresh to Streamline Fresh Food Ops"]

“Her passion and drive for customer success is evident in her leadership experience,” said Tim Spencer, CEO of the Mississauga, Ontario-based Invafresh. “We’re committed to delivering a best-in-class experience for our customers, and this newly created position is demonstration of our focus on being a trusted partner to our customers. With her customer-first approach, Sarah has proven experience to build upon the exceptional level of customer care we’ve created.”

Sandberg said she’ll hit the ground running to make a positive impact on how grocers use technology to provide shoppers with optimal fresh experiences. “My focus will be to ensure our customers get the most value out of their investment with Invafresh by understanding their business needs and providing data science backed actionable insights to their operations. I look forward to visiting our customers to learn more about their business goals when it comes to their Fresh operations,” she declared.

Earlier this month, Invafresh shared its outlook for the top five grocery industry trends in 2023. Among those trends: more investments in AI and machine learning for forecasting and automation; a greater focus on sustainability; the growth of commissary kitchens and centralized production planning; the rise of data-driven decision making with prescriptive analytics; and migration from on-premises software to the cloud.

Weis Markets Inc. and Instacart have formed a partnership to offer same-day grocery delivery from 133 Weis locations in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. 

“We are committed to offering our customers more convenient grocery options, from in-store shopping to online ordering with pickup or delivery,” said Weis Markets VP of Marketing and Advertising Maria Rizzo, who was recently promoted from the role of director of marketing. “This partnership unlocks new ways for customers in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware to shop​ online​ with Weis Markets.” 

San Francisco-based Instacart​​​ offers same-day grocery delivery and pickup services in as fast as an hour. The company partners with more than 1,000 national, regional and local retail banners, including unique brand names, to deliver from more than 75,000 stores across more than 13,000 cities in the United States – including all 50 states – and Canada. 

Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis Markets operates stores in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and West Virginia. The company is No. 61 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named it one of the Top 10 Regional Operators to Watch in 2022.