The Fresh Market Taps Industry Vet as Bakery Director

The Fresh Market Inc. has named David Cummings its director of bakery. In this role, Cummings will lead the bakery merchandising department, providing strategic direction on its growth plans.

“David is a true bakery expert and has a long, dedicated focus in the bakery world,” noted Diane Cleven, director of deli, CMS and bakery, to whom Cummings will report. “While this may not be on his resume, he literally started ‘making the doughnuts’ at his parents’ Dunkin Donuts shop when he was just 13. He has gravitated to specialty bakery as his career progressed, and we could not be more thrilled to have him join our team at The Fresh Market.”

Cummings brings to his latest position 46 years of bakery experience, most recently as director of bakery retail at Parsippany, New Jersey-based Kings/Balducci’s and as VP, bakery at New York-based Fairway Market. Over his career Cummings has also worked for ShopRite and A&P, in addition to sales positions for Pillsbury, General Mills and Hazelwood Farms.

When asked what attracted him to The Fresh Market, Cummings replied, “Without hesitation, it is the team, the product offering as well as the quality and freshness of the product offerings.”

Cummings’ focus will be to expand specialty offerings and build on the bakery departments’ strengths, working closely with the operations team to offer best-in-class products specifically curated for The Fresh Market.

Over the past few months, the company has hired a general counsel, Carlos Clark, as well as a CFO; an SVP, store operations; a CMO; and, this past March, a new CEO, Jason Potter.

The Fresh Market operates 159 stores in 22 states. The Greensboro, North Carolina-based company is No. 71 on The PG 100,  Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.