Store Manager Awards Bestowed at FMI Connect
Food Marketing Institute (FMI) unveiled today its slate of 2015 Store Manager Awards, which recognize exceptional supermarket store managers who generate sales growth, provide outstanding customer service, contribute to attaining company goals and are an integral part of their local communities.
For 2015, FMI added a new category to the 16th annual awards program: the Store Manager People's Pick Award. Profiles and photos of the 10 Store Manager Awards finalists appeared on the association’s Facebook page, with the post that garnered the most “likes” after a week earning its subject the People’s Pick Award.
"Store managers are truly the superheroes of the food retail industry, working tirelessy on behalf of their customers, their companies, their employees and their communities," said Leslie G. Sarasin, president and CEO of Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Insititute. "The Store Manager People's Pick category this year showed there is real community support for all our store manager finalists. In total, we had more than 4,600 likes on the related posts, reached more than 27,000 people, and had hundreds of comments and shares about these amazing store managers."
The winners were as follows:
- Category A: (1-49 Stores): Brian Hayes, Super Saver, Lincoln, Neb.
- Category B: (50-199 Stores): Mark Hubbard, Food City, Kingsport, Tenn.
- Category C: (Over 200 Stores): Brian Wilken, Hy-Vee Inc., Charles City, Iowa
- Category D: (International): Charlynne Stunder, Overwaitea Food Group, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- People’s Pick Award: Mark Hubbard, Food City, Kingsport, Tenn.; Steve Gannon, Winn-Dixie, Jacksonville, Fla. (tie)
Each Store Manager Award winner receives a $1,000 prize and an award; the People's Pick winners get $500 and an award.