A handful of people have enormous influence over the food that we purchase from chain supermarkets here in North Carolina.  Who are they?  Here is the current line-up of our supermarket leaders (CEOs and produce executives/buyers), their corporate offices, along with the number of stores that they operate and select financial information.  Six of the twenty-one are based here in N.C., if you count Harris Teeter's offices in Matthews.  This list includes many of the most influential supermarket people in the country.  (Due to market overlap, we've included SC store counts as well.)  Note that one Walmart Supercenter has sales equal to three standard stores; a Costco has sales equal to five standard stores.
 
 
ALDI
Jason Hart, CEO
John Kavanaugh, VP, Purchasing
ALDI, Inc.
1200 North Kirk Road
Batavia, IL  60510
59 NC stores
 
BI-LO
Anthony Hucker, CEO of parent Southeastern Grocers LLC
Fred Shropshier, Regional VP, BI-LO West  (in Greenville, SC)
Steve Strachota, Senior VP, Supply Chain
Southeastern Grocers, LLC
8929 Prominence Parkway, Bldg. 200
Jacksonville, FL 32256
35 NC stores  (SEG also owns Harveys, Winn-Dixie and Fresco y Mas)
 
COSTCO
Craig Jelinek, CEO
Jeff Lyons, Senior VP, Fresh Foods
Costco Wholesale Corporation
999 Lake Drive
Issaquah, WA  98029
8 NC stores
 
EARTH FARE
Frank Scorpiniti, President and CEO
Mike Lappin, Director of Produce
Earth Fare
220 Continuum Drive
Fletcher, NC  28732
9 NC stores, take-over target
 
FOOD LION
Kevin Holt, CEO, US Division of parent company
Meg Ham, President, Food Lion
Karen Fernald, VP, Fresh Category, Merch. & Pricing
Delhaize America  [Food Lion]
2110 Executive Drive
Salisbury, NC  28147
494 NC stores
 
THE FRESH MARKET
Larry Appel, President and CEO
Brian Nicholson, CFO
Pamela Kohn, Chief Merch. Officer
Jim Corby, VP, Produce
The Fresh Market
628 Green Valley Road, Suite 500
Greensboro, NC  27408
22 NC stores, owned by Apollo Global Management, private equity
 
HARRIS TEETER  (division of Kroger)
Rod Antolock, President
Mark Hilton, VP, Produce & Floral
Harris Teeter
701 Crestdale Road
Matthews, NC  28105
130 NC stores

IGA
John Ross, President and CEO
IGA, Inc.
8745 Higgins Road, Suite 350
Chicago, IL  60631
 
INGLES MARKET
Jim Lanning, President and CEO
Jim Ray, VP, Produce Operations
Brent Biddix, Senior Organic Produce Buyer
Ingles Market, Inc.
P. O. Box 6676
Asheville, NC  28816
71 NC stores
 
KROGER
W. Rodney McMullen, Chairman and CEO
Fred Morganthall, SVP, Retail Divisions
Robert Clark, SVP, Upply Chain, Manufacturing and Sourcing
The Kroger Co
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-1100
14 NC Kroger stores + 130 Harris Teeter stores  (2,759 stores nationwide)
2019 Q1&2 sales/income:  $65B/$1B

LIDL
Brendan Proctor, President and CEO
Lidl US
3500 South Clark Street
Arlington, VA  22202
 
LOWES FOODS
Tom Lowe, President and CEO
Brian George, CEO, Alex Lee (parent company)
Richard McKellogg, Dir., Produce & Floral
Ariel Fugate, Locally-Grown Accts. Rep.
Lowes Foods
P. O. Box 24908
Winston-Salem, NC  27114-4908
71 NC stores
 
PIGGLY-WIGGLY
Mike Duffy, CEO
Bob Palmer, EVP, Procurement & Sales
C&S Wholesale Grocers
7 Corporate Drive
Keene, NH  03431
61 NC stores, stores are franchises
 
PUBLIX
Todd Jones, President and CEO
Chris Litz, VP, Fresh Product Bus. Dev.
Publix Super Markets, Inc.
3300 Publix Corporate Parkway
Lakeland, FL  33811-3311
16 NC stores

SAVE-A-LOT
Kenneth McGrath, CEO
Save-A-Lot
100 Corporate Office Drive
Earth City, MO  63045
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SPROUTS FARMERS MARKET
Jack Sinclair, CEO
Sprouts Farmers Market
5455 East High Street, Suite 111
Phoenix, AZ  85054 
 
TARGET
Brian Cornell, Chairman and CEO
Aaron Alt, SVP, Grocery Transformation
Target Corporation
1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, MN  55403
49 NC stores
 
TRADER JOE’S
Dan Bane, Chairman and CEO
Amy Morales, Produce Merchandising
Trader Joe’s
800 South Shamrock Avenue
Monrovia, CA  91016
9 NC stores
 
WALMART
Greg Foran, President and CEO
Shawn Baldwin, Senior VP, Produce & Global Food Sourcing
Steve Bratspies, Chief Merchandising Officer
Charles Redfield, Executive VP, Food
Walmart U.S.
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, AR  72716
170 NC stores

WEGMANS
Colleen Wegman, President and CEO
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.
1500 Brooks Avenue
PO Box 30844
Rochester, NY  14603-0844
 
WHOLE FOODS MARKET
John Mackey, CEO
Edmund LaMacchia, Global VP, Procurement, Perishables
Omar Gaye, President, South Region
Whole Foods Market, Inc.
550 Bowie Street
Austin, TX  78703-4644
12 NC stores

updated August 2023