Dive Brief:
- Schnuck Markets has appointed Ted Schnuck as chief operating officer, the St. Louis-based supermarket chain announced Tuesday.
- At the same time, David Bell, Schnucks’ chief financial and administrative officer, has taken on the added role of president of the 1939 Group, the holding company that controls the family-owned retailer, according to a Tuesday press release sent by email.
- The executive changes follow the Schnuck family’s recent establishment of the 1939 Group and purchase of a pair of Wisconsin grocery chains.
Dive Insight:
Schnuck, who is a great-grandson of Schnucks’ founder Anna Donovan Schnuck and joined Schnucks in 2015, is moving up to COO after serving as an executive vice president since 2021.
In his expanded role, Schnuck will be responsible for the company’s daily operations and strategic initiatives in addition to overseeing functions including store operations, merchandising, marketing, communications and supply chain management. He will retain his position on the regional grocer’s strategy team.
As executive vice president of supermarkets, Schnuck oversaw the grocer’s merchandising, store operations, marketing and communications groups. Before moving up to that position, Schnuck was the company’s vice president of fresh, a role in which he led grocer’s meat, seafood, produce, floral, bakery and deli merchandising departments. Earlier roles included division manager and vice president of brand marketing for Schnucks, which runs 113 supermarkets in three Midwestern states.
“With Ted’s extensive experience in diverse strategic and operational disciplines across a broad scope of commercial environments, both internal and external, Ted is well prepared to expand his role as a next generation leader, a true history-making moment in Schnucks’ legacy,” Schnuck Markets Chairman and CEO Todd Schnuck said in a statement.
Ted Schnuck drew a connection between his appointment as COO and his family’s recent creation of the 1939 Group as a vehicle for its investments in grocery stores, noting in a statement that “it is an exciting time to be a leader at Schnucks.”
As president of the 1939 Group, Bell will spearhead the Schnuck family’s efforts to maintain the grocery chains it owns as individual brands under a centralized corporate framework. In addition to Schnuck Markets, the 1939 Group owns the Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers chains, which it acquired in a transaction that closed last month.
“In an industry often defined by consolidation and challenge, we are out to prove that regional, community-centered grocery companies can not only survive but thrive and grow,” Bell said in a statement.
Bell will continue in his position as head of financial operations at Schnucks at the same time as he refines the 1939 Group’s strategy and leads its operations.
Todd Schnuck pointed to Bell’s decades of experience working for Schnucks as a key asset as the Schnuck family looks to manage its investments in multiple grocery banners under a single ownership structure.
“As the leader charged with executing that purpose, David bears a tremendous responsibility to maintain the unique points of difference, distinctive local identities and authentic cultures of those banners entrusted to our care. But also to explore the advantages of sharing ideas and innovation, platforms and technologies, and best practices, to ensure ongoing stability and fuel growth,” Todd Schnuck said in a statement.
