Day 32

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Kevin Davis, President and CEO of Bristol Farms, came and spoke to us in Tom's class today and he was great. One of the most important components of the FIM program is the opportunity to talk with senior executives from our industry and to ask them questions about their experiences and how they've handled different situations.

Kevin was an excellent speaker, very knowledgeable about the industry, and quick on his feet in that he can switch to talking about anything in an instant. What I found most interesting about his story was that he left a large chain (Ralph's) as a Senior VP to take over Bristol Farms, which at that time was a three store chain without any infrastructure. His description of having to put all of the pieces into place in order to grow the company to its current 16 stores was something you'd have a hard time getting anywhere else.

Now that Bristol Farms has been acquired by Supervalu, through Albertson's, it's also enlightening to hear about how a small company can maintain its identity after being purchased by one of the largest food retailers in America. The fact that Kevin can tell Jeff Noddle, CEO of Supervalu, that they need to build a lot more stores in southern California before they can even consider a store in Seattle or New York speaks to the good relationship they have.