Topco honors members for outstanding store brand focus

During its Annual Membership Conference Feb. 28 through March 2, Elk Grove Village, Ill.-headquartered Topco Associates honored the following members for exceptional program performance in 2016:

• SpartanNash Co. — Greatest dollar growth in all programs. Byron Center, Mich.-based SpartanNash continued to implement Topco’s Aggregated Pharmacy Initiative and grew its own-brand portfolio with an emphasis on Full Circle Market and ValuTime.

• Associated Food Stores — Greatest percentage growth in all programs. Salt Lake City, Utah-based Associated Food Stores showed impressed growth following its transition to Top Care last year. The wholesaler also increased its assortment and promotion of Topco own brands, including Full Circle Market, @ease, Paws Happy Life, Simply Done and Wide Awake Coffee.

• Weis Markets — Greatest dollar growth in center store. Sunbury, Pa.-based Weis Markets achieved greatest dollar store growth in center store by expanding its assortments in bottled water, coffee, frozen vegetables and salty snacks through brands such as Full Circle Market and ValuTime.

• Associated Grocers of Florida — Greatest percentage growth in center store. Pompano Beach, Fla.-based Associated Grocers of Florida significantly expanded its own-brand portfolio and grew center store categories such as cereal, sugar and canned vegetables.

• Big Y Foods — Greatest dollar growth in fresh food. Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y Foods demonstrated impressive growth in produce, deli meat and chicken and achieved significant savings on ground beef through Topco’s Fresh Meat program.

• Stater Bros. Markets — Greatest percentage growth in fresh food.   San Bernardino, Calif.-based Stater Bros. Markets grew its total fresh purchases by leveraging Topco’s produce program for berries, citrus, Mandarin oranges and cherries.

• Price Chopper Supermarkets — Greatest dollar growth in Value Add programs. Schenectady, N.Y.-based Price Chopper’s continued growth and participation in Topco’s Indirect Spend, specifically human resources and employee benefits, pharmacy and national brands programs, contributed to the retailer’s success.

• Brookshire Holdings — Greatest percentage of growth in Value Add programs. Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Holdings achieved best-in-class percentage growth across all three of Topco’s Valu Add programs. Topco said it applauds Brookshire for its leadership and performance in pharmacy, national brands and Indirect Spend.

• K-VA-T Food Stores — Greatest purchase penetration. For the 13th year in a row, Abingdon, Va.-based K-VA-T Foods received this award for surpassing all members across all programs.

• Hy-Vee Inc. — Greatest purchase volume. For the 12th consecutive year, Hy-Vee led all members in overall purchases.

Topco Associates is a more than $14 billion privately held company that provides aggregation, innovation and knowledge management solutions for its food industry members and customers, including grocery retailers, wholesalers and food service suppliers.