Gourmet News

Circana Hires Outgoing Kroger Exec Aitken as President, CEO

Published November 26, 2024

Stuart Aitken

Circana, a leading advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior, has named Stuart Aitken president and CEO, effective Jan. 1. He will succeed Kirk Perry, who has decided to retire from his role as president and CEO at Circana and will continue to serve as a member of the Circana board of directors. Aitken will also join the board as a director.

Aitken joins Circana from Kroger, where he has served as chief merchant and marketing officer since 2019. Aitken helped to transform Kroger with a strong focus on people and culture, data and insights, and shopper transformation, leading to significant value creation for Kroger and its partners. Aitken also developed a more customer centric approach to merchandising and marketing at Kroger with a focus on driving high margin digital revenue streams including data/analytics and retail-media.

Tod Johnson, chair of the Circana board, said, “As part of the company’s succession planning process, Kirk and the rest of the Circana Board have been focused on identifying the ideal candidate to lead Circana well into the future, and we are confident we have found that in Stuart. His passionate leadership, strategic and innovative mindset, and extensive experience across the retail, technology, and data/analytics industries will create value for our company, our people, and the clients we serve globally.”

Aitken said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to join the Circana team and work together with colleagues across the globe to build upon Circana’s position as an industry leader. As a longtime partner to Circana, I have a deep appreciation for the power of its platform and critical role Circana plays across the consumer ecosystem. With best-in-class technology, data, and expertise, Circana will continue to drive growth and innovation across a wide breadth of global clients and industries.”

Johnson continued, “As CEO, Kirk helped spearhead the transformative merger between two world-class brands to create Circana as a leading advisor on consumer behavior across all retail and position the organization for sustained success. His focused dedication elevated both the client and employee experiences while delivering outstanding results year-over-year. On behalf of our Board, I thank Kirk for his leadership and ongoing commitment to Circana.”

Perry said, “It has been a true honor to lead this organization through a transformative period in its history. I am proud of the remarkable progress we made over the past four years, and forever grateful to our talented teams, clients, and partners that made Circana what it is today. I am confident that Stuart is the right leader for Circana’s next stage of growth, and I look forward to working closely with him alongside the rest of our distinguished Board members.”

Aitken brings extensive experience leading teams across retail, marketing, and analytics. In his most recent role as Kroger’s Chief Merchant and Marketing Officer, Aitken was responsible for the grocery retail leader’s sales, pricing, planning, promotion, execution, analytics, ecommerce, digital merchandising, and private brands strategy.

Aitken joined Kroger after serving as CEO of 84.51°, Kroger’s data analytics arm, and its predecessor, dunnhumby USA. Previously, Aitken acquired many years of marketing, academic and technical experience across a variety of industries and held various leadership roles including at Michael’s Stores and Safeway, Inc. He started his career in the tech space at ASA, Inc and Platinum Technology International.

Originally from Scotland, Aitken holds a bachelor’s degree with distinction from Queen Margaret University and a master’s degree in Information Management from the University of Strathclyde. He serves on the Boards of InvenTrust, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and Food Marketing Institute.

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Kroger CMO Aitken Stepping Down; Adcock to Succeed Him

Published November 25, 2024

The Kroger Co. announced that Stuart Aitken is stepping down as senior vice president, chief merchandising and marketing officer, to pursue other professional opportunities. Aitken will remain in his role at Kroger through Dec. 31.

Mary Ellen Adcock named Kroger’s chief merchandising and operating officer

Mary Ellen Adcock, Kroger’s senior vice president of operations, will succeed him as chief merchandising and marketing officer.

“Mary Ellen is a respected leader both within Kroger and our industry,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO. “Her deep strategic experience in her past 25 years with Kroger in roles of increasing responsibility will continue to drive value for customers and growth for our business and associates.”

Continuing in their current roles as leaders of the company’s operations are senior vice presidents of retail operations Valarie Jabbar and Kenny Kimball, who oversee Kroger operating divisions, and group vice president of retail operations Paula Kash, who leads enterprise retail operations, which includes asset protection, corporate food technology and e-commerce operations. They will now report to McMullen.

“On behalf of the Kroger Board and management team, I want to thank Stuart for his work to evolve Kroger’s brand while bringing exciting, innovating products to our shelves,” said McMullen. “He played an instrumental role in overseeing dunnhumby’s integration and establishing 84.51º. We wish Stuart and his family all the best as they embark on a new chapter.”

Adcock served as Kroger’s senior vice president of operations since 2019. In this role, she leads strategic operations for the company’s more than 2,700 stores across 35 states supporting more than 416,000 associates and serving 11 million customers every day. Adcock oversees customer experience, associate experience, asset protection, process change and productivity improvement initiatives and is responsible for maintaining the highest food safety and regulatory standards.

As senior vice president of operations, Adcock has delivered more than $1 billion in annual operations savings for six consecutive years. This strategic focus on efficiency improvements provided Kroger the ability to reinvest those savings to consistently lower prices for customers and increase wages for associates. Adcock achieved this efficiency goal while also improving the customer and associate experience by developing Kroger’s Full, Fresh & Friendly: Every Customer Every Time program.

Adcock also played a lead role in operationalizing Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, Kroger’s commitment to end hunger in the communities it serves and eliminate waste as a company. She led the organization in achieving 100% store participation in the company’s surplus food rescue program for the first time.

Adcock joined Kroger in 1999 in the company’s manufacturing division, where she held a variety of leadership positions. In 2009, she was promoted to vice president of deli/bakery manufacturing, and in 2012, Adcock became vice president of natural foods. In 2014, she led merchandising and operations for the Columbus division. Adcock was promoted to group vice president of retail operations in 2016 and named as senior vice president of retail operations in 2019. In 2022, Adcock was a Top Women in Grocery Trailblazer.

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FMI: Shoppers Feel Confident About Holiday Grocery Budgets

Published November 25, 2024

Despite ongoing concerns about food prices, shoppers feel more confident in managing their grocery budgets ahead of the holidays, according to FMI —The Food Industry Association’s annual U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends: Holiday Season report. These findings are further supported by FMI’s newly released ninth-annual Power of Foodservice at Retail report, which found that retail foodservice purchases continue to play a key role in shoppers’ meal preparation.

Consumers report a strong sense of excitement and enthusiasm for the holiday season despite concerns about rising prices and grocery budgets. Seventy-three percent of those celebrating holidays report feeling very or somewhat excited about the holiday season. Furthermore, with 85% of shoppers reporting at least some control over their grocery budgets, shoppers are feeling more prepared to tackle holiday shopping this year.

“While consumers remain understandably concerned about the cost of food impacting their holiday meal preparations, we continue to see remarkable resilience and adaptability among shoppers,” said FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin. “Whether it be shopping deals and sales or choosing store brands, Americans are stocking up and preparing for the holidays early and eagerly.”

The “hybrid” approach to meal preparation – which integrates retail foodservice items like deli-prepared foods into weekly grocery shopping – is also increasingly popular, with shoppers reporting they prepared and ate more dinners at home in 2024 than at any time since 2020. Shoppers recognize that semi- or fully-prepared items from their food retailer are valuable, budget-friendly options to supplement or even stand in for a meal cooked from scratch at home.

In 2024, according to NIQ, sales of retail foodservice prepared foods increased by 1.4% to roughly $50.9 billion. This trend is expected to continue into the holiday season as well, with 13% of shoppers reporting they will purchase more prepared foods from food retailers compared to last year.

Among those who celebrate this holiday season, nearly 60% of shoppers said that enjoying harmonious, quality time with family and friends is the most important ingredient for a successful holiday, followed by 32% who cited creating a great homemade feast. To make these goals a reality, 40% of consumers are preparing for the December holidays more than a month in advance.

FMI’s U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends: Holiday Season survey also revealed:

Weekly grocery spending has remained consistent this year, with an average of $158 per week.
39% of holiday shoppers are extremely or very concerned about potential out-of-stocks for key ingredients. Among families with children, this concern rises to 44%.
46% of shoppers say they would prepare a familiar alternative dish if their preferred ingredients were unavailable, and 30% are willing to try a new recipe.

FMI’s The Power of Foodservice at Retail 2024 survey also revealed:

Total deli sales reached approximately $450.9 billion, reflecting a growth rate of 1.4% in dollars and 1.2% in units over the past 52 weeks. Shoppers’ desire for convenience and affordability is driving this trend.
70.7% of households buy foodservice at retail products regularly, with an average purchase frequency of 9.5 times per year and an average transaction size of $8.30.
The frequency of shoppers preparing dinner at home at least seven times per week increased slightly this year from 21% to 23%.
63% of shoppers say they put at least some focus into eating nutritious options when buying deli-prepared foods from grocery stores.
59% of shoppers want the opportunity to buy a combination of prepared foods – main course, sides dishes and dessert for a set, discounted price.

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