Herring Returns to Giant Food as Chief Merchant
Giant Food, the leading greater Washington, D.C. regional grocery chain, has hired Tonya Herring as chief merchant effective immediately. In her role, Herring will oversee all merchandising strategy and execution across Giant Food.
With more than 30 years of retail grocery experience, Herring most recently served as the senior vice president of omnichannel development for Peapod Digital Labs, which supports Ahold Delhaize USA. There, Herring led the commercial evolution of Ahold Delhaize USA’s omnichannel ambitions. Prior to that, Herring was the senior vice president of merchandising for Giant Food, where she was responsible for strategic leadership, business plan design and merchandising organization including category management, pharmacy, pricing, promotion and merchandising planning.
“The entire Giant Food family is thrilled to welcome Tonya back to our team,” said Ira Kress, president of Giant Food. “With her deep merchandising expertise, she will bring a wealth of knowledge and leadership to the Giant Food brand in this role.”
Throughout her experience, Herring has held multiple roles including over two decades at Safeway Inc., where her positions included vice president of category development, group director category development for consumer brands and regional director.
“As a Maryland local, Giant Food has been part of my community for years,” said Herring. “I am ecstatic to be continuing my career back at Giant and look forward to implementing positive changes within our merchandising sector.”
Tonya lives in Odenton, Md., with her husband, Brent, and enjoys their leisure time walking their dogs, golfing, bike riding and visiting family in their home state of California.
Since opening its first location over 88 years ago in Washington, D.C., in 1936, Giant has been an integral part of the communities and customers it serves. Giant is committed to being a Better Neighbor and has designated four main giving pillars that address local Food Insecurity, Military Support, Pediatric Cancer Research, and Social Equality.
Giant is headquartered in Landover, Md., and operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 164 stores are 154 full-service pharmacies and 28 Starbucks locations. Giant fits all the way today’s busy customers want to shop – in-store or online.
With 162 Giant Pickup locations and delivery options available in all its markets, customers have even more convenient options to get the best products and prices whenever and however they choose.
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Giant Food’s Local Artist Bags Benefit Communities
Giant Food’s Local Artist Bags from L to R: The D.C. Artist Bag designed by Marcella Kriebel, the Virginia Artist Bag designed by Grace Manno and Dashiell Kirk, the Maryland Artist Bag designed by Ann Gill and the Delaware Artist Bag designed by Brad Almond.
Giant Food, the leading greater Washington, D.C., regional grocery chain, has teamed up with four artists from D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, to create reusable bags that represent each artist’s local community. As part of Giant’s Community Bag Program, for every $2.75 reusable bag purchased, Giant donates $1 donated to a local nonprofit. Throughout the month of May, each of the artists chose a local nonprofit to receive the donations.
“With the help of our customers, we’ve achieved significant accomplishments through our Community Bag Program, including saving over 585,000 single plastic bags and helping over 1,700 non-profit organizations last year alone,” said Felis Andrade, Director External Communications and Community Relations of Giant Food. “We’re excited to spotlight local artists whose creative designs celebrate the core of Maryland, D.C., Virginia and Delaware while also supporting the local charities that mean the most to them.”
In 2019, Giant Food launched its Community Bag Program, which is designed to empower customers to support local nonprofit organizations while working to reduce single-use paper and plastic waste in the environment. To date, Giant and its customers have raised over $580K and provided 684,990 meals to 1,748 different non-profit organizations and 405 hunger organizations through the program.
This month, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware stores will each carry their very own reusable bags created by their state’s local artist. The artists and their chosen benefiting nonprofits include:
- Marcella Kriebel: Marcella is a watercolorist, muralist and the author and illustrator of two cookbooks, “Mi Comida Latino” and “Comida Cubana.” She is known for her vibrant artwork that celebrates the world through food and culture. Marcella designed the D.C. bag which will benefit the D.C. Central Kitchen.
- Ann Gill: Ann is a local artist based in Hyattsville, Maryland. Born in Washington, D.C., her family roots run deep in the region. She has been creating art since she was a child, and her work is influenced by street pop art. Ann designed the Maryland bag with proceeds benefiting Words, Beats and Life Inc.
- Grace Manno and Dashiell Kirk: Grace and Dashiell are two artists who formed FOND Collective based in Richmond, Virginia. Some of their favorite mediums include illustration, print design, animation and sculpture. Together, Grace and Dashiell designed the Virgnia bag and chose Our Stomping Ground as the benefiting organization.
- Brad Almond: Brad is a graphic designer, illustrator and part-time musician. He resides in Wilmington, Delaware with his wife, two children and their cat. Brad grew up fascinated by the colorful, stylized worlds of film, video games and cartoon shows. He designed the Delaware bag and chose Urban Promise Wilmington as the benefiting organization.
Customers can purchase their Local Artist Community Bag at any Giant store. For more information, please visit: https://giantfood.2givelocal.com/program/community-bag/
Since opening its first location over 88 years ago in Washington, D.C., in 1936, Giant has been an integral part of the communities and customers it serves. Giant is committed to being a Better Neighbor and has designated four main giving pillars that address local Food Insecurity, Military Support, Pediatric Cancer Research, and Social Equality.
Giant is headquartered in Landover, Md., and operates 164 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 164 stores are 154 full-service pharmacies and 28 Starbucks locations. Giant fits all the ways today’s busy customers want to shop – in-store or online. With 162 Giant Pickup locations and delivery options available in all of its markets, customers have even more convenient options at their fingertips to get the best products and prices whenever and however they choose.
For more information on Giant Food and its charitable efforts to make a positive difference, visit giantfood.com/pages/better-neighbor-report.
For more news of interest to the grocery industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.
Giant Food Pharmacy Launches CPR Certification Program
Giant Food, the leading greater Washington, D.C. regional grocery chain,has launched its CPR Certification Program, a new service offered to local businesses and organizations. The program, offering two-year certifications led by Giant Food’s certified pharmacists, will provide the skills necessary to respond to life-threatening cardiac emergencies. The program, which will offer convenient on-site training at your location, makes Giant the first community pharmacy to offer this type of service.
Program participants will learn to recognize and respond to cardiac emergencies and receive the most up-to-date guidelines for performing CPR, in accordance with recommendations from the American Heart Association. The course will teach the proper way to perform chest compressions and rescue breathing, and will cover the proper varying methods for adult, child and infant CPR plus AED training.
Survival rates triple when CPR is started within two minutes of an individual collapsing,1 however only 18 percent of Americans are up to date with CPR training, indicating a need for further education.
“We believe it’s critical to have the skills necessary to respond to life threatening emergencies,” said Paul Zvaleny, director of pharmacy operations at Giant Food. “With the launch of this program, we hope to reach and teach as many individuals and organizations in our communities as possible to share these important lifesaving skills, in a convenient and accessible way. Cardiac arrest can happen at anytime, anywhere and learning how to perform CPR will improve the chances of survival.”
Giant’s CPR Certification Program is available for groups of six or more individuals starting at $69.99 per person. Contact the Giant CPR team at pharmacy@giantfood.com to learn more about developing a custom certification program for any organization. For more information on Giant Pharmacy services, please visit www.giantfood.com/pharmacy.
Since opening its first location over 87 years ago in Washington, D.C. in 1936, Giant has been an integral part of the communities and customers it serves. Giant is committed to being a Better Neighbor and has designated four main giving pillars that address local Food Insecurity, Military Support, Pediatric Cancer Research and Social Equality.
Giant is headquartered in Landover, Md.. and operates 165 supermarkets in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia with approximately 20,000 associates. Included within the 165 stores are 154 full-service pharmacies and 28 Starbucks locations. Giant fits all the ways today’s busy customers want to shop – whether in store or online. With 162 Giant Pickup locations and delivery options available in all of its markets, customers have even more convenient options right at their fingertips to get the best products and prices, whenever and however they choose. For more information on Giant Food, visit giantfood.com.
For more news of interest to the grocery industry, subscribe to Gourmet News.
