18 minute read

The Food Emporium Business Information, Profile, and History

20 Livingstone Avenue
Dobbs Ferry, New York 10522
U.S.A.

Company Perspectives:

Feel like a true gourmet ... every day!

History of The Food Emporium

Based in Dobbs Ferry, New York, The Food Emporium is a subsidiary of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), operating approximately 36 upscale supermarkets located in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, with almost half found in Manhattan and all within the greater New York City area. Food Emporium stocks a wide variety of gourmet and other expensive grocery item, as well as staples, and features such specialty shops as its Corner Deli, Seafood Cove, Corner Bakery, and Floral Shoppe. The chain also employs in-house chefs to perform cooking demonstrations. An innovative format when launched in the late 1970s, Food Emporium has since found its niche populated by many others. The brand is associated with high quality among consumers in its market, but perhaps the chain's greatest strength lies in its choice Manhattan locations.

1919 Origins

Food Emporium's history can be traced to 1919, when Louis Daitch founded a dairy. Over the years, he opened shops in the New York City area selling butter and eggs. Following World War II, his Daitch Crystal Dairies, a public company trading on the American Stock Exchange, enjoyed tremendous growth in the new supermarket format, emerging in the 1950s as a significant chain. In 1955, Daitch and its 34 stores located in New York City, Long Island, and Connecticut merged with Shopwell Foods' chain of 18 Westchester County supermarkets. Shopwell was founded by Sigmund Rosengarten, who came to the supermarket business as a butcher. Along with other shareholders of the private company, he received stock in the merged company. The supermarket chain, known under variations of the Daitch and Shopwell names, underwent a period of significant expansion. Within a year, seven new stores were opened and nine more were added by acquiring the Diamond K chain.

Daitch's supermarket chain peaked in 1962 with 103 stores, but the company's growth was not focused. It attempted to launch a chain of convenience stores called Shop-Quik and in 1970 opened Shopwell Plaza in Westport, Connecticut, a shopping center that included Daitch's attempt at running a package liquor store. In 1973, Daitch changed its name to Shopwell Inc., now headed by Rosengarten's son Martin Rosengarten, who was aided by his own sons, Jay and Glenn. A year later, the company entered the Vermont and Massachusetts markets, where it opened seven stores. The venture did not work out, however, and in 1976 the company sold off these units, taking a $800,000 loss.

Following their failure in New England, the Rosengartens took stock of their situation. First, they concluded that for Shopwell to succeed it needed to focus on being a regional chain. The company reached a turning point during a 1979 management meeting. The participants made a chart with the names of the three Rosengartens at the top and 33 vice-presidents listed below them. When asked to whom they reported, the vice-presidents pointed at one another, but no one pointed to the three in charge. The chart became known in company lore as the "spaghetti chart." Shopwell was clearly in need of massive reorganization. The number of vice-presidents was reduced to just 12, and Martin Rosengarten turned over active control of the chain to his sons, who were both in their thirties. They began to close stores located in unprofitable areas and allowed other leases to expire, so that the chain was reduced to 65 units. The company also conducted some market research, which revealed the unpleasant truth that Shopwell stores had no discernable image. Their customers patronized Shopwell stores simply because of their convenient locations.

Food Emporium Format Launched in 1979

During the course of trimming the size of the chain, the Rosengartens noticed that the remaining stores were mostly located in upper income neighborhoods, such as Manhattan's Upper East Side and in Westchester County. Not only did it make sense to cater to the higher-income customer, the Rosengartens also recognized that no supermarkets in the area were doing much upscale marketing, leaving the business to smaller shops like Zabar's and Balducci's. From these insights came the idea of the Food Emporium format, which would mix regular and specialty items on the same shelves, rather than following the lead of other supermarkets, which at best offered a small gourmet corner. Elsewhere in the country the concept was already being refined, pioneered by Byerly Foods in Minneapolis in 1973. Grand Union was already in the process of developing specialty supermarkets in the New York market, making Shopwell's decision to launch the Food Emporium format in 1979 a timely one.

According to press reports, Martin Rosengarten did not support the Food Emporium idea. Nevertheless, his sons pressed on, converting six Shopwell stores to the new format. The transition was not without difficulty, however. Making the switch was more than just putting ties on clerks. The Rosengartens had to change the way they bought for the store, eschewing bulk buying to receive the best price in favor of scouring the country for specific products that their customers might want. As a result, the brothers had to educate themselves about food and then educate their employees. The stores also needed more workers than the average supermarket, driving up labor costs, but this was offset by the higher margins the stores received on specialty items. While typical supermarkets devoted about 72 percent of shelf space to dairy goods, frozen food, bakery items, and canned and packaged goods, Food Emporium allocated just 60 percent, reserving the rest of its stock for the higher-margin specialty items. Although many of the converted stores were smaller than typical supermarkets, the significant increase in traffic resulted in margins three times the norm.

By the end of 1983, Shopwell had converted 17 of its 55 stores to the Food Emporium format. Another seven would be converted over the next two years, but the conversions proved costly. It took about 18 months for a Food Emporium to attain profitability, rather than the industry average of around eight months. Shopwell also tried moving into the economy sector of the supermarket trade, an effort that failed. A One Stop Shop cash-and-carry store opened in 1984 and closed that same year. As a result of these and other factors, Shopwell lost $3.4 million in 1985 on sales of $464 million, and the Rosengarten brothers in 1986 (their father retired the year before) announced they were looking to sell the company. Insiders and their families, along with other major shareholders, accounted for 38 percent of Shopwell's stock; this group agreed not buy or sell shares or to enter into any voting arrangements until June 30, 1986, allowing management to locate a suitable buyer, which according to press accounts was far from certain. Crain's New York Business quoted John A. Catsimatidis, CEO of the Red Apple supermarket chain, as saying, "We looked at it and walked away. ... They've got beautiful stores, but there's too much debt." According to Crain's, Shopwell had $38.7 million in current liabilities, $40.5 million in long-term debt, and assets of $39.8 million. While the Food Emporium stores may have been expensive to start and required some outlay of cash before they turned profitable, the older Shopwell stores were a serious burden. According to Crain's, "One industry consultant [said], 'The Shopwell stores are just sad, small stores,' while the industry trend even in urban markets is toward relatively large, new stores." Moreover, the Shopwell stores faced the expiration of 30- and 40-year leases and an increase in rents from $5 a square foot to over $50. Although margins were slim and the cost of doing business in New York City was higher, in the words of Crain's, "Still, a few in the supermarket business think the Rosengartens' Shopwell sale isn't sincere. 'They really don't want to sell,' says Mr. Catsimatidis of Red Apple. 'It's a horse and pony show to satisfy the bank'."

New Ownership in the Mid-1980s

Despite the skepticism of rival supermarket executives, the Rosengarten did negotiate a sale of Shopwell, agreeing to accept $64 million from the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which acquired 91.5 percent of Shopwell's common shares in 1986. A&P picked up 25 Shopwell stores, three Value Center Stores, two distribution centers, and a dairy, but clearly the reason why it acquired the company was to add the Food Emporium format to its portfolio. A&P had been in business since 1859, when George Huntington Hartford and George Gilman opened their first retail tea shop in Manhattan. In 1912, A&P launched a chain of cash-and-carry "economy" grocery stores, out of which grew a massive supermarket chain by the 1950s. Nevertheless, the company endured some difficult times adjusting to changing conditions, especially during the 1970s when the chain became too spread out and lost some $500 million. A&P mounted a comeback during the 1980s, closing more than 2,500 stores and choosing to concentrate its efforts in the East. The company expanded its Super Fresh chain and in 1985 acquired Dominion Foods to strengthen its position in Canada. A&P was in the process of developing a format similar to Food Emporium called Food Bazaar but elected instead to scrap that idea in favor of buying Shopwell and growing the Food Emporium chain.

Glen Rosengarten went to work for A&P at its Montvale, New Jersey, headquarters but did not stay long, as the relationship between the Rosengartens and A&P quickly soured. Early in 1987, A&P filed a lawsuit accusing the Rosengarten brothers and ten other Shopwell executives of overstating the value of the company, which it said led A&P to overpay by $9.4 million. Shopwell executives countered by suing A&P for $8 million in damages resulting from the breach of employment contracts and consulting agreements. Neither suit amounted to much, and each side went its own way.

The Food Emporium chain was tucked into A&P's Metro New York division. In the year following the purchase of Shopwell, A&P opened two Food Emporium stores, one of which was a Food Bazaar that was under development and reconfigured and another that Shopwell was developing. The first Food Emporium built from scratch by A&P, as part of a $450 million capital spending program to expand all of its formats, opened in New Canaan, Connecticut, in the fall of 1987. A handful of other stores located in New York City and Connecticut would follow over the next few years. In 1990, A&P attempted to transfer the Food Emporium format outside the New York City area, opening two stores in Canada under the Dominion Food Emporium banner and two in Milwaukee as Kohl's Food Emporium. There was some talk at the time of exporting the Food Emporium name to upscale neighborhoods in other major cities, such as Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., but nothing ever materialized, and the Food Emporium format remained focused in New York City.

The size of the Food Emporium chain grew by just a dozen units over the next 20 years. In 1997, Food Emporium moved across the Hudson River to Fort Lee, New Jersey, but no more New Jersey units would follow. The excitement that accompanied the launch of the Food Emporium chain had long since waned. The stores had carved out a local customer base, but there was no reason to believe that the Food Emporium concept was original enough to warrant large scale expansion, nor was it likely that the chain's corporate parent would commit the kind of money necessary to fund such growth. By the turn of the 21st century, A&P was once again struggling and even turned to an industry outsider, Elizabeth Culligan, a Nabisco veteran with experience in the pharmaceutical industry, to serve as president and chief operating officer and help turn it around. Although she was able to return the company to profitability within 15 months, A&P suffered a severe setback, and less than two years after taking the job she resigned "to pursue other interests." Her successors struggled to return the company to health and were forced to close stores and retreat from several markets. As a result, the future of the Food Emporium chain was somewhat uncertain.

Principal Competitors: D'Agostino Supermarkets, Inc.; Gristede's Foods, Inc.; Pathmark.

Related information about Food

Any plant or animal material which is primarily eaten for nutritional purposes. Anything eaten specifically for its therapeutic purposes, real or otherwise, is strictly speaking not a food, even though it may have some nutritive properties. Thus vitamin C supplements, taken to prevent a cold, are being used pharmacologically and not nutritionally.

Food is any substance, usually comprised primarily of carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, water and/or proteins, that can be eaten or drunk by animals (including humans) for nutrition and/or pleasure. Most cultures have a recognizable cuisine: a specific set of cooking traditions, preferences, and practices, the study of which is known as gastronomy.Mead, Margaret (August 5 1997). There are around two thousand plant species which are cultivated for food, and many have several distinct cultivars. Plant-based foods can be classified as follows:

Seeds, the ripened ovules of some plants, carry a plant embryo inside them along with the nutrients necessary for the plant's initial growth. These include cereals (such as maize, wheat, and rice), legumes (such as beans, peas, and lentils), and nuts. Oilseeds are often pressed to produce rich oils, including sunflower, rape (including canola oil), and sesame.ibid, Chapter 9: Seeds: Grains, Legumes, and Nuts.

Fruits are the ripened ovaries of plants, including the seeds within. These include root vegetables (such as potatoes and carrots), leaf vegetables (such as spinach and lettuce), stem vegetables (such as bamboo shoots and asparagus), and inflorescence vegetables (such as globe artichokes and broccoli). Many herbs and spices are highly-flavorful vegetables.ibid, Chapter 6: A Survey of Common Vegetables.

Foods from animals

When animal tissue is eaten as food, this is known as meat. The most common mammal-based meat include beef, lamb, pork, and mutton. the most common poultries are chicken and turkey.ibid, Chapter 3: Meat. Seafood is meat from a fish or other sea creature, such as shellfish or lobster.ibid, Chapter 4: Fish and Shellfish. Some cultures eat other forms of meat, including insects, snails, reptiles, or amphibians.

Often animal products are eaten as well. Mammals produce milk, which in many cultures is drunk or processed into dairy products such as cheese or butter.ibid, Chapter 1: Milk and Dairy Products. Birds and other animals lay eggs, which are often eaten.ibid, Chapter 2: Eggs. Many cultures eat honey, produced by bees, and some cultures eat animal blood. Fungi and ambient bacteria are used in the preparation of fermented and pickled foods such as leavened bread, wine, beer, cheese, pickles, and yoghurt.ibid, Chapter 13: Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits. Many cultures eat seaweed, which is a protist, or blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) such as spirulina.ibid, pp.

Legal definition

English-speaking countries usually define four categories of substances as food


:

  • any substance, intended to be, or reasonably expected to be, ingested by humans;
  • water and other drinks;
  • chewing gum;
  • substances used as ingredients in the preparation of food.

Food production


Food is traditionally obtained through farming, ranching, and fishing, with hunting, foraging and other methods of subsistence locally important. This approach - which is partly fuelled by consumer demand - encourages biodiversity, local self-reliance and Organic farming methods.

Major influences on food production are international policy, (e.g. the World Trade Organization and Common Agricultural Policy), national government policy (or law), and war.

Food for livestock is fodder and traditionally comprises hay or grain.

Food preparation

While some food can be eaten without preparation, many foods undergo some form of preparation for reasons of safety, palatability, or flavor. A meal is made up of food which is prepared to be eaten at a specific time and place.

The preparation of animal-based food will usually involve slaughter, evisceration, hanging, portioning and rendering.

Cooking


The term "cooking" encompasses a vast range of methods, tools and combinations of ingredients to improve the flavour or digestibility of food. Constraints on success include the variability of ingredients, ambient conditions, tools, and the skill of the individual cooking.

The diversity of cooking worldwide is a reflection of the myriad nutritional, aesthetic, agricultural, economic, cultural and religious considerations that impact upon it.

Cooking requires applying heat to a food which usually, though not always, chemically transforms it, thus changing its flavor, texture, appearance, and nutritional properties. Cooking proper, as opposed to roasting, requires the boiling of water in a receptable, and was practiced at least since the 10th millennium BC with the introduction of pottery. There is archaeological evidence of roasted foodstuffs at Homo erectus campsites dating from 420,000 years ago.Black, D. This can be as simple as a butcher preparing meat, or as complex as a modern international food industry.

Early food processing techniques were limited by available food preservation, packaging and transportation. This mainly involved salting, curing, curdling, drying, pickling and smoking.

During the industrialisation era in the 19th century, food manufacturing arose. This development took advantage of new mass markets and emerging new technology, such as milling, preservation, packaging and labelling and transportation. It brought the advantages of pre-prepared time saving food to the bulk of ordinary people who did not employ domestic servants.

At the start of the 21st century, a two-tier structure has arisen, with a few international food processing giants controlling a wide range of well known food brands. Computer-based control systems, sophisticated processing and packaging methods, and logistics and distribution advances, can enhance product quality, improve food safety, and reduce costs.

Food trade

Food is now traded on a global basis. Some countries are now economically dependent on food exports, which in some cases account for over 80% of all exports.

In 1994 trade liberalisation began when over 100 countries became signatories to the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which included an agreement to reduce subsidies paid to farmers. This is underpinned by the WTO enforcement of agricultural subsidy, tariffs, import quotas and settlement of trade disputes that cannot be bilaterally resolved. Where trade barriers are raised on the disputed grounds of public health and safety, the WTO refer the dispute to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which was founded in 1962 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. This was sometimes known as 'pile it high' In the latter part of the 20th century, this has been further revolutionised by the development of vast warehouse sized out-of-town supermarkets, selling an extraordinarily wide range of food from around the world.

Unlike food processors, food retailing is a two-tier market in which a small number of very large companies control a large proportion of supermarkets. Rationing is sometimes used to distribute food in times of shortage, most notably during times of war.

Food deprivation is regarded as a deficit need in Maslow's hierarchy of needs and is measured using famine scales. International efforts to distribute food to the neediest countries are co-ordinated by the World Food Programme.

See also: Fair trade, food security.

Food safety

Foodborne illness, commonly called "food poisoning," is caused by bacteria, toxins, viruses, parasites and prions. In the Middle Ages all Royal Courts had food tasters.

The sale of rancid, contaminated or adulterated food was commonplace until introduction of hygiene, refrigeration, and vermin controls in the 19th century. Discovery of techniques for killing bacteria using heat and other microbiological studies by scientists such as Louis Pasteur contributed to the modern sanitation standards that we enjoy today. This was further underpinned by the work of Justus von Liebig whose work led to the development of modern food storage and food preservation methods.

The two most common factors leading to cases of bacterial foodborne illness are cross-contamination of ready-to-eat food from other uncooked foods and improper temperature control.

Less commonly, acute adverse reactions can also occur if chemical contamination of food occurs, for example from improper storage, or use of non-food grade soaps and disinfectants. In theory, any food may provoke a reaction, however, this most commonly involves gluten, corn, shellfish (mollusks), peanuts, and soy.

Most patients present with diarrhea after ingesting certain foodstuffs, skin symptoms (rashes), bloating, vomiting and regurgitation. Initial treatment is with epinephrine (adrenaline), often carried by known patients in the form of an Epi-pen.

Food allergy is thought to develop easier in patients with the atopic syndrome, a very common combination of diseases: allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis, eczema and asthma. They often affect people with a negative body image;

  • 13% of the world's population suffer from Iodine deficiency;
  • In 2003 it was estimated that vitamin A deficiency causes blindness in up to 500,000 children each year;
  • Vitamin C deficiency results in scurvy;
  • Calcium, Vitamin D and Phosphorus are inter-related. The consumption of each may affect the absorption of the others.
  • Kwashiorkor and marasmus are childhood disorders caused by lack of dietary protein.
  • Obesity, a serious problem in the western world, leads to higher chances of developing heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases.

Concerns about foodborne illness have long influenced diet. see vegetarianism, veganism, fruitarianism, living foods diet, and raw foodism.

The nutrient content of diets in industrialised countries contain more animal fat, sugar, energy, alcohol and less dietary fiber, carbohydrates and antioxidants. Contemporary changes to work, family and exercise patterns, together with concerns about the effect of nutrition and overeating on human health and mortality are all having an effect on traditional eating habits. Physicians and alternative medicine practitioners may recommend changes to diet as part of their recommendations for treatment.

More recently, dietary habits have been influenced by the concerns that some people have about the chronic impact on health that arise through the consumption of genetically modified food. This has led to the emergence of a counterculture with a preference for organic and local food.

See also: Food faddism, Health claims on food labels, list of diets, Slow Food.

Nutrients in food


Between the extremes of optimal health and death from starvation or malnutrition, there is an array of disease states that can be caused or alleviated by changes in diet.

Chronology

  • Key Dates:
  • 1955: Daitch Crystal Dairies acquires Shopwell Foods supermarket chain.
  • 1962: The supermarket chain reaches 103 stores.
  • 1973: Daitch changes its name to Shopwell Inc.
  • 1979: Shopwell launches its Food Emporium format.
  • 1986: A&P acquires Shopwell.
  • 1997: The company opens its first New Jersey store.

Additional topics

Company HistoryGrocery Stores

This web site and associated pages are not associated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Food Emporium and has no official or unofficial affiliation with The Food Emporium.