Five lucky produce managers have a thousand more reasons to love the United Fresh Retail Produce Manager Awards program.
At the annual celebration dinner held June 15, the grand prize winners went home with a check for $1,000. They were:
- Al Garnett of Stop & Shop, Harwich, Ma.;
- Bridget Winkelman of Coborn’s Inc., Isanti, Minn.;
- Dillon Maple of Hy-Vee Inc., West Des Moines, Iowa;
- Tim Sexton of Harris Teeter Inc., Chappell Hill, N.C.; and
- Bill Stewart of K-Va-T, Paintsville, Ky.
The grand prize winners were selected from the 25 Retail Produce Manager Awards finalists. The program, sponsored by Dole, honors “the best of the best” in produce managers in the U.S. and Canada.
All 25 finalists were recognized at the awards ceremony. Each year the top five are selected to win a cash prize.
United Fresh received hundreds of nominations from retailers and produce suppliers across the industry. They were evaluated based on several criteria, including:
- efforts to increase produce consumption;
- excellence in merchandising;
- special displays;
- community service; and
- commitment to customer satisfaction.
This year’s winners were:
- Luis Fernando Almada, Northgate Gonzalez Market, Los Angeles, CA
- Mike Caceres, Haggen/Albertsons Companies, Olympia, WA
- Mike Davis, FoodMaxx/Save Mart Companies, Oroville, CA
- John Dedie, Tops Friendly Markets, Henrietta, NY
- Michael Dyer, Raley's, Reno, NV
- Stefanie Galeana, Roundy's Pick N Save, Appleton, WI
- Albert Garnett, Stop and Shop/Ahold, Horwich, MA
- Andrew Gass, Sobeys, Moncton, NB, Canada
- Lou Kwisnek, Big Y, Northampton, MA
- Laura Llewellyn, The Food Co-op, Port Townsend, WA
- Dillon Maple, Hy-Vee, Inc., West Des Moines, IA
- Gordon Matthew, Fred Meyer/Kroger, Seattle, WA
- Jack Myers, Weis Markets, Inc., Bellefonte, PA
- Erin Niedbalski, Martin's Super Markets, South Bend, IN
- Patrick Odell, Price Chopper/Golub, Oneonta, NY
- Matt Pace, Lowes Foods Inc., Winston Salem, NC
- Stephanie Peter, DeCA Commissary, Miramar, CA
- Jerod Proctor, Schnucks, Springfield, IL
- Ricky Rommell, Food Lion, Wallace, NC
- Carlo Scafati, Metro Inc., Etobicoke, ON, Canada
- Tim Sexton, Harris Teeter, Chapel Hill, NC
- William Stewart, Food City/K-VA-T, Paintsville, KY
- Tim Wilson, Meijer, Grand Rapids, MI
- Bridget Winkelman, Coborn's Inc., Isanti, MN
- David Wood, Brookshire Grocery Company, El Dorado, AR
Watch the presentation of the grand prize awards from the Produce Retailer Facebook page.