| Type | Grocery Store |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1955 |
| Headquarters | Abingdon, Virginia |
| Number of locations | 106 |
| Products | Dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, produce, snacks, floral, fuel, video, pharmacy |
| Website | foodcity.com |
Food City is a U.S. supermarket chain with stores located in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. It offers the house labels "Food Club," "Top Crest," "ValuTime," "Food City Fresh!," "Food City Premium," "Full Circle," "Domestix," "Electrix," "Academix," "Pet Club," and "World Classics" many of which are part of the Topco corporate brand program.[1] Food City is also the exclusive distributor of regional favorites such as "Kay's Ice Cream", "Terry's Snacks", "Kerns Bread", and "Lay's Meats.".[2]
It is owned by K-VA-T Food Stores, a privately held family and employee-owned corporation (only 15% via ESOP) headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia.[3] K-VA-T Food Stores also owns the Food City Distribution Center (formerly Mid-Mountain Foods), a distribution center K-VA-T helped form in 1974 and acquired full control of in 1998, Misty Mountain Spring Water, LLC, a producer of bottled water, as well as limited-assortment grocery stores named Super Dollar Discount Foods. Many stores have their own gasoline stations, with the Gas 'N Go branding.
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K-VA-T Food Stores traces its history to 1955, when company founder Jack Smith opened his first 8,800-square-foot (820 m2) Piggly Wiggly store in Grundy, Virginia with the help of three special stockholders: his father, Curtis Smith, uncle, Earl Smith and cousin, Ernest Smith.
In 1963, Smith added a second store in South Williamson, Kentucky, followed by a newly constructed third location in Pikeville, Kentucky in 1965, and a store in Prestonsburg, Kentucky in 1967.
The company continued to grow steadily until 1984 when they acquired Quality Foods, a 19-store chain (founded in 1918), that operated under the Food City name. The Smiths adopted Food City as the new nameplate, along with its heritage, for all of their stores going forward.
In 1989, Food City purchased the 43-store White Stores chain based out of Knoxville, TN, more than doubling the size of the company.
In 1998, Food City acquired the 11-store Kennedy Piggly Wiggly chain as well as full control of Mid-Mountain Foods, the current K-VA-T distribution center. The following year, Winn-Dixie pulled out of the Knoxville market and sold their seven stores to Food City. In February 2006, Food City announced the purchase of eight Bi-Lo locations in Knoxville, Maryville, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.[4]
K-VA-T celebrated its 50th anniversary November 17, 2005 by opening a 46,500-square-foot (4,320 m2) store in Vansant, Virginia, just outside of Grundy.
The largest Food City ever opened on November 14, 2007 in Kingsport, Tennessee. The store is 55,000 square feet (5,100 m2) and 8,000 square feet (740 m2) on the 2nd floor.
On October 15, 2008, K-VA-T opened its 100th store in Rogersville, Tennessee. The company celebrated this event by sending a special commemorative I-beam to every store in the company where employees signed it as a goodwill gesture for the new store.[5] The beam sits above the entrance way in the 100th store.
Steven C. Smith, president and chief executive officer for K-VA-T was named 2009 Grocer of the Year by Tennessee Grocers & Convenience Store Association during their annual convention. TGCSA selects one outstanding Tennessee retailer who exemplifies the high standards of integrity and efficiency upon which the organization was founded to be named Grocer of the Year.[6]
Due to their charitable activities and strong ties to their local economies, Food City received Supermarket News's Community Service Award for 2008.[7]
In 1992, Food City began working with the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce and CSX Transportation to solicit donations of toys, candy, clothes and money for the Appalachia Santa Train, a 110-mile (180 km) trip through the Appalachian Mountains via train that distributes over 15 tons of gifts to children. Food City’s involvement has grown to the point where around 200 volunteers work on the project each year.[8]
Food City purchases a great deal of their produce within their trade area, providing additional support to the regions in which they operate. In 2006, Food City purchased in excess of $5,000,000 in locally grown produce from a number of local farms, including those in Grainger, Blount, Hawkins, Unicoi, Jefferson and Sullivan counties in Tennessee; Scott and Carroll counties and through Appalachian Harvest co-op for locally grown organics from the growers in Scott County, Virginia.[9]
In 1990, Food City began their Apples for the Students program. From its inception until 2007, the program allowed students to collect specially marked Food City register receipts in exchange for computers, software, sporting goods, calculators, teaching tools, audio/visual and other educational materials for their schools. In 2007, the program went completely electronic, allowing customers to link their Food City loyalty cards to the particular school they wish to donate to. This advancement also allowed schools to check totals online. In 2009, Food City rebranded its Apples for the Students program as Food City School Bucks.
Since the program's inception, Food City has awarded in excess of 12.5 million dollars in educational equipment and tools to over 800 participating area schools.[10]
Since 1987, Food City has been the official sponsor of the Tim Irwin/Food City Bass Tournament held in Lenoir City, Tennessee. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley and has raised over $530,000 since 1990.[11]
Food City sponsors two NASCAR events at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Spring Sprint Cup race, the Food City 500 and the Fall Nationwide Series race, the Food City 250. In 2011, Food City announced it was renaming their 2011 Spring race the Jeff Byrd 500, presented by Food City, in honor of former Bristol Motor Speedway President and General manager Jeff Byrd.[12] They also sponsor a Hooters Pro Cup event at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Food City 150. Along with these races, Food City holds the Food City Family Race Nights in Knoxville and Bristol, Tennessee the week preceding the NASCAR events.
Prior to 2010, Food City was a primary sponsor of the Nationwide Tour's Knoxville Open golf tournament in Knoxville, Tennessee, which benefits several charities.[13]
As of May 2011, K-VA-T operates 106 retail food outlets (94 Food City stores and 12 Super Dollar Discount Foods stores) in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee.[14] [15] [16] The chain includes 75 in-store pharmacies and 56 filling stations.[17]
Food City in Arizona is not owned by K-VA-T Food Stores; it is owned by Bashas'.