Food City and Save-A-Lot Stores located in Bridgton, Lewiston, Lisbon Falls, Livermore Falls, Turner, Waterville and Wilton, Maine, is the 2016 Grocer of the Year, according to the Maine Grocers & Food Producers Association (MGFPA).
Stanley Sclar and son Zak have combined their real estate and grocery management expertise for more than 30 years to manage their multi-state grocery business that includes seven stores in Maine and one each in Vermont and Massachusetts, employing 320 people. Their Maine stores employ 225 people.
Food City, a name Zak came up with, is supplied by C&S Wholesale Grocers and the Save-A-Lots are supplied by Supervalu.
Zak Sclar attributes the company’s success and positive position in the competitive marketplace to its employees.
“Each employee is a trusted team member. We want our store managers, produce, deli and meat managers to feel that they ‘own and operate’ their own business, which fosters tremendous pride resulting in a positive stake in the company. These managers take ownership and feel like they are running their own stores. This award belongs to them because they are the ones who are awaken at night when an alarm goes off or take it personally when someone gives their notice. I just support them, and together we strive to be more innovative and responsive to our customers’ needs,” said Sclar.
MGFPA says Food City competes in the marketplace through innovative sales marketing strategies that correlate with the company’s mission to give back to their customers and the communities it serves.
Zak Sclar is second VP of the MGFPA Board of Directors and serves on the Government Relations Committee.
Others honored
Raye’s Mustard of Eastport is the Producer of the Year, and United Insurance of Portland is the Associate of the Year.
The Raye family has been milling mustard for four generations. In 1900, J. Wesley Raye, a 20-year-old sea captain’s son, founded the business in the family smokehouse to make mustard sauce for Maine’s burgeoning sardine industry. While Maine’s sardine industry died off, Raye’s Mustard adapted to changing tastes to produce small-batch blends. Its signature yellow mustard, Down East Schooner, has won numerous gold medals in the Worldwide Mustard Competition in recent years.
In 2006, Karen and Kevin Raye bought the business from their cousin and have grown the company from three mustards to more than 25 different varieties. The Rayes attribute their receiving the Producer of the Year Award to the company’s six full-time and four seasonal employees.
“This is truly an all-hands-on-deck company. Our employees take great pride in their work and we’re grateful for their dedication,” said Karen Raye.
Raye’s All Natural Stone Ground mustard is made in the last remaining stone ground mustard mill in North America, and Raye’s Historic Old Stone Mill still stands as a working museum. This has helped Raye’s Mustard gain national attention and notoriety, including being featured on Oprah’s, Rachael Ray’s and Martha Stewart’s television shows. In 2016, Raye’s Mustard was featured in Google’s Economic Impact Report, which notes that, “with online purchases now accounting for 25 percent of overall sales, the Rayes relaunched their e-commerce website twice, using Google Analytics to figure out what netted the best results.”
Karen Raye is first VP of the MGFPA board and chair of the Strategic Planning Committee. Kevin Raye served four terms in the Maine Senate and as president of the Maine Senate.
