Gaelo de la Fuente stopped to admire the expanded salad bar at Farm Fresh on Fox Hill Road in Hampton.
During a tour of the store last week, the president of the regional supermarket chain pointed out that the salad bar and the nearby fried-chicken case are two of Farm Fresh's most popular features. It recently spruced up those areas in many of its 43 stores, adding options such as healthier baked birds, as part of upgrades to enhance its appeal with shoppers.
De la Fuente took the helm of Virginia Beach-based Farm Fresh just over two years ago. Coming from the headquarters of parent company Supervalu Inc., in Eden Prairie, Minn., he not only had to learn a new geographic market and the nuances of a retailer with a long-entrenched local history. He also had to steer Farm Fresh and its 4,100 employees through a national economic storm and its parent company's own financial turmoil.
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