A&P (The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc.) is a U.S. supermarket chain. It was once the biggest in the U.S. but has since been reduced in size. “It runs some 435 supermarkets in eight eastern states and the District of Columbia. In addition to its mainstay A&P chain, the firm now operates seven others, including Super Fresh along the East Coast from New Jersey to Virginia and The Food Emporium and Waldbaum chains in the New York and New Jersey area. A&P acquired its longtime rival in the Northeast, Pathmark Stores, for about $1.4 billion in late 2007, reversing years of decline at the grocery company. Germany’s Tengelmann Group owns about 40% of A&P.”[1]
Contents
Criticism
Worker Rights
- Eric Claus, Chief Executive Officer, had total pay of $3,393,401 in 2008 according to the AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch Database. In 2007, he took in $4,777,441.[2]
Neutral
Environment
- A&P Rates in the Middle of Grocery Stores in Greenpeace’s Sustainable Seafood Scorecard, June 30, 2009. A&P was rated in position 12 out of 20 supermarkets by Greenpeace. While all 20 supermarkets continue to sell destructively fished and overfished species, several stores have begun developing and implementing sustainable seafood policies and practices by removing from sale some imperiled species such as orange roughy and sharks.[3]
Praise
Business Ethics
- A&P Buys Birds Killed by More Humane Method, December 17, 2009. Many restaurant and grocery chains–including KFCs in Canada, Ruby Tuesday, Quiznos, Kroger, A&P, Harris Teeter, and Winn-Dixie now buy birds killed by Controlled-Atmosphere Killing (CAK). Controlled-atmosphere killing is a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)-approved slaughter method that is currently used to kill 75 percent of turkeys and 25 percent of chickens in the United Kingdom and 10 percent of all birds in the European Union. CAK removes oxygen from the birds’ atmosphere while they are still in their transport crates. The birds are not “gassed” (i.e., asphyxiated); they die from lack of oxygen, or anoxia, which is a painless process.[4]
Brands and Subsidiaries
- Store names – A&P, Waldbaum’s, A&P Liquor, Super Fresh, The Food Emporium, Food Basics USA, Pathmark[5]