ABINGDON, Va. -- As K-VA-T Food Stores here prepares to celebrate 50 years in business, its ads and promotions will be keyed to the 87th anniversary of its banner, Food City.
The Food City nameplate has been around since 1918, while the K-VA-T name has been around only since 1984. Since it acquired the company that operated the Food City banner in 1984, K-VA-T has maintained the anniversary celebrations chronologically for the banner, rather than for K-VA-T, whose name means little to the buying public, Steve Smith, president and chief executive officer, told SN. "Since we adopted the Food City name on our stores, we've been marketing their anniversary as our own. It would be difficult to switch now," he said.
Instead, K-VA-T anticipates marking its 50th anniversary with various events for its associates and for the trade. "Right now, we're trying to get our arms around how we can market the anniversary internally," Smith explained. "We will certainly celebrate it, but not with the general public. Just inside the company and with our vendor partners that understand why this is our 50th year.
"We anticipate celebrating with a dinner honoring Dad [Jack C. Smith, chairman and co-founder], probably in the late summer or the fall, since the actual anniversary of the opening of our first store is Nov. 17."
