1975 A joint advisory board is formed at midyear to work out the details of creating a new food association from two existing ones: The Chicago-based Super Market Institute and the Washington-based National Association of Food Chains. Irving Rabb of Stop & Shop Cos. heads the effort as interim chairman.
MI begins to serve the industry Jan. 3. Initiative launched to ease backhaul restrictions, with an action strategy around the slogan: "Backhaul Saves."
1978 FMI consolidates its Chicago and Washington offices by moving operations to Washington. FMI holds its first Consumer Affairs Conference.
1979 With interest in scanning high, FMI introduces an independent-operator conference called "Scanning/Pre-Planning," focusing on how to evaluate scanning systems and bring scanners into the stores. Efforts by FMI members help in the Treasury Department's preliminary decision to reject a petition by Florida produce growers to raise tariffs on Mexican and other imported produce.
1980 A victory on backhaul culminates 13 years of industry lobbying as the Motor Carrier Act with a backhaul provision is signed into law. FMI releases the first Operating Results of Independent Supermarkets report.
1981 FMI launches a drive to help guarantee passage of the Commercial Business Energy Tax Act, which would allow supermarkets to claim tax credit for the installation of energy-saving equipment. The Uniform Communications Standard is launched under the direction of the Joint Industry Committee.
1982 A wide-ranging study on cents-off coupon handling in the supermarket industry is released with recommendations for industrywide action. FMI opens its first regional office in California.
1983 A U.S. Appeals Court affirms a lower court decision to dismiss a longstanding suit against distributors that alleged a conspiracy to lower beef prices artificially. The FMI-supported Anti-Tampering Act becomes law, establishing severe penalties and instructing the FBI to investigate tampering cases.
1984 ScanLab is introduced as the first computer software package designed to help supermarkets organize scan data for merchandising decisions. FMI holds its first conference on electronic funds transfer and unveils its first primer on this topic.
1985 Two additional FMI regional offices are established for the Central and Eastern regions. FMI introduces to supermarkets the Direct Product Profit method of calculating profit.
1986 FMI releases the results of a joint-industry study on shipping container design with a plan to improve productivity. FMI helps to enact the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which markedly lowers federal income taxes for supermarkets.
1987 An Umbrella Liability Insurance Plan -- developed jointly by FMI and the NAWGA -- is put in place to serve retailers and wholesalers. Human resources get front-burner treatment in FMI's long-range strategic plan, which emphasizes programs for attracting, training, motivating and developing people for the food-distribution industry.
1988 FMI steps up its food-safety efforts by introducing the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points system and approving the organization's first strategic food-safety plan designed by the new Food Safety Task Force. FMI launches a comprehensive AIDS situation management program to help educate supermarkets and opens a 24-hour crisis telephone line for information about the disease.
1989 An FMI task force develops a strategic plan to help restore consumer confidence in food safety following media reports about pesticide residues endangering children and an incident of cyanide traces found in a shipment of grapes from Chile. An FMI task force on solid waste calls for industry leadership in recycling, packaging changes and education.
1990 FMI sponsors the first supermarket convention for Pacific Rim nations, in Sydney. FMI, which said it generally supports nutrition labeling, pushes for exclusions for certain perishables because such information already exists on supermarket signage.
1991 Edward Shevardnadze, former foreign minister of the Soviet Union, addresses the Chicago convention. FMI develops a national list of supermarkets that redeem coupons to help avoid unnecessary clearinghouse rejections or coupon chargebacks.
1992 A McKinsey study presented at FMI's midyear meeting says that well-run warehouse club stores offer a 26% average-price advantage over supermarkets. Following civil unrest in Los Angeles, FMI forms the Urban Affairs Task Force to help supermarkets serve understored urban areas.
1993 Tim Hammonds, FMI senior vice president, is chosen as successor to the retiring president, Robert Aders, after a wide-ranging talent search. Aders steps down during a ceremony in Los Angeles. FMI introduces Efficient Consumer Response along with nine other associations and the Uniform Code Council. Nearly 200 executives become involved in committees to help develop this initiative aimed at reducing unnecessary costs. More than 2,400 people come to the first Marketechnics show, aimed at integrating state-of-the-art technology with merchandising and logistics.
1994 FMI helps lead the defeat of national health care reforms and striker-replacement legislation. FMI launches the Family Supermarket Succession Resources program to help independents grapple with succession, estate planning and management development.
1995 Congress agrees to phase out annual licensing fees assessed grocers and wholesalers under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. FMI had fought for this outcome for about a decade. After more than a year of research, FMI's Managing Diversity Task Force issues recommendations on promoting diversity and stresses the importance of top management commitment.
1996 FMI joins cyberspace with a home page on the Internet. The MealSolutions convention is launched in recognition of the urgency of the home-meal replacement trend.
1997 A major renovation at McCormick Place in Chicago enables FMI to house the exhibits at its May convention all on one floor (in two halls) to ease excessive walking by showgoers. FMI takes a lead role in a joint effort by government and associations to launch a consumer-education campaign for safe food handling, refrigeration and cooking.
1998 FMI writes Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley that it is considering moving its annual convention from Chicago if the city cannot lower hotel rates and eliminate excessive exhibition-related labor costs. FMI introduces "Safeguarding Our Last Link," an educational program about safe food-handling practices aimed at consumers.
1999 Hammonds tells the U.S. Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem, "The supermarket industry, more than any other, is well accustomed to operating in the most trying of circumstances, including earthquakes, floods and ice storms." Later in the year, FMI and Grocery Manufacturers of America host three day-long forums to assist food retailers and manufacturers to prepare for Y2K-related challenges.
2000 To promote beef products from cattle raised in the United States, FMI proposed a voluntary labeling program as an alternative to mandatory country-of-origin labeling legislation currently before Congress.
2001 Two long-term FMI government-action campaigns finally bear fruit, as Congress passes and President Bush signs measures to repeal the estate tax and to scrap the ergonomics rules issued by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration in the final months of the Clinton administration. FMI also supports the Bush administration's tax cut program. Still on the legislative agenda: making the estate tax repeal permanent.
2002 FMI joins with the National Infrastructure Protection Center to establish the Food Industry Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a public/private partnership whose mission includes: providing information and analysis that will enable the food industry to report, identify and reduce its vulnerability to attacks, as well as to help the FBI and other government agencies identify threats to the industry.
