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NEWS ROUNDUP

Foodarama Signs Standstill PactsSupermarkets here has signed standstill agreements with its three bank creditors and with certain senior noteholders.Under the agreements, the banks and noteholders will delay until Sept. 30 exercising their rights following certain specified defaults.Foodarama operates 19 stores and is the second-largest operator of ShopRite supermarkets.The standstill agreements require

Foodarama Signs Standstill Pacts

Supermarkets here has signed standstill agreements with its three bank creditors and with certain senior noteholders.

Under the agreements, the banks and noteholders will delay until Sept. 30 exercising their rights following certain specified defaults.

Foodarama operates 19 stores and is the second-largest operator of ShopRite supermarkets.

The standstill agreements require Foodarama and its financial consultants to deliver by June 15 a business plan for restructuring the company's institutional debt of $35.2 million. Foodarama officials said they are confident they will be able to reach an agreement on a restructuring plan with creditors during the four-month forbearance period.

Foodarama owes the three banks a total of $16 million. It owes the noteholders who signed the forbearance agreements $16.9 million, or about 83% of the $19.2 million owed to all noteholders. The company said it expects to get similar forbearance agreements from its remaining noteholders, who are owed $2.3 million.

Food Lion CEO Declines Bonus

SALISBURY, N.C. -- Tom E. Smith, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Food Lion here, declined to accept any incentive bonuses last year, according to the chain's proxy statement.

His reason, the proxy said, was "to express his personal commitment to directors, employees and shareholders to restoring the company to its historical levels of profitability."

Income last year totaled $3.9 million, compared with net income of $178 million in 1992. Food Lion's earnings were impacted by the costs of closing 88 unprofitable stores and the negative impact of a late 1992 television news broadcast critical of the chain.

In line with Smith's request, the board of directors did not consider him for a bonus, the proxy statement said. Smith did receive a 2.15% raise, however, boosting his salary last year to $642,314.

Four other top Food Lion executives received bonuses under the company's incentive bonus plan, but the bonuses were about one-third lower than in the previous year, according to the proxy.

Minyard Buys 2 Tom Thumbs

COPPELL, Texas -- Minyard Food Stores here has acquired two Tom Thumb units from Randall's Food Markets, Houston, for an undisclosed price.

Minyard took over a 15,000-square-foot store in Dallas in late May and converted it to the Carnival banner, a conventional format geared to Hispanic shoppers.

The store was closed for remodeling for four days and has since reopened with "excellent growth," Ron McDearmon, Minyard's vice president of retail operations, told SN. He declined to specify the store's volume either before or after the conversion.

Minyard took over another Tom Thumb -- a 56,000-square-foot store in Fort Worth, Texas -- June 4 and converted it to its Sack'N Save warehouse format.

IFDA Names Executive Director

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- John M. Gray, vice president of education and industry affairs counsel for the Grocery Manufacturers of America, has been selected as the next executive director of the International Foodservice Distributors Association here, effective July 5.

He succeeds Gil Kretzer, who retired in March. GMA has not yet named a successor to Gray.

IFDA -- part of the National-American Wholesale Grocers' Association -- represents NAWGA members that sell $34 billion annually in food and related products to restaurants, hospitals and other institutional food service operations.

In addition to his role as the association's executive director, Gray will serve as vice president and general counsel for NAWGA and IFDA. Rick Frank, an attorney with Olsson, Frank & Weeda, Washington, D.C., continues as outside legal counsel to NAWGA and IFDA.

Gray was selected by an IFDA executive search committee headed by Robert Emmons, chairman of Smart & Final, Los Angeles. Emmons is IFDA's current chairman.

Gray has directed industry relations programs at GMA for the past seven years. Prior to joining GMA, he was an attorney for law firms in Richmond, Va., and Washington.