This week's cover story on the 25th anniversary of the Food Marketing Institute brings to mind one of the articles I most enjoyed writing at Supermarket News: a 1997 piece on FMI's 20th anniversary.
What was special for me was that I got to interview 11 of the 12 former FMI chairmen who had served up to that time (Donald Schnuck had passed away in 1992). That opportunity was quite a thrill for a journalist fascinated by history.
FMI's story and the quality of its leaders really came alive for me. Think Founding Brothers or 1776.
I came across plenty of anecdotes in my research. Irving Raab, the first FMI chairman, told me he happened to be absent from the very meeting in which industry leaders picked him to lead the effort to form FMI from a merger of two industry associations. "I missed a meeting, and it was the one in which they decided to merge, and they decided I was the one to do the merger," he recalled. "I learned that you don't miss meetings."
I discovered that Jack Crocker, the second chairman, used a little bit of 1776 to help hold FMI's factions together during disagreements in the early days. At board meetings he would quell unrest by pointing to a banner he had hung on the wall. It displayed a quote from Benjamin Franklin that read: "We must hang together, gentlemen, or most certainly we will hang separately."
The FMI story also had lots of drama. Donald Schnuck was chairman when President Jimmy Carter enacted voluntary wage and price controls. Carter called in industry leaders to try to strong-arm them into lowering the price of meat. But Carter's data was wrong. So Schnuck led the battle to defend the industry on that issue.
Speaking of drama, Richard Currie assumed the chairman's role just as the industry was trying to understand the new dynamic of alternative retail format competitors cutting into supermarket business. Currie's tenure included a groundbreaking study on alternative formats, which not only shed light on the issue but also helped launch the Efficient Consumer Response initiative, the industry's sweeping project to cut costs and become more efficient.
The industry really has been well-served by FMI. In this week's issue of SN, it is interesting to read the comments of industry executives on where things are heading. Asked about the key challenges FMI and the industry will face in the next five years, executives gave answers including these: consolidation, alternative channels, understanding trading partners, responding to changing lifestyles, helping the industry keep up with changing technology and ensuring food safety. If that is the future, then supermarkets are in good shape because the history of FMI is filled with instances of tackling these very issues.
So this week the industry will commemorate 25 years of FMI achievements during the association's annual convention in Chicago. And 2002 is also the 50th anniversary of SN, with lots of special editorial coverage planned for the remainder of the year.
