A&P Sues Stop & Shop Over Vitale Hire

MONTVALE, N.J. — A&P here has filed suit against Stop & Shop for allegedly hiring a former executive despite his having agreed not to work for a direct competitor.

Frank Vitale, who was vice president of operations for A&P when he resigned Feb. 14, was forbidden to work for a competitor for 18 months following his resignation as a condition of having participated in a long-term incentive program for select A&P employees, A&P said.

Vitale left A&P for a job with Stop & Shop beginning Feb. 21, and, A&P claims, took with him physical copies of what A&P termed its “most sensitive information,” including a list of stores on its closure watch list, sales information, and details of A&P’s plans to compete and its restructuring strategy.

Efforts to settle the dispute out of court were unsuccessful, A&P said, prompting the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., this week.

Vitale had been an employee of Pathmark for more than 40 years and became a regional vice president of operations for A&P when it acquired Pathmark in 2007. He was the second highest-ranking operations executive at the company, with responsibility for A&P’s stores on Long Island, N.Y.

A&P’s suit said Vitale was currently participating in a four-month training program at Stop & Shop. Stop & Shop, a division of Ahold, has not yet responded to the suit and has not announced the hiring of Vitale. A spokesman for Stop & Shop was not immediately available for comment.