Fresh Thyme Names Former Kroger, Aldi Exec as VP of Operations

Liz Zolcak, the former Aldi executive who led The Kroger Co.’s repositioning of its Ruler Foods discount format, has joined Fresh Thyme Market as its new VP of operations, a company spokesperson confirmed to WGB.

Zolcak, who went by Liz Ferneding when she joined Kroger in 2017, helped to lead the Cincinnati retailer’s moves to refine and reposition the fledgling Ruler division as a hard discounter in the style of Aldi, where she'd previously held multiple roles including director of corporate buying. Changes at Ruler under her watch included assortments featuring Kroger’s private label products and greater fresh penetration, with several new stores and an updated look. Ruler is part of Kroger’s Seymour, Ind.-based Jay C division and currently operates nearly 50 stores in Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Liz Zolcak

Zolcak moved to a retail operations VP role at Kroger’s Cincinnati headquarters a year ago and held it until this May before beginning a new role at Fresh Thyme in September. Dan Moore has subsequently been named division leader at Ruler.

A spokesperson for Fresh Thyme, based in Downers Grove, Ill., and controlled by the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based superstore operated Meijer, declined to comment further on the appointment.

Fresh Thyme operates 73 farmers market style stores throughout the Midwest. It too is evolving following a rapid rollout over its first five years. Founder and CEO Chris Sherrell departed the company last year in search of new challenges and was replaced as CEO by Gerald Melville, a Meijer veteran. Fresh Thyme most recently unveiled a new branding campaign emphasizing what it called “a more thoughtful approach to managing health and wellness,” with somewhat less emphasis than it typically devoted to pricing in fresh. A new logo drops the “Farmers Market” name and it now identifies itself simply as Fresh Thyme Market.

Sprouts Farmers Market, the Phoenix-based natural foods retailer that pioneered the “farmers market” format, has similarly shifted emphasis over the last year.