Save A Lot CEO Leon Bergmann resigns 2023

Save A Lot CEO Leon Bergmann has departed the company after 20 months at the helm.

St. Ann, Missouri-based Save A Lot said Tuesday that Bergmann has resigned from the post to spend more time with his family. He had served as the discount grocery banner’s CEO since March 2022, coming to the company from Harvest Sherwood Food Distributors, a grocery, bakery, deli, meat and seafood wholesaler based in Detroit.

Fred Boehler, a Save A Lot board member, has been appointed interim CEO as the company begins a search for a new full-time chief executive. Save A Lot noted that Boehler has more than 30 years of industry experience, including a stretch as president and CEO of Americold Logistics from 2015 to 2021.

“Leon Bergmann has announced his resignation as chief executive officer of Save A Lot following a personal decision to relocate back to California and dedicate more time to his family,” Save A Lot said in an emailed statement. “As the board of directors initiates a search for his replacement, current board member Fred Boehler has stepped in to serve as interim CEO.”

Bergmann was announced as Save A Lot’s new CEO in early February 2022, nearly four months after the company had confirmed the appointment of Craig Herkert as interim chief executive upon the exit of CEO Kenneth McGrath. Bergmann’s appointment also came over year after Save A Lot unveiled plans to migrate to a wholesale business model, a transition that the company said it completed just after announcing his hiring.

Related:Q&A: CEO Leon Bergmann champions Save A Lot’s ‘extremely powerful model’

Leon Bergmann, now former CEO of Save A Lot. / Photo courtesy of Save A Lot

Joining Save A Lot with over 20 years of experience in the grocery and distribution sectors, Bergmann had served as Harvest Sherwood’s CEO since July 2018. Prior to that, he was western region president at Supervalu (now part of United Natural Foods Inc.) for a year, after the company’s acquisition of fellow distributor Unified Grocers, where he had served in executive vice president and senior vice president roles in sales, procurement and logistics. Bergmann also was president of independent business and group vice president of independent sales, marketing and merchandising in an earlier stint at Supervalu. Previously, he spent almost six years at C&S Wholesale Grocers, most recently as senior vice president of sales and customer services for the Northeast.

In late December 2020, Save A Lot unveiled a plan to transition from a retailer to a wholesaler, in which the limited-assortment, discount grocery chain would sell more than 300 corporate-operated locations to current and new independent retailers licensed under its banner. That process wound down in February 2022, when Save A Lot officially announced its operation under a “pure-play wholesale model.” In its hometown St. Louis area, Save A Lot retained approximately 20 stores as a test market for new innovations and programs. This past August, those remaining stores were sold to current Save A Lot operator Leevers Supermarkets Inc., officially capping off the grocery banner’s shift to a wholesaler.

Related:Save A Lot sells remaining stores to cap off wholesale transition

“It’s part of a broader transition for us as a company to go to a completely licensed wholesale model. Ultimately, the value of holding those stores as a “test lab”—I’d rather test things with our retail partners,” Bergmann told Winsight Grocery Business in an interview after Save A Lot announced the store sale to Leevers.

When the wholesale transition plan was announced, Save A Lot had 14 distribution centers and more than 1,000 stores in 33 states, with the vast majority of the locations licensed by over 200 independent grocers. The company now operates eight distribution centers—two were closed earlier this year—and serves approximately 800 stores in 32 states.

Under the company’s wholesale business model, independent grocers own and operate Save A Lot supermarkets via a relicensing program and receive marketing and other support services, including private label. Company executives have said the focus on localized assortments and local ownership approach enables independent grocers under the banner to cater their customers and communities while maintaining the benefits of a value grocery model: a heavy focus on private label (the majority of Save A Lot’s products) plus a limited assortment, low-cost operational model and easy-to-shop store layout.

Related:Save A Lot Completes Transition to Wholesale Model

On average, Save A Lot stores run about 16,000 square feet and carry 1,800 SKUs across more than 55 private brands. Through an everyday low pricing (EDLP) strategy, the stores offers savings of up to 40% over conventional supermarkets on private- and national-brand products, USDA-inspected meat, farm-fresh produce and non-food items.