SIZING UP ROUNDY'S AND SPARTAN

Roundy's and Spartan Stores are long-established wholesalers with a combined total of almost 200 years in business. Each services Midwest supermarkets and convenience stores. Following are facts about each wholesaler:

the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic states and owns eight Pick 'n Save warehouse food stores in Wauwatosa, Wis.

Its top officers are John R. Dickson, chairman and chief executive officer; Gerald F. Lestina, president and chief operating officer, and Robert D. Ranus, vice president and chief financial officer.

SPARTAN: Founded in 1917, Spartan, Grand Rapids, Mich., serves 475 independent grocers in Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky out of nine distribution facilities, and an additional 8,600 convenience stores. Its subsidiaries include Capistar, Holt, Mich., a full-service food wholesaler serving more than 200 stores in Michigan and Ohio; J.F. Walker Co., Jackson, Mich., a convenience store distributor that services 7,100 customer locations in the Midwest, South and East, and L&L/Jiroch Distributing Co., a Grand Rapids-based convenience store distributor serving more than 1,500 Midwest accounts. Its top officers are Patrick M. Quinn, president and CEO, and James B. Meyer, senior vice president of corporate support services and chief financial officer.