Marketing. Merchandising.Procurement.Business Development. Category Management. Loyalty Marketing.

Patrick J. Curran Consulting, LLC

Introduction and Career History

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Industry Depth and Breadth Distinguished Industry Experience and Expertise

In four distinct areas of exposure in the food business1. The Supermarket Channel, Perishables and Center Store

2. The Specialty, Natural & Organic Food Space

3. Store Brand Management

4. Wholesale Grocery Distribution

Key positions held in high quality companies, corporate level responsibilities for strategic planning, marketing, merchandising, pricing, loyalty marketing, business development, sourcing, procurement and supply chain

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Senior Level Leadership Credentials Twenty-eight (28) years of senior level leadership. Leadership positions since 1986 in chronological order.

Director of Grocery and Bakery for Jewel Food Stores Midwest Division, Chicago market share leader, Vice President of Corporate Grocery & General Merchandise for BI-LO Supermarkets, division of Ahold,

Greenville, SC American Store’s ACME Markets unit as the Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Philadelphia Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing and Distribution at a Gulf Coast regional chain of 120 stores

named Delchamps Re-hired by BI-LO to fill the new position of Vice-President of Sales & Marketing Promoted to the Senior Vice President of Perishables for BI-LO Supermarkets Special assignment in Mergers & Acquisitions function for Ahold USA , was the Senior Vice President of

Acquisition Integration Returned to BI-LO as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategic Planning Held the post of Vice-President of Supply Chain & Logistics for one of the nation’s largest specialty,

natural and organic food distributors, Kehe Food, the Chicago area Recruited to Tops Markets, as the Senior Vice President Of Sales & Marketing, western New York Senior Director of Grocery and Supply Chain for Daymon Worldwide, San Antonio, dedicated to HEB

Markets store brands Vice-President of Marketing and Purchasing for Dearborn Wholesale Grocers, Chicago, IL

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Senior Level Marketing Thought LeaderSTRATEGIC PLANNING IDENTIFYING ORGANIC GROWTH

OPPORTUNITIESo Vision and goalso Research and assessmento Segment Profitabilityo Value Propositiono Brand Positioningo Organization Capabilityo Resource Allocationo Supply Chain / Logisticso Executiono Analytics

1. Driving sales

2. New markets

3. Customer segments

4. Alternative formats

5. Category / product

6. Fresh

7. Services

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Category Management Know-HowSTRATEGIC BUSINESS UNITS EXECUTION

o Value propositiono Consumer centric focuso Category roleso Assortment differentiationo Product innovationo Talent deploymento Training and developmento Strategic partnershipso Financial process and controls

1. Gap closure, share targets

2. Pricing proposition

3. Cost clarity

4. Margin model management

5. Promotion effectiveness

6. Visual merchandising

7. Space and shelf management

8. Supply chain and inventory

9. Monitor and measure

10. Quality and value messaging

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Winning With Perishables Fresh Food expertise (Produce, Meat, Seafood, Deli, Bakery, Café and Floral) 35% of chain sales

and 38% of profit. Held top perishable post as S.V.P. Perishables for a large chain (BI-LO Supermarkets) As the Tops Markets CMO, the perishable V.P.’s reported to me.

Assortment strategy

Quality tier positioning

Sourcing and forming local and global supplier relationships

Negotiations

Supply “cold” chain and logistics

Visual merchandising programs• Meal and nutrition solutions

• Fixturing plans

• Point-of-sale messaging

Sales promotion

Pricing strategy and margin optimization

Shrink control plans and program development

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Organizational DesignACCOMPLISHED AT BUILDING MARKETING AND MERCHANDISING TEAMS AND ORGANIZATION CAPABILITY THEN POPULATING TOP TALENT!

Marketing Perishable Departments Advertising Market Research Customer Relationship Marketing Community Affairs Customer Service Fuel Centers

Merchandising Category Management Space Management Pricing Departments Store Brands Procurement Supply Chain Store Development

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Store Development and DesignPROFICIENT IN CAP EX PLANNING, STORE DESIGN AND LAYOUT

o Shopping experienceo New departments and serviceso Department locationo Adjacencieso Space allocationo Sight lineso Fuel centers

o Land, lot, egress / ingresso Fixed asset capital investmento Fixture planningo Inventory investmento Store blueprintso IRR analysiso Store acquisition and conversion

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Multi-Media Marketing Communications

ONE SIGHT, ONE SOUND, ONE SELL! MEDIA MIX AND WEIGHT!

Strategy Creative Branding Amplify personality Look, tone and feel Campaigns and execution Leading advertising agencies Talented in copy writing and

imagery

Media planning knowledge1. Print – circulars and ROP

2. Television

3. Radio

4. Point-of-sale, shelf and collateral

5. Direct mail

6. Web

7. Sports venues

8. Community

9. Social

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Driving Sales, Delivering Extraordinary ValueHighly promotional, go-to-market approach

Creating value and communicating the “reason to believe” to customers, associates and trading partners Understanding the new consumer frugality

1. Everyday values on the shelf

2. Store brand alternatives

3. Special buys

4. Manufacturer funded deals

5. Cross channel value accessible from all media

6. Exploiting paper and electronic coupons

7. Customer specific

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Visual Merchandising With ExcitementCORPORATE MERCHANDISING PLANNING VISUAL MERCHANDISING

Long range strategy and planning Category management Integration of manufacturer and

store brand plans Seasonal promotion planning

calendar Localized offerings Emphatic point-of-sale messaging

Display plan mirrors advertising Loaded with value Exciting meal or problem solving

solution ideas Hyper-local neighborhood

merchandising Co-ordinated sign package, shelf

tags, signs and collateral

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Developing the Pricing PropositionStrategy and Philosophy Philosophy aligned with brand strategy and financial objectives and constraints Solidarity of top management on philosophy of value proposition Answering the questions: Leader or follower? What is your desired position in the market? What

member(s) of the competitive set do you position yourself against? How do you compete with alternative channels, i.e., dollar stores, mass and drug?

Clearly defined approach supported with policies, roles, rules, guidelines and KVI’s Documented, codified Measurement and compliance Fair and reasonable

Organization Model of the Department and People Decision on centralization, decentralization or a collaborative hybrid model of the pricing function

Integrating and Leveraging Supporting Technology Internal legacy systems Off the shelf price optimization and trade deal management software i.e., DemandTec©

/ TradePoint© customized software

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Adding Value With Store BrandsDaymon Worldwide

Provided store brand management services for 400 supplier partners to the HEB / Central Markets supermarket chain in San Antonio, Texas.

1. Drove sales growth

2. Implemented sourcing programs

3. Provided consultative category assortment recommendations

4. Established processes to reveal cost clarity and negotiation

5. Managed retail price optimization

6. Submitted packaging design ideas and retail ready packaging solutions

7. Created the five season sales promotion and merchandising calendar

8. Improved service levels

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Customer Relationship Marketing (CSM) Launched one of the most successful supermarket loyalty marketing programs at BI-LO. Was

mentored by Brian Wolf then the leading expert on loyalty marketing. Deployed the strategic and tactical use of “shopper behavior” data, for example, basket

analysis, promotional effectiveness and private brand penetration Customer segmentation techniques according to spending behavior

Frequency

Recency

Spending

Reward program development Retention

New customers

Lost, lapsed

Defection

Stimulus

Competitive defense

Fuel Center rewards

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Customer Relationship Marketing (CSM) Fluent in creating the annual expenditure budget for loyalty marketing

programs Experienced in developing master annual planning calendar Engaged the services of allied partners who provide creative and technical Web marketing Sports marketing sponsorships at Tops Markets

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Business Development AcumenExperienced in presenting customer specific programs and solutions to C-level decision makers.

1. For example, presented programs and services to the national headquarter offices of Target and Wal-Mart

2. And customer business development and new customer acquisition in the regional and independently owned supermarket chain space

3. Created, authored, developed and presented customized detailed plans, growth programs and innovative solutions to the leaders of these companies

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Enhancing the Assortment With Specialty Food

Kehe Food Distributors – Chicago, IL (prominent national marketer / distributor of specialty, natural and organic foods). Director and Vice President.

1. Accelerated growth of the emerging perishables department

2. Developed customized retail customer programs and solutions

3. Launched new perishable food programs in the convenience store channel

4. Appointed to lead the logistics functions at a time when the company became a national distributor

5. Enthusiastically participated in the turnaround of the company

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Trade Partnerships and PromotionCast the vision and clarify the direction to our “trading partners.” Overall supervision of the portfolio of manufacturer trade development funds. Manufacturer marketing development fund business process

Stat case, scan down, lump sum

Volume based incentives (VBI)

Placement and display

Managing the portfolio accounting

Go-to-market strategy, manufacturer by manufacturer1. Leveraging and aligning manufacturer funds to drive growth

2. EDLP

3. Highly promotional

4. Display support

5. Advertising support

6. Negotiation of funding in the broader context of the cost-of-goods

Execution of the everyday pricing, promotion and merchandising Clawback of funds unpaid or accrued insufficiently

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Financial Disciplines & Performance ManagementVery comfortable and fluent with P&L’s. Can dig deep into the numbers and reveal the insights and issues. Highly experienced in short and long range budgeting

Proforma

Quarterly forecasting

Sales, dollars, units and tonnage

Gross profit

Stock loss

S, G & A expenses

EBITDA

Customer transactions and spending behavior Margin management Market and store level trends Department level performance Category and product performance Shopping behavior

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Exposure to Geographic and Cultural Diversity Lived and worked across a large geographic region of the

United States The Midwest, specifically the Chicago market The Carolinas, Georgia and Tennessee The Gulf Coast The Delaware River Valley (Pennsylvania and New Jersey) Western New York South Texas

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National Exposure and Knowledge Across Formats and ChannelsFamiliarity with top tier supermarket chains and alternative formats Well acquainted with superior regional chains, examples include:

Wegmans

HEB

Researched alternative formats1. Aldi

2. Trader Joe’s

3. Target’s P-Fresh

4. Whole Foods

5. Dollar Stores

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Contact InformationPatrick J. Curran Consulting, LLC

2860 Melrose Lane

Naperville, IL 60564-6008

pat@patrickjcurran.com

www.patrickjcurran.com

630.210.5668

Thank you for your consideration.

Patrick