Hannaford Case Study

Founded in 1883, Hannaford operates supermarkets and combination food and drug stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont. The company began when Arthur Hannaford opened a small shop on the waterfront of Portland, Maine to sell high-quality produce. Arthur's brothers, Howard and Edward, joined the business in 1902 and incorporated as Hannaford Bros. Co.

Over the years, Hannaford expanded its grocery wholesale and retail business in the Northeast U.S., and in 1971, the company generated $1M in earnings for the first time. In 1987, Hannaford sales were more than $1B; by 1997, sales exceeded $3B. The merger with Delhaize America (completed in 2000) allowed Hannaford to continue to operate as a separate business while becoming part of a $17B company (as of 2008). In 2006, Hannaford opened 14 new stores -- at the time the most in a single year for the company -- and expanded its pharmacies to 120 stores. As of June 2008, more than 27,000 associates were employed at the company's 165 stores, which averaged 48,400 square feet.

As a full-service supermarket operator, Hannaford strives to create an outstanding shopping experience that provides high quality products, exceptional service, and great value. Because good customer service is essential to an overall positive experience, Hannaford invests in store associate training programs and provides opportunities for growth and advancement. With the company's focus on providing a great overall consumer experience that involves nowledgeable and dedicated store associates, it should not be a surprise that Hannaford is recognized throughout the grocery industry as a leader in workforce optimization. In 2006, the company determined it should build upon the labor scheduling tool that it already had in place by adding a task management solution to ensure the consistent execution of its retail strategy in all of its stores and pharmacies.