Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Our Company
Grocery Outlet is a high-growth, extreme value retailer of quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products sold through a network of independently operated stores. As of December 31, 2022, we had 441 stores in California, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Nevada, Maryland and New Jersey. Our headquarters is in Emeryville, California.
Each of our stores offers a fun, treasure hunt shopping experience in an easy-to-navigate, small-box format. An ever-changing assortment of "WOW!" deals, complemented by everyday staple products, generates customer excitement and encourages frequent visits from bargain-minded shoppers. Our flexible buying model allows us to offer quality, name-brand opportunistic products at prices generally 40% to 70% below those of conventional retailers. Entrepreneurial independent operators ("IOs") run our stores and create a neighborhood feel through personalized customer service and a localized product offering.
Our differentiated model for buying and selling delivers a "WOW!" shopping experience, which generates customer excitement, inspires loyalty and supports profitable sales growth:
• How we buy: We source quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products opportunistically through a large, centralized purchasing team that leverages long-standing and actively managed supplier relationships to acquire merchandise at significant discounts. Our speed and efficiency in responding to supplier needs, combined with our specialized supply chain capabilities and flexible merchandising strategy, enhance our access to discounted products and allow us to turn inventory quickly and profitably. Our buyers proactively source on-trend products based on changing consumer preferences, including a wide selection of Natural, Organic, Specialty and Healthy ("NOSH") products. We also source everyday staple products to complement our opportunistic offerings. Each store offers a curated and ever-changing assortment of items, creating a "buy now" sense of urgency that promotes return visits and fosters customer loyalty.
• How we sell: Our stores are independently operated by entrepreneurial small business owners who have a relentless focus on selecting the best products for their communities, providing personalized customer service and driving improved store performance. Unlike a store manager of a traditional retailer, IOs are independent businesses and are responsible for store operations, including ordering, merchandising and managing inventory, marketing locally and directly hiring, training and employing their store workers. IOs initially contribute capital to establish their business and share store-level gross profits with us. These factors both align our interests and incentivize IOs to grow their business profitably to realize financial upside. This combination of local decision-making supported by our purchasing scale and corporate resources results in a "small business at scale" model that we believe is difficult for competitors to replicate.
Our value proposition has broad appeal with bargain-minded customers across a broad range of income levels, demographics and geographies. We believe that our sustained focus on delivering ever-changing "WOW!" deals within a fun, treasure hunt shopping environment has generated strong customer loyalty and brand affinity. We believe that our broad customer appeal supports significant new store growth opportunities, and we plan to continue to expand our reach to additional customers and geographies across the United States.
Our stores generally have performed well across all economic cycles, as demonstrated by our pattern of positive comparable store sales growth and healthy gross margin rates. Our comparable store sales decreased in fiscal 2021 (for the first time in 18 years) as we lapped heightened demand during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Our business returned to have positive comparable store sales in fiscal 2022. Our model also is somewhat insulated from store labor-related variability because IOs directly employ their store workers. The result is a highly scalable business with lower corporate fixed costs, providing further protection in the event of an economic downturn and growth opportunities in a strong economy.
Our History
Our founder, Jim Read, pioneered our opportunistic buying model in 1946 and subsequently developed the IO selling approach, which harnesses individual entrepreneurship and local decision-making to better serve our customers. Underlying this differentiated model was a mission that still guides us today: "Touching Lives for the Better." Since 2006, the third generation of Read family leadership, Eric Lindberg, Jr., Chairman of our Board of Directors (and Chief Executive Officer during fiscal 2022), has continued to advance this mission.
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Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. was incorporated in Delaware on September 11, 2014. In June 2019, we completed the initial public offering of our common stock. Hellman & Friedman LLC, our former private equity sponsor, distributed the remainder of its holdings in our common stock to its equity holders in May 2020. Our common stock trades on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "GO".
Our Growth Strategies
We plan to continue to drive sales growth and profitability by maintaining a steadfast focus on our value proposition and executing on the following strategies:
• Drive Comparable Sales Growth . We expect that our compelling value proposition will continue to enable us to attract new customers, drive repeat visits, increase basket sizes for existing customers and, as a result, generate strong comparable store sales growth. We strive to increase comparable sales by (i) delivering more opportunistic deals and expanding our offerings; (ii) supporting our IOs in enhancing the customer experience through inventory planning and other tools; and (iii) increasing customer awareness and engagement by executing on our marketing strategies.
• Execute on Store Expansion Plans . We believe the success of our stores across a broad range of geographies, population densities and demographic groups creates a significant opportunity to profitably increase our store count in existing and new local regions and states.
• Implement Productivity Improvements to Reinvest in Our Value Proposition . Our seasoned management team has a proven track record of growing our business while maintaining a disciplined cost structure. Over the past several years, we have made significant investments that have laid a solid foundation for future growth. We have implemented and will continue to identify and implement productivity improvements through both operational initiatives and system enhancements. We intend to reinforce our value proposition and drive further growth by reinvesting future productivity improvements into enhanced buying and selling capabilities.
Fiscal 2022
Macroeconomic Conditions. During fiscal 2022, our business was and continues to be impacted by current macroeconomic conditions including supply chain and labor challenges, inflation, and changes in consumer behavior. Our IOs also faced and continue to face staffing challenges and increased labor costs within their businesses.
Like many companies in the grocery and retail sectors, we continue to experience increased product costs, which is being reflected in part in higher retail pricing. These cost increases resulted in part from supply disruptions, increased shipping and transportation costs, increased commodity costs, increased labor costs in the supply chain and other disruptions. We continue to utilize our unique buying model, our strong vendor relationships and our agile approach to inventory management to offer customers a compelling product assortment at a deep competitive value.
Additionally, planned construction and opening of new stores during fiscal 2022 was, and may continue to be, negatively impacted due to both increased lead times to acquire materials, obtain permits and licenses as well as higher construction and development related costs. In fiscal 2022, we opened 27 new stores, which was below our long-term strategic goal of 10% unit growth.
E-Commerce. During fiscal 2021 and 2022, we entered into partnerships with three third-party grocery delivery companies to provide online shopping at most of our stores. We believe this e-commerce channel may allow us to expand our reach to existing and new customers and further leverage our existing retail footprint.
Products and Pricing
Each store offers a curated and ever-changing assortment of products, consisting of on-trend, quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products. Our product offering includes a constant rotation of opportunistic products, complemented by an assortment of competitively priced everyday staples, across grocery, produce, refrigerated and frozen foods, beer and wine, fresh meat and seafood, general merchandise and health and beauty care. We have continued to expand our product assortment to meet customer needs, including a wide selection of Natural, Organic, Specialty and Healthy ("NOSH"), fresh, ethnic and local products.
A typical Grocery Outlet basket is priced approximately 40% lower than conventional grocers and approximately 20% lower than discount retailers. Opportunistically sourced products represent approximately half of our purchasing mix. We refer to our best opportunistic purchases as "WOW!" deals, which generally represent deep discounts of 40% to 70%
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relative to conventional retailers. These products encourage repeat shopper visits and typically sell quickly due to their compelling value, short duration and continually changing availability.
Procurement
Our flexible sourcing and supply chain model differentiates us from traditional retailers and allows us to provide customers with quality, name-brand consumables and fresh products at exceptional values. We take advantage of opportunities to acquire merchandise at substantial discounts that regularly arise from order cancellations, manufacturer overruns, packaging changes and approaching "sell-by" dates. As strong stewards of our suppliers' brands, we are a preferred partner of leading consumer packaged goods ("CPGs") with a reputation for making rapid decisions, purchasing in significant volumes and creatively solving their inventory challenges. Our buying strategy is deliberately flexible to allow us to react to constantly changing opportunities and customer preferences.
Our centralized sourcing team, consisting of our purchasing and inventory planning groups, have deep experience and decades-long relationships with leading CPG companies. Our team is highly selective when evaluating opportunities available to us and maintains a disciplined yet solutions-oriented approach. We are always seeking out and developing new supplier relationships to acquire desirable products at discounts that excite our customers. Our inventory planning group collaborates with and supports our buyers to ensure we purchase the appropriate type and quantity of products in order to maintain adequate inventory levels in key product categories.
We believe that we have a leading share of the large and growing excess inventory market. As we grow, we expect to have even greater access to quality merchandise due to our increased scale, broader supplier awareness and expanded geographic presence. While recent macroeconomic conditions have caused CPGs to reduce SKU assortment, we believe that this is temporary and we expect the supply of opportunistic products to expand as incumbent CPGs continue to invest in new products, brands and marketing. Additionally, we believe that changing consumer preferences will continue to support the proliferation of small and innovative CPG brands, and allow us to add new suppliers to our network.
We supplement our opportunistic purchases with competitively priced everyday staples in order to provide a convenient shopping experience. We typically source these staple products (e.g., milk, eggs, sugar) from multiple suppliers to lower our costs and we generally avoid long-term supply commitments to maintain the flexibility to pursue opportunistic buys as they arise.
Supply Chain and Distribution
Over time, we have honed our supply chain operations to support our opportunistic buying approach and to quickly and efficiently deliver products to our stores. We believe our supply chain flexibility enables us to solve suppliers' inventory challenges and, therefore, obtain significant discounts on purchases. After agreeing to purchase product from a supplier, we move quickly to receive, process and distribute the goods. Our systems allow IOs real-time visibility to our inventory, significantly reducing time to shelf. IOs typically order multiple deliveries per week resulting in higher inventory turns, lower shrink and a frequent assortment of new products on shelf.
We also have dedicated teams to handle unique situations in which products need to be reconditioned or relabeled for sale. These items may include products without a UPC label, goods labeled for another geography, or inventory with damaged packaging.
We rely on our distribution and transportation network, including by means of truck, ocean and rail to provide goods to our distribution centers and stores in a timely and cost-effective manner. Deliveries to our stores occur from our distribution centers or directly from our suppliers. We distribute inventory through eight primary distribution centers, three of which we operate and five of which are operated by third parties. We have an in-house transportation fleet as well as strong transportation partner relationships that provide consistent performance and timely deliveries to our stores.
We intend to continue to invest in our distribution and logistics infrastructure in order to support our anticipated store growth over the long term.
Independent Operators
IOs are independent business entities owned by one or more entrepreneurially minded individuals who typically live in the same community as their store with a focus on ordering and merchandising the best products for their communities, providing personalized customer service and driving improved store performance. The vast majority of the IOs operate a
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single store, with most working as a two-person team to leverage complementary operator skill sets. We encourage the IOs to establish local roots and actively participate in their communities to foster strong personal connections with customers.
We generally share 50% of store-level gross profits with IOs, thereby incentivizing them to grow their business profitably and realize financial upside. The independent operator agreement (the "Operator Agreement") that we sign with each IO gives the IO broad responsibility over store-level decision-making, unlike a store manager of a traditional retailer. This decision-making includes merchandising, selecting a majority of products, managing inventory, marketing locally, directly hiring, training and employing their store workers and supervising store operations to carry out our brand's commitment to superior customer service. As a result, our IO model reduces our fixed costs, corporate overhead and exposure to wage inflation pressures and centralized labor negotiations.
IOs leverage our national purchasing network, sophisticated ordering and information systems and field support in order to operate more efficiently. We facilitate collaboration among IOs to share best practices through company-wide and regional meetings, our IO intranet and other online and informal communications.
The combination of local decision-making supported by our purchasing expertise and corporate resources results in a "small business at scale" model that we believe is difficult for competitors to replicate. Our collaborative relationship with the IOs creates a powerful selling model allowing us to deliver customers exceptional value with a local touch.
As of December 31, 2022, 438 of our 441 stores were operated by IOs. We have entered into an Operator Agreement with each IO, which grants that IO a license to operate a particular Grocery Outlet Bargain Market retail store and to use our trademarks, service marks, trade names, brand names and logos under our brand standards. The Operator Agreement, along with our Best Business Practice Manual, defines our brand standards and sets forth the terms of the license granted to that IO. IOs have discretion to determine the manner and means for accomplishing their duties and implementing our brand standards. The success of this licensing arrangement depends upon mutual commitments by us and the IO to cooperate with each other and engage in practices that protect our brand standards and the reputation of our brand and enhance the sales, business and profit potential of the IO's store. The Operator Agreement provides that either the IO or we may terminate the Operator Agreement for any reason on 75 days' written notice, and that we may terminate the Operator Agreement immediately for cause.
IOs are responsible for operational decision-making for their store, including hiring, training and employing their own workers as well as ordering and merchandising products. The IO orders merchandise solely from us, which we, in turn, deliver to IOs on consignment. As a result, we retain ownership of all merchandise until the point in time that merchandise is sold to a customer. Under the Operator Agreement, IOs are given the right to select a majority of merchandise that is sold in their store. IOs choose merchandise from our order guide according to their knowledge and experience with local customer purchasing trends, preferences, historical sales and other related factors.
IOs are able to uniquely display and merchandise product in order to appeal to their local customer base. IOs also have discretion to adjust pricing in response to local competition or product turns, provided that the overall outcome based on an average basket of items comports with our reputation for selling quality name-brand consumables and fresh products and other merchandise at significant discounts. IOs are expected to engage in local marketing efforts to promote their store and enhance the reputation and goodwill of the Grocery Outlet brand. To protect our brand and reputation, the Operator Agreement requires IOs to adhere to brand standards, including cleanliness, customer service, store appearance, conducting their business in compliance with all laws and observing requirements for storing, handling and selling merchandise.
As consignor of all merchandise, the aggregate sales proceeds belong to us. We, in turn, pay IOs a commission that is generally 50% of the store's gross profit in exchange for the IO's services in staffing and operating the store. Any spoiled, damaged or stolen merchandise, markdowns or price changes impact gross profit and therefore the IO's commission. We generally split these losses equally with IOs. As a result, IOs are exposed to the risk of loss of such merchandise and are incentivized to minimize any such losses.
We lease and build out each Grocery Outlet location. Under the Operator Agreement, we provide IOs with the right to occupy the store premises solely to operate the retail store on the terms set forth in the Operator Agreement. The Operator Agreement specifies the retail store that the IO is entitled to operate, but it does not grant the IO an exclusive territory, restrict us from opening stores nearby, or give the IO preference to relocate to another store as opportunities arise. As the store tenant, we fund the build-out of the store including racking, refrigeration and other equipment (which we maintain ownership of) and pay rent, common area maintenance and other lease charges. IOs must cover their own initial working capital requirements and acquire certain store and safety assets. IOs may fund their initial store investment from their existing capital, a third-party loan or, most commonly, through a loan from us (an "IO Note"). The IOs are required to hire, train and employ a properly trained workforce to enable the IO to fulfill its obligations under the Operator Agreement. IOs are responsible for expenses required for business operations, including all labor costs, utilities, credit card processing
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fees, supplies, taxes (i.e., withholding, contributions and payroll taxes and income taxes on commissions paid to them), fines, levies and other expenses attributable to their operations.
In a typical year, we receive and filter thousands of leads for prospective new IOs in pursuit of smart and entrepreneurially minded retail leaders to support our continued growth. After a robust screening and interview process, we select the top candidates to enter a rigorous Aspiring Operator in Training ("AOT") program with the goal of potentially becoming an IO. AOTs receive on-the-job training as an employee of an experienced IO that applies to serve as a training store for us, which gives AOTs the chance to experience first-hand what running a Grocery Outlet and managing employees will require. We supplement on-the-job training with classes at our headquarters, when available, and through online tutorials. Upon successful completion of the training program, AOTs submit business plans to apply for new stores as they become available. Those business plans generally include a competitive analysis of the local market, operational strategy, marketing plan and projected financial performance. Based on the strength of that business plan, including an AOT's familiarity with the local market, we ultimately select an IO as new store opportunities open and facilitate the transition.
Our Stores and Expansion Opportunities
As of December 31, 2022, our 441 total stores averaged approximately 14,000 square feet on the sales floor. We lease substantially all of our store locations, with initial lease terms of generally ten years and options to renew for two or three successive five-year periods.
Our stores are convenient, neatly organized, well maintained and easy to navigate with wide aisles and clear signage to guide the customer through our various departments such as produce, beer and wine and fresh meat and seafood. The stores require neither membership fees nor bulk purchases for customers to save money and have a high level of customer service. Upon entering a store, customers are greeted by signage introducing the IOs, a tailored selection of fresh produce and other perishables, followed by a "Power Wall" displaying some of our most compelling offerings.
Stores are assorted and merchandised uniquely by IOs providing a "WOW!" treasure hunt shopping experience. A majority of the assortment in each Grocery Outlet store is selected by IOs based on local preference and shopping history while the remaining assortment is delivered to stores to support marketing circulars and manage "sell-by" dates. We have several customized systems and tools in place, including our ordering system that allows IOs to see our real-time inventory and provides ordering suggestions based on local store characteristics.
We continue to implement operational initiatives to support IOs in enhancing the customer experience. We develop and improve tools that provide IOs with actionable insights on sales, margin and customer behavior, enabling them to further grow their business. We seek to continuously improve our inventory planning tools to help IOs make better local assortment decisions while reducing out-of-stock items and losses related to product markdowns, throwaways and theft ("shrink"). We also regularly deploy updated fixtures, signage and enhanced in-store marketing to further improve the shopping experience, which we believe results in higher customer traffic and average basket sizes.
We believe that new store growth remains our biggest driver of long-term stockholder value. We further believe the success of our stores across a broad range of geographies, population densities and demographic groups creates a significant opportunity to profitably increase our store count. In fiscal 2022 we opened 27 new stores, including 12 in California, seven in Pennsylvania, three in Idaho, three in Maryland, one in Oregon and one in New Jersey. We have a dedicated real estate team that utilizes a rigorous site selection process in order to source new store locations that generate strong overall returns. We deploy a store model that generates robust store-level financial results, strong cash flow and attractive returns. We target new stores of between 15,000 and 20,000 total square feet with an average of 4,000 square feet of non-selling space at an average net cash investment of approximately $2.0 million including store buildout (net of contributions from landlords), inventory (net of payables) and cash pre-opening expenses. As a result of earlier mentioned macroeconomic conditions, including supply chain and labor challenges, we have seen increased construction and development related costs that have impacted our average net cash investment in the near term. Based on our historical performance, we target sales of $5.5 million during the first year with sales increasing 25% to 30% cumulatively until reaching maturity in four to five years. Our underwriting criteria target an average year-four cash-on-cash return of approximately 35% and an average payback on investment within four years. On average, we aim for our stores achieve profitability during the first year of operations.
We intend to continue to expand our reach to additional customers and geographies across the United States. We believe that consumers' search for value will continue to be an important factor in retail. Moreover, we believe that they are increasingly focused on value, driving shopper traffic towards the deep discount channel. In the near term, we plan to grow our store base to capture whitespace in existing markets as well as contiguous regions. The COVID-19 pandemic and the current macroeconomic environment have contributed to significant issues with new store development, including labor
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and materials shortages as well as longer lead times in lease execution, site permitting and construction. While these challenges impacted our new store growth in 2022 and are expected to impact our new store growth in the first half of 2023, our long-term strategic goal is to expand our store base by approximately 10% annually by penetrating existing and contiguous regions. Over the long term, we believe the market potential exists to establish 4,800 locations nationally.
Marketing
Our ability to consistently deliver "WOW!" deals that generate customer excitement is our strongest marketing tool. We believe our value proposition has broad appeal with bargain-minded consumers. We promote brand awareness and drive customers to shop through centralized marketing initiatives along with local IO marketing efforts. As a result of this approach and local marketing campaigns funded by IOs, our marketing expense as a percent of sales is relatively low.
We focus our centralized marketing efforts to build brand awareness and communicate specific in-store deals to drive customer traffic, primarily through digital ads, emailed "WOW! Alerts," social media, television and radio commercials, print circulars and in-store and outdoor signage. We have increased our utilization of digital advertising, allowing us to more quickly develop, deploy and target marketing communications based on our changing inventories and store- specific deals. In addition to our digital ads, we distribute print circulars to align with major holidays and other key promotional events, such as Thanksgiving. We also market via television, streaming television platforms and radio (terrestrial and digital) to specific markets to build brand awareness and highlight the value we provide. We reinforce these efforts with in-store price and item signage as well as outdoor marketing via billboards and truck wraps. In fiscal 2022, we tested and began piloting a mobile personalization app that we plan to launch to all of our stores during fiscal 2023. The app tracks customer savings and provides new, trending and top selling items as well as curated product recommendations based on user preferences.
IOs develop and fund their local marketing plan to drive customer engagement. IO efforts include community outreach such as partnering with food banks, sponsoring youth athletic programs and offering discounts to veterans. In addition, IOs develop and manage their own social media marketing platforms, posting creative and compelling content.
Competition
We compete for consumer spend with a diverse group of retailers, including mass, discount, conventional grocery, department, drug, convenience, hardware, variety, online and other specialty stores. These businesses compete with us on the basis of price, selection, quality, customer service, convenience, location, store format, shopping experience, or any combination of these or other factors. They may also compete with us for products and locations. We also face internally generated competition when we open new stores in markets we already serve.
The competitive landscape is highly fragmented and localized; however, our customers most often cite Walmart and Safeway as retailers where they also shop for consumables. We see discount retailers of consumable products, which include Costco, WinCo, Target, Trader Joe's, Aldi and Lidl, as competitors given their broad product offerings at low prices relative to conventional grocery stores. We compete with both conventional grocery stores and discounters by offering an ever-changing selection of name-brand products in a fun, treasure hunt shopping environment at a significant discount.
Many competitors and a number of pure online retailers are attempting to attract customers by offering various forms of e-commerce. We have embraced online and digital marketing, including recently piloting a mobile personalization app and rolling out online shopping to our stores through partnerships with online grocery delivery companies.
Beyond competition for consumers, we compete against a fragmented landscape of opportunistic purchasers, including retailers (e.g., Big Lots and 99 Cents Only) and wholesalers to acquire excess merchandise for sale in our stores. Our established relationships with most of our suppliers along with our distribution scale, buying power, financial credibility and responsiveness often makes us the first call for available deals.
Business Technology
Our information systems provide a broad range of business process assistance and real-time data to support our purchasing and planning approach, merchandising team and strategy, multiple distribution center management, store and operational insight and financial reporting. We selected and developed these technologies to provide the flexibility and functionality to support our unique buying and selling model as well as to identify and respond to merchandising and operating trends in our business.
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The ongoing modernization, enhancement and maintenance of our information systems have allowed us to support the growth in our business and store base. We have modernized and added several systems that provide us additional functionality and scalability in order to better support operational decision-making, including enhanced point of sale, warehouse management, human resource planning, business intelligence, vendor tracking and lead management, store communications, real estate lease management and financial planning and analysis systems.
We modify, update and replace our systems and infrastructure from time to time, including by adding new hardware, software and applications; maintaining, updating or replacing legacy programs; converting to enhanced systems; integrating new service providers; and adding enhanced new functionality, such as cloud computing technologies. In addition, we have a customized enterprise resource planning system, components of which have been replaced and additional components of which we are currently replacing, including our financial ledger, inventory management platform and product data warehouse system. We also will continue to identify and implement productivity improvements through both operational initiatives and system enhancements, such as category assortment optimization, improved inventory management tools and greater purchasing specialization.
We also have built a series of tools that empower IOs to make intelligent decisions to grow their business from improving product ordering, reducing shrink, and gaining intelligence into their store performance and profitability. We believe these investments have resulted in valuable business insights and operational improvements.
Trademarks and Other Intellectual Property
We own federally registered trademarks related to our brand, including "GROCERY OUTLET BARGAIN MARKET", "WOW!", "NOSH" and "BARGAIN BLISS" In addition, we maintain trademarks for the images of certain logos that we use, including the "GROCERY OUTLET BARGAIN MARKET" logo, the "NOSH" logo and the "WOW!" logo. We are also in the process of pursuing several other trademarks to further identify our services. We have disclaimed the terms "GROCERY OUTLET" and "MARKET" with respect to our "GROCERY OUTLET BARGAIN MARKET" trademarks, among other disclaimed terms with respect to our registered trademarks and trademark applications.
Our trademark registrations have various expiration dates; however, assuming that the trademark registrations are properly renewed, they have a perpetual duration. We also own several domain names, including www.groceryoutlet.com and www.ownagroceryoutlet.com, and registered and unregistered copyrights in our website content. Our Operator Agreement grants the IOs a limited, non-exclusive license to use our trademarks solely in connection with the operation and promotion of their store and not in connection with other activities. To maintain quality of use of our trademarks, we exercise actual control over the IO's use of our trademarks and IOs are not permitted to sublicense our trademarks to others. We attempt to obtain registration of our trademarks as practical and pursue infringement of those marks when appropriate. We rely on trademark and copyright laws, trade-secret protection and confidentiality, license and other agreements with the IOs, suppliers, employees and others to protect our intellectual property.
Regulations
We and the IOs are subject to regulation by various federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA"), the Federal Trade Commission (the "FTC"), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (the "USDA") the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency. We and the IOs are also subject to various federal, state and local laws and regulations, including those governing labor and employment, including minimum wage requirements, advertising, privacy, safety and environmental protection and consumer protection regulations, including those that regulate retailers and/or govern product standards, the importation, transportation, promotion and sale of merchandise, packaging material safety and recycling and the operation of stores and warehouse facilities. In addition, we and the IOs must comply with provisions regulating health and sanitation standards, food labeling, non-food labeling and licensing for the sale of food and alcoholic beverages. We actively monitor changes in these laws. In addition, we and the IOs are subject to environmental laws, including but not limited to hazardous waste laws, regulations related to refrigeration and stormwater, pursuant to which we and/or the IOs could be strictly and jointly and severally liable, regardless of our knowledge or responsibility.
Food and Dietary Supplements — The FDA regulates the safety of certain food and food ingredients, as well as dietary supplements under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the "FDCA"). Similarly, the USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service ensures that the country's commercial supply of meat, poultry, catfish and certain egg products is safe, wholesome and correctly labeled and packaged.
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The Food Safety Modernization Act (the "FSMA") amended the FDCA in 2011 and expanded the FDA's regulatory oversight of all supply chain participants. Most of the FDA's promulgating regulations are now in effect and mandate that risk-based preventive controls be observed by the majority of food producers. This authority applies to all domestic food facilities and, by way of imported food supplier verification requirements, to all foreign facilities that supply food products.
The FDA also exercises broad jurisdiction over the labeling and promotion of food. Under certain circumstances, this jurisdiction extends even to product-related claims and representations made on a company's website or similar printed or graphic media. All foods, including dietary supplements, must bear labeling that provides consumers with essential information with respect to standards of identity, net quantity, nutrition facts, ingredient statements and allergen disclosures. The FDA also regulates the use of structure/function claims, health claims, nutrient content claims and the disclosure of calories and other nutrient information for frequently sold items. In addition, compliance dates on various nutrition initiatives that impacted supply chain participants, such as in relation to partially hydrogenated oils, went into effect in 2021.
The FDA has comprehensive authority to regulate the safety, ingredients, labeling and good manufacturing practices for dietary supplements. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (the "DSHEA") amended the FDCA in 1994 and expanded the FDA's regulatory authority over dietary supplements. Through DSHEA, dietary supplements became a regulated commodity while also allowing structure/function claims on products. However, no statement on a dietary supplement may expressly or implicitly represent that it will diagnose, cure, mitigate, treat or prevent a disease.
EBT Payments —Approximately 13% of our net sales are in the form of Electronic Benefits Transfer ("EBT") payments and a substantial portion of these payments may be related to benefits associated with the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program ("SNAP"). The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates these programs and their eligibility requirements. The registration and ongoing compliance requirements for SNAP participation are fairly complex and each of the IOs holds their registration under the name of their business entity and is responsible to ensure that their employees consistently comply with all SNAP rules.
Food and Dietary Supplement Advertising — The FTC exercises jurisdiction over the advertising of foods and dietary supplements. The FTC has the power to impose monetary sanctions, consent decrees and/or other penalties that can severely limit a company's business practices. In recent years, the FTC has instituted numerous enforcement actions against companies carrying dietary supplements for failure to have adequate substantiation for claims made in advertising or for the use of false or misleading advertising claims.
Compliance — As is common in the retail industry, we rely on our suppliers and manufacturers to ensure that the products they manufacture and sell to us comply with all applicable regulatory and legislative requirements. In general, our purchase orders require that suppliers be compliant and represent and warrant to compliance with laws and require indemnification and/or insurance from our suppliers and manufacturers.
However, even with adequate insurance and indemnification, any claims of non-compliance could significantly damage our reputation and consumer confidence in products we sell. In addition, the failure of such products to comply with applicable regulatory and legislative requirements could prevent us from marketing the products or require us to recall or remove such products from our stores. In order to comply with applicable statutes and regulations, our suppliers and manufacturers have from time to time reformulated, eliminated or relabeled certain of their products.
We also source a portion of our products from outside the United States. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other similar anti-bribery and anti-kickback laws and regulations generally prohibit companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to non-U.S. officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. Our policies and our supplier compliance agreements mandate compliance with applicable law, including these laws and regulations.
Human Capital Management
Employees — Our people are at the heart of who we are and what we do. They are key to achieving our business goals and growth strategy. As of December 31, 2022, we had 969 employees, 864 of whom were full-time and 105 of whom were part-time. As of December 31, 2022, 470 of our employees were based at our corporate headquarters in Emeryville, California, and our Leola, Pennsylvania office, 144 of which were classified as field employees. As of December 31, 2022, our distribution centers employed 360 persons. The remaining 139 employees were employees in our Company-operated stores. As of December 31, 2022, 103 of our employees were union employees, all of whom were employees at two Company-operated stores. We have experienced no material interruptions of operations due to disputes with our employees and consider our relations with our employees to be very good.
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Our mission is to Touch Lives for the Better . To do this, we work together to foster a culture grounded in talented and passionate people who live our values: entrepreneurship, integrity, achievement, family, service to others, diversity and fun. Our values translate into our human capital offerings to recruit, engage, develop, reward and retain employees who believe in our mission and emulate our values.
Employee Development —We seek to grow leaders at every level of our organization by creating a culture of mentoring and coaching. As part of our succession planning, we prioritize growing talent internally within our organization and invest resources to develop our employee's skill sets and career path. As an example, our current Chief Executive Officer, Robert Joseph Sheedy, Jr., joined Grocery Outlet in 2014 as our Vice President of Strategy and thereafter was promoted three times before becoming President and Chief Executive Officer in January 2023. Some of our offerings during 2022 (offered virtually and, in some cases, in person) included:
• Certification program opportunities, including offerings in personal growth and professional development;
• Lunch and learn events, featuring a wide variety of personal development topics and industry speakers; and
• Individual coaching for leadership development, and other leadership training on an ad hoc basis
We encourage internal promotions and hiring for open positions. During fiscal 2022, we promoted 42 corporate and field employees.
Employee Health and Safety —Providing a safe and compliant working environment and ensuring safety is critical to the Company. We have robust safety programs in place to prevent workplace injury and illness. In fiscal 2022, we refined and adopted additional safety training initiatives in a variety of areas, including among others, hazard communications, fire prevention, emergency action playbooks, blood borne pathogens, health illness avoidance, and active shooter. These refinements and initiatives are ongoing. We also maintain a Safety Committee for our distribution center employees and our Safety Department regularly provides new injury avoidance information at monthly distribution center employee-wide meetings. Additionally, we provide detailed health and safety resources to our independently operated stores, including specific information and requirements by state to support their adherence to compliance.
Employee Compensation and Benefits —We provide compensation and comprehensive benefits designed to recruit, reward and retain the talent necessary to advance our mission, meet our business goals and execute our long-term growth strategy. Our compensation components vary by employee level and include cash based compensation, cash bonuses, equity awards and a profit-sharing program. Additionally, we provide generous and highly competitive health and welfare benefits programs.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion —We report annually on employment data, including ethnicity, in line with Equal Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") guidelines and we believe that a diverse and inclusive team is critical to our long-term business success.
December 31,
2022
Employee Diversity
Women 37 %
Women in Director and above roles 34 %
Racially and ethnically diverse 60 %
Racially and ethnically diverse in Director and above roles 31 %
In fiscal 2022, of the 42 promoted corporate and field employees, 50% were female and 50% were racially and ethnically diverse.
We have several employee resource groups that enhance our inclusive and diverse culture, including our overarching Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Council, our Black Partnership Network, and our WOW! (Winning with Outstanding Women) Network. We also provide regular training on diversity topics, including those relating to current events in our communities.
We will continue to focus on hiring, retaining and advancing women and underrepresented populations, and cultivating an inclusive and diverse corporate culture through continued education, employee resource groups and targeted recruiting and development across our organization.
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We strive to nurture and uphold an inclusive and diverse environment, free from discrimination of any kind, including sexual or other discriminatory/harassing behavior. We do this by setting an appropriate tone at the top with an open-door policy, having robust policies/procedures in our Code of Ethics and Whistleblower Policy as well as maintaining an internal audit function - all of which support compliance with regulations and ethical behavior.
Website Disclosure
We use our website, https://investors.groceryoutlet.com, as a channel of distribution of Company information. Financial and other important information about us is routinely accessible through and posted on our website. Accordingly, investors should monitor our website, in addition to following our press releases, SEC filings and public conference calls and webcasts. The contents of our website and information accessible through our website is not, however, incorporated by reference or a part of this report. Our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports, and the Proxy Statement for our Annual Meeting of Stockholders are available, free of charge, on our website as soon as practicable after the we file the reports with the SEC.
Information about our Executive Officers
The following table sets forth information about our executive officers as of the date of this filing:
Name Age Position
Robert Joseph Sheedy, Jr 48 President and Chief Executive Officer
Charles C. Bracher 50 EVP, Chief Financial Officer
Andrea R. Bortner 60 EVP, Chief Human Resources Officer
Pamela B. Burke 55 EVP, Chief Stores Officer
Steven K. Wilson 58 EVP, Chief Purchasing Officer
Luke D. Thompson 50 SVP, General Counsel and Secretary
Set forth below is a brief description of the business experience of our executive officers. All of our officers serve at the discretion of our Board of Directors.
Robert Joseph Sheedy, Jr. has served as our President, Chief Executive Officer and as a director since January 2023. Previously, Mr. Sheedy served as our President from January 2019 to December 2022, as our Chief Merchandise, Marketing & Strategy Officer from April 2017 to December 2018, our Chief Merchandise & Strategy Officer from March 2014 to April 2017 and our Vice President, Strategy from April 2012 to February 2014. Before joining us, Mr. Sheedy served in various roles at Staples Inc., an office supply company, from 2005 to 2012, most recently as their Vice President, Strategy.
Charles C. Bracher has served as our EVP, Chief Financial Officer since August 2012. Before joining us, Mr. Bracher served in various roles at Bare Escentuals, Inc., a mineral cosmetics company, from 2005 to 2012, most recently as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Bracher began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Andrea R. Bortner has served as our EVP, Chief Human Resources officer since March 2020. Before joining us, Ms. Bortner served as Chief Human Resources Officer at Maxar Technologies, Inc., a space technology company, from August 2016 to October 2019 and as Chief Human Resources Officer at Catalina, an advertising and marketing company, from August 2012 to June 2016.
Pamela B. Burke has served as our EVP, Chief Stores Officer since January 2022. Ms. Burke previously served as our EVP, Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Secretary from January 2019 to December 2021 and our General Counsel and Secretary from June 2015 to December 2018. Before joining us, Ms. Burke served in various management positions at CRC Health Group, Inc., a provider of specialized behavioral health services, most recently as Senior Vice President of Legal, HR and Risk from April 2010 to February 2015.
Steven K. Wilson has served as our EVP, Chief Purchasing Officer since January 2023. Previously, Mr. Wilson served as SVP, Chief Purchasing Officer from September 2020 to December 2022, as our Senior Vice President of Purchasing from February 2018 to August 2020 and as our Vice President of Purchasing from July 2006 to January 2018. Prior to being appointed Vice President of Purchasing, Mr. Wilson served in various positions of increasing responsibility with us since 1994.
Luke D. Thompson has served as our SVP, General Counsel and Secretary since July 2022. Before joining us, Mr. Thompson served in various roles at Big 5 Sporting Goods, a sporting goods retailer, from 2002 to 2022, most recently as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary.
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