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| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Products | Dairy, deli, frozen foods, grocery, meat, produce, general merchandise, health and beauty care |
| Website | www.belle-foods.com |
Belle Foods, LLC is a family-owned chain of American supermarkets headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.
Information
Belle Foods is owned by father-and-son team Bill and Jeff White. The chain assumed operation of 57 stores, acquired from Southern Family Markets, on July 1, 2012. Store nameplates currently include Piggly Wiggly, Bruno's, and Food World, but all stores were originally planned to be rebranded to Belle Foods. The chain's stores are located in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. Belle Foods uses C&S Wholesale Grocers, former owner of Southern Family Markets, as its supplier. Belle Foods had approximately 2,850 employees, as of July 1, 2013. They do not care about any of the employees that currently work for them, except their family and friends that they brought along to help run the company into the ground. I would not be suprised if the whites and their family make millions off of this unethical buisness action.
Bankruptcy
Belle Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 1, 2013, exactly one year after its founding.
The company plans to close 13 of its 57 stores by August 3, 2013. This includes five Food World locations in Hueytown, Gadsden, Florence, Decatur and Mobile in Alabama. Also, Food World stores in Pensacola, Mary Esther and Niceville in Florida will shut down. Also set to close is a Piggly Wiggly store in Tifton, Georgia. They also must sell off assets to try reconciling a $42 million dollar debt.
Firing of ~300 Full-Time Workers
Leading up to the bankruptcy, Belle Foods announced in April 2013 that it would be "hiring" approx. 300 part-time employees, but what that actually meant was that approx. 300 full-time employees were being let go and some of the laid off workers would be offered part-time positions instead. Bill White at the time said, "I could see that if I didn't move forward with these reductions, even more teammates could be negatively affected."
Cullman, AL Grievance & Subsequent Local Concert/Donations
Later in April, The Cullman Times reported that the affected workers had filed a grievance and were trying to stop the change, which affected the Cullman Food World: "We’ve filed our grievance, so we’ll hopefully have a hearing within a week or so, then the employer has 10 days to respond. After that, if they’ve not responded in favor of membership, the next step would be arbitration." A few short months later in June 2013, Belle Foods was in Cullman, Alabama, spending $50,000 by sponsoring a "Rock the South" music concert and donating to organizations such as The Link of Cullman County (Religious Non-Profit), Brooks' Place (Child Advocacy Center in Cullman) and Cullman Christian School. Rock The South occurred just a week before the company declared bankruptcy.
Additional Stores Being Sold Off/Potentially Closed
In mid-July 2013, Belle Foods filed court paperwork indicating its intention to sell off 12 more stores (9 in Mobile, AL area, 1 in Athens, AL and 2 in Mississippi). This would take Belle Foods completely out of the Mobile area. Combined with the 13 stores closing by August, this will reduce Belle Foods store numbers from 57 to just 32 - a 44% size reduction.
Unsecured Creditors Committee Formed
On July 17th 2013, it was announced that an unsecured creditors committee was formed to represent the interest of the companies Belle Foods hasn't been able to pay. Currently the committee is planned to have 11 members selected from a list of the 20 largest unsecured creditors, comprised of businesses like Coca-Cola Co., PepsiCo Inc., Buffalo Rock Co. and Nestle USA.
Belle Foods Faces $191k Bad Check Claims From Creditors, Preemptively Switches Banks
Also, on the same day (July 17), creditors from Barber’s Dairy, Purity Dairies, Brown’s Dairy, Mrs. Stratton’s Salads and Mayfield Dairy Farms filed new claims stating that Belle Foods had written $191,005.18 worth of bad checks to them - because the checks were not honored by SunTrust. Just one day before these bad check claims were filed, Belle Foods announced they are switching from SunTrust to Cadence Bank.
Belle Foods Awards/Recognition, Pre-Bankruptcy
In an ironic twist, not only was Belle Foods named "Retailer of the Year" in late 2012, its CEO, Bill White, was elected to the National Grocers Association's Board of Directors in February 2013, about four months before Belle Foods declared bankruptcy.
References
- "Contact." Belle Foods. Retrieved on October 5, 2012. "800 Lakeshore Pkwy Birmingham Alabama 35211"
- Belle Foods Finalizes Purchase Of Southern Family Markets Stores , theshelbyreport.com, July 2, 2012
- ^ Belle Foods files bankruptcy "Belle Foods files bankruptcy". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - "Ala.-based grocer looking to close 13 stores". Daytona Beach News Journal. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "Birmingham-based Belle Foods to hire 300 part-time employees and reduce its full-time workforce". AL.com. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "Food World union filing grievance over layoffs, part-time transition". Cullman Times. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "Giving Back - Rock the South". Belle Foods. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "Belle Foods wants to sell a dozen stores, mostly in Mobile". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ "Belle Foods faces bounced check claims, new creditors' committee". AL.com. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- "Birmingham-based Belle Foods named Southeast Retailer of the Year". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
- "NGA Elects Belle Foods' Bill White To Board". The Shelby Report. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
External links
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