Foodtown (United States)

Foodtown
Company type	Cooperative
Industry	Retail (Supermarket)
Founded	1955
Founder	Twin County Grocers
Headquarters	Iselin, New Jersey, United States
Area served	Northeastern United States (New Jersey, New York, Connecticut)
Products	Foodtown-branded merchandise, groceries
Parent	Allegiance Retail Services
Website	foodtown.com

Foodtown is a supermarket cooperative located in the northeastern region of the United States, established in 1955 by Twin County Grocers in New Jersey. The cooperative encompasses 66 independently owned stores throughout New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, with its corporate headquarters situated in Iselin, New Jersey. Individual proprietors operate each Foodtown outlet, with some managing more than one location. Allegiance Retail Services, the parent organization, provides Foodtown-branded merchandise and extends support to other independent grocers outside of the Foodtown network.

History

During the 1980s and 1990s, Foodtown held a prominent position as a leading grocer on Long Island and in New Jersey. By 1994, under the leadership of CEO Martin Vitale, Twin County Grocers supplied merchandise to 165 Foodtown stores, generating wholesale revenues exceeding $1 billion. Among these stores, Mayfair Supermarkets and Melmarkets controlled 45 locations, making them the largest stakeholders in the cooperative.

The mid-1990s brought two significant challenges that jeopardized Foodtown’s existence. In 1995, Dutch retail giant Ahold purchased all 45 stores operated by Melmarkets and Mayfair, converting them into Edwards Super Food Stores outlets. This acquisition resulted in the loss of nearly half of Twin County Grocers’ distribution volume, inflicting substantial financial strain. Shortly thereafter, an embezzlement scandal involving executives at Twin County’s corporate level surfaced.

By 1998, the combined effects of Ahold’s acquisition and internal embezzlement led Twin County Grocers to file for bankruptcy, causing numerous Foodtown stores to either close or rebrand under different names. CEO Martin Vitale later admitted guilt to charges of misappropriating $4.2 million from the cooperative and bribing a union official. The cooperative ultimately ceased operations at its supply warehouse in 2004.

In 2006, a franchisee affiliated with Foodtown purchased several former Winn-Dixie supermarket sites in southeast Florida during a bankruptcy auction; two locations in West Palm Beach and Davie operated under the Foodtown name but are not featured on the official website.

In 2012, multiple independent grocer cooperatives joined forces to establish Allegiance Retail Services, with Foodtown as its largest founding member. Allegiance oversees advertising, marketing initiatives, technology support, supplier contract negotiations, and produces Foodtown-branded products for all members within the cooperative.

On February 10, 2016, Allegiance acquired Pathmark’s intellectual property—including trademarks and logos—through a bankruptcy auction and subsequently reopened a single Pathmark store located in Brooklyn.

On October 16, 2018, the Foodtown location in Denville, New Jersey—managed by the Dickerson family for more than five decades—shut its doors after over one hundred years of continuous operation at that site.

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