“Our thoughts and prayers have continually been with the family members and comrades of the servicemen whose lives were so tragically taken protecting our great nation,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City President and Chief Executive Officer.  “We hope in some small way to honor their ultimate sacrifice, along with the Chattanooga community, who so valiantly rose from this unspeakable tragedy.”

Eastman Road (Kingsport, TN) Food City Store Manager, Mark Hubbard will serve as the Honorary Starter.  Hubbard was recently named Store Manager of the Year by Food Marketing Institute (FMI). 
FMI is the largest trade association of its kind, representing the interest of its membership and offering a broad range of services to independent grocers and wholesalers. 

FMI’s annual awards program recognizes supermarket store managers from throughout the United States and abroad for their “exceptional service to customers, employees and the community using innovative initiatives that contribute to company success.”  The top 10 finalists were recognized earlier this year at the industry’s FMI Connect leadership conference in Chicago.  From those finalists, Hubbard was named the overall grand-prize winner for his category (supermarket chains with 50-199 stores).

“Food City is dedicated to providing our customers with exceptional customer service and exceeding their expectations,” said Smith.  “Mark is extremely passionate about serving our customers and his community.  He is a tremendous asset to our company and the region as a whole and we couldn’t be prouder of his much deserved honor.”  

Food City is Bristol Motor Speedway’s longest running sponsor and the second longest in NASCAR.  The Food City 300 gets under way at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 21, 2015.  Qualifying for the event takes place at 3:45 p.m. on Friday.  Tickets are still available and may be purchased at www.bristoltix.com or by calling the BMS ticket office at 423-BRISTOL (274-7865).

Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. (Food City’s parent company) currently operates 104 retail supermarkets throughout the tri-state regions of Southeast Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee.  The company just recently acquired 29 BI-LO supermarkets in Chattanooga, TN and north Georgia.