Fareway Foods CEO: "The landscape has changed dramatically" in the grocery business

Fareway Foods began as a single grocery store in Boone, Iowa in 1938.  Nearly 50 years later, in 1987, it had 47 stores--all of them in Iowa.  Now the grocery chain operates 123 stores in five Midwest states and has 12,000 employees.

Fareway CEO Reynolds Cramer told a Decorah audience Monday that as Fareway expanded beyond the borders of Iowa, potential customers were less certain about what kind of business Fareway is.  That led to Fareway's new logo emphasizing "meat + groceries" because, as Cramer says, "meat and groceries is what we do best."

Fareway now has stores in bigger cities like Omaha and Lincoln and is rolling out meat-only markets in some cities.  It is looking into more on-line options, such as on-line grocery ordering (it takes on-line orders now for its meat-only stores) and it is freshening its interiors.

Will Fareway ever be open on Sundays?  Cramer told the audience at Luther College Monday, "20 years ago I would have said 'absolutely not,' while 10 years I would have said 'probably not' and today I would say 'I hope not."

Cramer attended Luther College and while he was here, he decided he wanted to work in the family's business.  He was a store clerk at the Decorah Fareway while attending classes, then moved up through a variety of jobs at Fareway before being named president in 2014 and adding the title of CEO last year.