Dive Brief:
- Alimentation Couche-Tard has hired Dan Larmondra as U.S. head of food merchandising, effective March 23, Larmondra confirmed to C-Store Dive on Monday.
- Larmondra said he’ll be spearheading Circle K’s fresh food merchandising operations as the convenience retailer ramps up this side of the business. He joins after 12 years in the food and merchandising divisions at discount retailer Family Dollar, according to his LinkedIn bio.
- Couche-Tard is making several changes to its fresh food operations as it looks to grow food revenues at four times the pace of merchandise revenues in the U.S.
Dive Insight:
Larmondra’s hiring comes just a few weeks after Couche-Tard promoted company veteran Trey Powell to senior vice president of food and retail for its U.S. business, a role in which he also leads merchandising functions. Larmondra said he is part of the “new expanded team structure” that Powell is overseeing.
Larmondra added that his role is newly created and that he’s “immediately looking to fill several director and [category management] roles” to support Couche-Tard’s “aggressive growth plans” in foodservice.
Not only does Larmondra’s hiring coincide with Couche-Tard’s lofty foodservice revenue goal, but he joins shortly after the retailer saw its strongest U.S. same-store merchandise sales performance in over two calendar years last quarter. The growth was primarily driven by foodservice, especially Circle K’s meal deals program, executives said during Couche-Tard’s earnings call last week.
Representatives from Couche-Tard did not respond by press time when asked to comment on Larmondra’s hiring.
Larmondra’s most recent role at Family Dollar was vice president of food and beverage merchandising, which he held for three years, according to his LinkedIn bio. He was VP of household essentials merchandising for three years before that, and spent six years as director of food and beverage merchandising and category management earlier in his tenure with the company.
Earlier in his career, Larmondra spent eight years on the category management team at Delhaize America, the U.S. grocery division of the Amsterdam-based supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize. He also spent three years as a category management analyst with popular c-store foodservice vendor Rich Products.
