Keith Wyche need only look at the title of the book he wrote — "Good Is Not Enough" — to get a sense of the challenges he faces at Cub Foods.
Wyche became Cub's president in January, taking the reins of a grocer that far outpaces its Twin Cities competitors in terms of market share. In fact, Eden Prairie-based Supervalu, which owns Cub, has few other chains nationally with as much local market muscle.
But like conventional grocery stores across the nation, Cub is under increasing and intense pressure from discount chains, in Cub's case SuperTarget and Wal-Mart. While Supervalu doesn't release sales data for Cub or any of its regional chains, the company broadly speaking has seen steep drops in sales in recent quarters, some of which stems from losing customers to rivals.
"Customers have a lot more choices where they shop," Wyche acknowledged. But "the Cub brand really resonates in this area."
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Photo by Glen Stubbe, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune