Food Lion
Food Lion's logo since 2014 | |
| Formerly | Food Town (1957–1983) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | December 12, 1957 |
| Founder | Wilson Smith, Ralph Ketner, and Brown Ketner |
| Headquarters | Salisbury, North Carolina, United States |
Number of locations | 1,103 |
Area served | Mid Atlantic, South Atlantic |
Key people | Meg Ham, President Greg Finchum, Sr. Vice President Karen Fernald, Sr. Vice President, |
| Products | Grocery, Produce, Meat, Seafood, Dairy, Deli, Bakery, Health and Beauty, Pharmacy, Drive-Thru Grocery Pickup, Beer, Wine |
Number of employees | 88,000+ |
| Parent | Ahold Delhaize |
| Website | www |
Food Lion is an American regional supermarket chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1100 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States (Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia). The chain employs over 85,000 people. It was founded in 1957 as Food Town, a single grocery store in Salisbury. It later expanded to many locations across North Carolina. It was independently operated until it was acquired by the Belgium-based conglomerate Delhaize Group in 1974. In 1983, the company changed its name and branding to Food Lion to allow it to expand into regions where Food Town was already in use by unrelated stores. Following further mergers and acquisitions, Food Lion, LLC is currently owned by Ahold Delhaize. The mascot’s name has been Leo the Food Lion since January 17, 1997.