Market Basket drama — Deli, devotion & doughnuts: Why we care so much

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a day ago

There's an old joke in politics that the most dangerous place on Earth is the space between an elected official and a microphone.
If you live and work in the Greater Boston area, the second-most dangerous place just might be your local Market Basket on a Sunday morning in October when the Patriots are playing and the cider doughnuts are in the warmer.
Throngs of customers, usually in team colors, barrel down the wide aisles, bobbing in and out of traffic with all the subtlety of drivers on the Southeast Expressway at rush hour.
Their carts are filled with burgers, dogs, the key components for Italian subs from the deli aisle, buns and rolls, chips and drinks.
Townie accents cut through the din.
The regional chain is beloved for its low prices and wide selection. And while everyone has their favorite supermarket, the loyalty that Market Basket inspires is just next level.
'If you're not grocery shopping at Market Basket, you are getting ripped off,' one Reddit user asserted a few months back.
The response they engendered was ... well ... passionate. The post garnered over 1,000 likes and 674 comments, prompting its author to marvel at the reaction.
'Wow, this really blew up!' they wrote. 'I have been to just one MB store and it's extremely well run, efficient, and while busy, everyone seems to act like rational humans.'
And that loyalty can go back years — as evidenced by a review posted by one Yelp user.
'Over the years (I am now approaching 80), I have shopped at numerous supermarkets. I give the store high praise for its cleanliness, well-stocked shelves, and friendly, helpful staff,' they wrote.
'Prices are good when compared to other local food markets. When checking out, in almost all cases, there are people to bag the food. The prepared food section offers a wide selection of choices at great prices,' they continued. 'Need specialized meet cuts? Just ask. Hard to understand the criticism raised by others. The fresh orange is a plus.'
What criticism? It's ... measured, at best,
'All staff are very helpful all the time,' another Yelp user wrote. 'Hard to get down the aisle sometimes with the [stockers]. [It] helps keep everything in [stock] during the day, though.'
Given all that, it's not surprising to find out (or maybe it is) that ongoing drama surrounding the company's leadership has provoked equally passionate debate.
The question is: Why? And we'll get to that in a minute. But first, a quick primer, in case you're not up to speed.
In late May, the Tewksbury-based company's executive committee put its CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas, popularly known as 'Artie T,' on paid leave.
That's to differentiate him from his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, or 'Artie S,' who successfully pushed Arthur T. Demoulas out as CEO in June 2014.
That led to a summer of discontent, punctuated by worker protests and shopper boycotts that saw 'Artie T.' restored to his perch atop the company in August of that same year.
Officials justified the latest move by saying they were investigating whether Arthur T. Demoulas was considering leading a work stoppage that could potentially disrupt the business, The Boston Globe reported.
In a statement to the Globe, a spokesperson for Demoulas said he'd been ousted by his three sisters, all of whom are shareholders in the chain and three appointed board members.
Demoulas's daughter, Madeleine, and his son, Telemachus, also were placed on leave, along with several others, the spokesperson told The Globe.
And then ...
Earlier this month, two long-serving executives, operations manager Joe Schmidt and grocery supervisor Tom Gordon, were sacked.
Like Demoulas, they'd earlier been put on paid leave amid concerns that they were trying to organize a work stoppage in the hopes of protecting their boss from losing his position, MassLive previously reported.
Gordon and Schmidt, meanwhile, charged that they were given the hook as part of an effort to silence employees who oppose changes that the board and some company shareholders want to make to the company.
If all this sounds too 'Succession' for words, that's because it is.
And just like the popular HBO show, Market Basket's very passionate customers are also tied up in the corporate drama.
Again, back to Reddit.
'I don't understand what's happening with Market Basket, and I'm almost too afraid to ask,' one user asked not too long ago.
Their fellow Redditors, however, were more than happy to fill in the blanks, responding in a thread that stretched to 132 comments.
But again: Why? Why the loyalty?
These marketing and public relations experts know exactly why.
'It's going the path less traveled. It's the everyman of supermarket brands,' Bobbie Carlton, the founder of Lexington-based Carlton PR & Marketing, said. 'When you think that, for years, they didn't have a website. You think about the [in-house music] playlist, which has become TikTok famous.
'Market Basket is a stand-in for you, the average person,' she continued. 'What do we all want? We all want to be liked. We all want people to think well of us.'
Marlo Fogelman, the founder and CEO of Marlo Marketing which has offices in Boston and New York, offered a similar sentiment.
'The same principles of hospitality that apply to any consumer-facing business [apply] to the grocery business. People think of 'hospitality' as mostly aligned with businesses like restaurants, hotels, etc.," she said. 'But any consumer-facing brand has the opportunity to be a hospitality-forward brand, and ultimately, hospitality drives loyalty.'
Bottom line, that's a 'feeling of being welcome, of having a consistent high-quality experience, great vibe, great service, value for what you're getting, feeling like you belong there,' she continued.
'Especially in the grocery store space, I believe that the personal touches that Market Basket offers as compared to other stores – such as the fact that none of the stores have self-checkout lanes and instead choose to keep their stores fully staffed with human cashiers and baggers, along with everything else they're known for — fosters that loyalty," Fogelman said.
Carlton, meanwhile, is something of a confessed Market Basket fan, as well. Her home base in Lexington is midway between the chain's stores in Waltham and Burlington.
Her two grown sons love the 'Mystery Shelf' of day-old baked goods. Friday nights are set aside for Market Basket-brand frozen pizza. Don't get her going on the cider doughnuts.
And then there's the bucket. A 5-gallon Market Basket brand bucket that she uses to brine her Thanksgiving turkeys. It's embossed with 'Demoulas' on the side of it.
'I think all New Englanders hope that internal fighting stops and that things return to normal, she said. 'And status quo is normal. We don't like change here in New England. That's a part of it. And when you have a good thing, why would you want it to change?
And after all that, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel.
In a statement released Tuesday, Demoulas said through a spokesperson that he and the company are set to air their differences before a mediator on Sept. 3.
The goal?
'Avoiding litigation and reaching a quicker and amicable resolution that is in the best interest of Market Basket's associates, customers and the communities it serves.'
And it might even be wrapped up before the cider doughnuts hit.
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