Delhaize America announced Monday that Joe Hall will take early retirement from Food Lion and the Delhaize America board of directors at the end of this month.

Bill McCanless, chief executive officer of Delhaize America, has assumed the additional title of Food Lion president.

Richard A. Anicetti, executive vice president of the Hannaford Southeastern Division, will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Food Lion unit.

McCanless said Hall and Anicetti are working together for a smooth transition, which will be complete by Aug. 31.

“There are two things,”McCanless said this morning. “One is the acquisition of Hannaford is complete, and we are making sure that is a successful transition. The teams are working well together, identifying opportunities between the three companies (Hannaford, Food Lion and Kash n’ Karry) to share best practices.

“Parallel with that was Joe’s personal decision to decide this was the time to retire from the company after a very incredible career. And that was an opportunity to bring Rick into the picture.”

Hall still will serve as a consultant to the company, McCanless said.

“He has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the company, most recently in operations. And his buying career. He was a very good general manager. He’ll also help us with new things that may come up. We appreciate his willingness to make himself available.”

McCanless worked for 11 years with Hall and found Hall skilled in buying at lowest cost, “maintaining that discipline”to keep low prices for customers.

“In the early 1990s, Joe took on an operating role,” McCanless said, “and was responsible for credit cards being accepted in stores and for some stores going to 24-hour operation.”

Hall also helped people in the corporate offices understand the impact their decisions would have on the people working in the stores, McCanless said.

“He helped upgrade distribution centers by bringing in new systems back in mid ’90s that were much more efficient.

“Also in the early 1990s, when we were faced with so many challenges, Joe was a major player in re-establishing Food Lion in the marketplace,”McCanless said.

Hall joined the company in 1976 as a buyer and worked his way up to vice president of purchasing by 1988. He later became vice president of marketing and vice president of the southern and central divisions of the company.

Hall later became vice president and chief operating officer and joined the company’s board of directors in 1995. In 1999, Hall became president and chief operating officer, the No. 2 man.

Hall said his decision to leave the company was entirely voluntary.

“It really was a personal decision and one that was not taken lightly,” he said. “I was in a very senior level position with the largest employer in North Carolina. It was a decision made over a long period of time.”

At 50, Hall said, he wants to explore other interests.

“I really had to step away from the company to do that. I’m professional enough that no way I was going to try to split interests as long as I was with Food Lion.”

His average work day has been at least 12 hours, on light days, and he has worked at least six days a week, depending on “what kind of hurricanes and problems came along,” he said. Often he worked seven days a week.

“That’s not a lot of time to explore interests or be involved with community-type service,”Hall said.

“I’m very, very happy with the decision, and I am happy with the relationship I have with Bill,” he said. “I still own a lot of stock, and I have a lot of natural reasons to want the company to do well. I’ll still have a lot of contact with everything that goes on.”

First, Hall said, he is going to take a long vacation.

“I’ve worked literally night and day. The decade of the ‘90s was not kind to Food Lion or Joe Hall. I’ve worked long and hard. It’s time to recharge.”

Hall said he has no plans to leave the area, where his parents and his sister still live.

“I grew up in the town. I’m not looking to bolt from the community. As I have a chance to look around and explore, there’s a possibility I could end up someplace else.”
He has “no regrets whatsoever” over what he’s done the past 25 years, Hall said.

“I’ve had a blast over there with the company. I’ve been well paid. I’ve been in a very dynamic and very interesting industry.”

After the Hannaford deal closed and the company restructured, “frankly, I thought it was a very good stopping-off place,” he said.

People are planning some going-away parties at the office, Hall said.

“And I’ll take the consultant role very seriously. The supermarket industry is changing rapidly. It will be interesting to advise on different areas. This is not like I’m leaving under a cloud in the dark of night.”

Until now Richard Anicetti, who will become executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Food Lion unit, was executive vice president of Hannaford’s southeastern division. He joined Hannaford in 1980, and rose through the ranks. He is 42.

“Rick represents a seasoned food retailer,” McCanless said. “He will be joining a solid group of Food Lion executives. We look to him to collaborate with them and draw upon the many best practices that have helped earn Food Lion and Hannaford their deserved reputations as two of the great brand names in the food retailing marketplace today.”

Anicetti will live somewhere within commuting distance of Food Lion headquarters, McCanless said.

In the same announcement, Delhaize America said Bruce Dawson, president of Kash n’ Karry, will now report to Hugh Farrington, vice chairman of Delhaize America and chief executive officer of Hannaford.

Food Lion spokeswoman Tawn Earnest said changes in the company would not mean changes in the character of the three stores now under the Delhaize America Banner:Food Lion, Hannaford and Kash n’ Karry.

“Food Lion will remain a banner distinctly different from Hannaford,” she said. “The company’s best asset is three unique formats that cater to different populations and geographic areas. There are no plans to dilute or homogenize those formats.”