Bruno's Supermarkets
Encyclopedia
Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC is an American chain
of grocery stores founded in 1932 by Joe Bruno in Birmingham, Alabama
. It previously operated over 230 stores under the names Bruno’s, Food World, Foodmax, Food Fair, Fresh Value, Vincent's Markets, Piggly Wiggly
, Consumer Foods, and American Fare in Alabama
, Florida
, Georgia
, Mississippi
, Tennessee
, and South Carolina
. The 31 Bruno's and Food World stores that were still operating following the last Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing were sold to Southern Family Markets
, which is a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers
.
As of January 1, 2010, Southern Family Markets
will operate 35 stores under the Bruno's and Food World banners, in addition to stores that Southern Family Markets currently operates under the Southern Family Markets and Piggly Wiggly
banners.
. According to the 1983 book Joe: The Fiftieth Anniversary of Bruno’s Food Stores by Pat Dunbar, “the store would have fit into a modern day meat cooler.” The company grew steadily, with ten stores in place during the 1950s, and 29 stores open under the Bruno's name when it became a publicly traded company in 1971. In 1972, Bruno’s opened its discount grocery chain, Food World, which was followed by warehouse-oriented Consumer Foods. As Food World and Consumer Foods became more profitable, the old Bruno’s stores began to be phased out. Consumer Foods was replaced by Food Fair in 1983, and in 1984 Bruno's opened its first Foodmax stores.
On December 11 of 1991, the nearly $3 billion dollar company suffered a catastrophic blow when one of its two corporate jets crashed into Lavender Mountain in Rome, Georgia
killing all 9 passengers. The Chairman along with a founder of the company, and several executive officers were aboard at the time of the crash. The crash caused a large outpouring of grief among the Birmingham metropolitan community
due to the family and the company's well-known philanthropic contributions. The Bruno's Classic, a PGA Seniors Tour (noe Champions Tour
) tournament which was announced just prior to the crash, was renamed the Bruno's Memorial Classic
.
The 1990s also saw the reintroduction of the Bruno’s banner on stores, this time as Bruno’s Supercenters and Bruno’s Food and Pharmacy, both of which were upper-class stores. In 1996, Bruno's began converting its Foodmax stores to the Bruno's banner in the Nashville, Tennessee
market, including the construction of several new stores to replace smaller, aging ones. Before the process was complete (some stores carried Foodmax signage on the outside and Bruno's signage inside), the company sold these stores to Albertsons, which finished construction, but spent less than 4 years in the market before shuttering all of its Nashville-area locations (most of which later became Publix
).
Another concept, the upscale Vincent's Market, was tried in a one-location experiment in Homewood, Alabama
. The experimental store featured a wide variety of prepared foods such as seafood, bakery goods and take-out meals as well as regular grocery sales. Around 2000, Vincent's Market was converted to the Bruno's nameplate (though it was largely unchanged otherwise), and the Vincent's Market name was applied to the deli/bakery departments in all existing Bruno's stores.
In 1995, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a leveraged buyout
firm. That acquisition was ill-fated, as the company's debt structure combined with management missteps and increased competition from Wal-Mart Supercenters to drive it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2000 after closing a number of unprofitable stores, but acquiring three new stores from the Gregerson's chain in and around Gadsden, Alabama
. The company was sold in December 2001 to Ahold
, a Dutch corporation, who then combined it with Bi-Lo. The new management struggled as well, and in 2005, Ahold finally sold the combined operation to Lone Star Funds
, a private investment company which also owns Captain D's
and Shoney's
restaurant
s. Lone Star then sold some stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers
, which operated the new stores under its Southern Family Markets
affiliate for a time but closed most of the acquired stores in 2007. C&S Wholesale also is the primary supplier for Bruno's which derives from the agreement between Lone Star and C&S. C&S would own and operate the logistics and warehouse while Lone Star would own and operate the stores.
On March 20, 2007, Lone Star Funds announced it had spun out Bruno's from BI-LO creating a separate corporate entity. Seven unprofitable stores were closed as a result of this transaction.
At the beginning of 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets operated 23 Bruno's stores, 41 Food World stores, and 2 Foodmax stores in Northport
and Oxford
. The Foodmax stores were operated the same way as Food World stores with their name being the only discernible difference. The two Foodmax stores were tied to labor agreements with the UFCW union, which prevented any name change to the stores. The employees in these stores wore "Food World" uniforms, and the signage in the stores used the Food World banner. Both of these stores were closed following the company's sale to Southern Family Markets
.
In October 2008, Bruno's announced plans to close 22 of their 40 in-store pharmacies "because of their consistently low performance over the last several years and the lack of prospect for turning them around." This left Bruno's with 18 in-store pharmacies within the 66 stores they ran at the time. All inventories and records were sold to CVS/pharmacy, and all employees were either offered severance packages or employment with CVS.
In December 2008 the corporate offices were moved to International Park office park located in Hoover, Alabama. This move left the former Bruno's headquarters located on Lakeshore Parkway in Birmingham totally in the hands of C&S Wholesale Grocers
who acquired the building in 2005 as part of purchasing the former logistics operations and warehouse previously owned by Bruno's. C&S has been trying to sell or lease the office space since 2005 but has not been able to secure a tenant.
As of June 2009, Bruno's ceased to exist as a going business concern with 31 of its locations being absorbed into the Southern Family Markets
chain. As a requirement of the sale agreement, Bruno's has petitioned the bankruptcy court to change its name to BFW Liquidations, LLC. Southern Family Markets
has purchased the rights to the banners of Bruno's, Food World, Food Fair, Food Max, and Vincent's Markets, and will no longer allow Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC to operate under any name which contains any of those banners.
Southern Family Markets
has stated that they intend to continue the use of the Bruno's and Food World banners, and will not convert any of the stores to the Southern Family Markets banner.
golf
tournament
, a regular stop on the PGA
Champions Tour
. The "memorial" in the tournament name honors Lee and Angelo Bruno, brothers of founder Joe Bruno and founders of the tournament; they were killed in an airplane crash shortly after the tournament was announced in 1991. The first tournament was played the following year at Greystone Golf & Country Club
in Hoover, Alabama
.
With the Bruno's downsizing in 2005, the company was no longer willing to shoulder the entire cost of sponsorship for the tournament. Regions Financial Corporation took over as the title sponsor with Bruno's as a "presenting sponsor" for 2006 thru 2008 and the event moved to the new Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa
, a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
course in Hoover.
Ronnie Bruno
, son of Angelo Bruno, continues to serve as chairman of the tournament. Additionally, the group that managed the tournament, run by Ronnie Bruno and Gene Hallman, later became a full-time event-management company known as the Bruno Event Team. The team runs a wide variety of events, mostly sports-related, including many championships for the Southeastern Conference
. (Bruno himself is no longer associated with Bruno's Supermarkets, nor are any other Bruno family members.)
On January 30, 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets LLC confirmed that it would no longer be a presenting sponsor of the golf tournament thus ending its 17 year association with the event.
proceedings. The company planned to continue business as usual for the duration of the bankruptcy. The company retained the advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal to assist in the bankruptcy process. President and CEO Kent Moore resigned and the Company appointed Jim Grady, Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal, as Chief Restructuring Officer.
On February 18, 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets LLC applied to the bankruptcy court for permission to close 10 stores. These included 4 in the Birmingham area and 5 in the Montgomery-Auburn area. They also informed the court that 30 corporate office positions were being eliminated. This amounts to 15% of the store count and about 30% of the corporate office positions. They also asked the court for permission to hire a closeout firm to oversee the sell down and closing of the 10 closing stores. These 10 locations were closed by March 31, 2009.
On March 9, 2009, Bruno's filed a motion in bankruptcy court requesting approval to renegotiate its agreement with UFCW Local 1657. Bruno's announced its intent to sell some or all of its stores, and is seeking to remove the successorship clause from its contracts. The successorship clause requires any acquirer of the company or any of its stores to agree, as a term of the sale, to honor the collective bargaining agreements which are currently in place. The removal of this clause was hoped to make the company more marketable to potential buyers who said they would not buy the company or any stores if they were required to honor the collective bargaining agreements. The court ruled on April 27 that the successorship clause and the rest of the collective bargaining agreements would remain intact.
A court-ordered auction of Bruno's assets was held on April 29, 2009. The auction continued into the day on April 30. A hearing on the sale was held on May 4. Court documents show that Southern Family Markets
, a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers
, was the only bidder for a significant number of stores. Southern Family Markets took possession of 57 locations (56 active stores plus one recently closed location). They elected to operate 31 of those, and turn over the remaining 25 open locations to Hilco Liquidators for "going out of business" sales. All of the 25 closing stores were closed by May 31, 2009.
Chain store
Chain stores are retail outlets that share a brand and central management, and usually have standardized business methods and practices. These characteristics also apply to chain restaurants and some service-oriented chain businesses. In retail, dining and many service categories, chain businesses...
of grocery stores founded in 1932 by Joe Bruno in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. It previously operated over 230 stores under the names Bruno’s, Food World, Foodmax, Food Fair, Fresh Value, Vincent's Markets, Piggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly is a supermarket chain operating in the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire....
, Consumer Foods, and American Fare in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. The 31 Bruno's and Food World stores that were still operating following the last Chapter 11 Bankruptcy filing were sold to Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
, which is a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items. With its headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the twelfth-largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2008 by Forbes. , they are the eighth-largest such company...
.
As of January 1, 2010, Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
will operate 35 stores under the Bruno's and Food World banners, in addition to stores that Southern Family Markets currently operates under the Southern Family Markets and Piggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly
Piggly Wiggly is a supermarket chain operating in the Midwestern and Southern regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire....
banners.
History
The company began as a market opened by Joseph Bruno in Birmingham, Alabama during the Great DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. According to the 1983 book Joe: The Fiftieth Anniversary of Bruno’s Food Stores by Pat Dunbar, “the store would have fit into a modern day meat cooler.” The company grew steadily, with ten stores in place during the 1950s, and 29 stores open under the Bruno's name when it became a publicly traded company in 1971. In 1972, Bruno’s opened its discount grocery chain, Food World, which was followed by warehouse-oriented Consumer Foods. As Food World and Consumer Foods became more profitable, the old Bruno’s stores began to be phased out. Consumer Foods was replaced by Food Fair in 1983, and in 1984 Bruno's opened its first Foodmax stores.
On December 11 of 1991, the nearly $3 billion dollar company suffered a catastrophic blow when one of its two corporate jets crashed into Lavender Mountain in Rome, Georgia
Rome, Georgia
Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Rome is the largest city and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. It is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Floyd County...
killing all 9 passengers. The Chairman along with a founder of the company, and several executive officers were aboard at the time of the crash. The crash caused a large outpouring of grief among the Birmingham metropolitan community
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
due to the family and the company's well-known philanthropic contributions. The Bruno's Classic, a PGA Seniors Tour (noe Champions Tour
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...
) tournament which was announced just prior to the crash, was renamed the Bruno's Memorial Classic
Regions Charity Classic
The Regions Charity Classic, formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, was an American golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was held at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, one of ten courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, located in Hoover, Alabama . The tournament was founded in...
.
The 1990s also saw the reintroduction of the Bruno’s banner on stores, this time as Bruno’s Supercenters and Bruno’s Food and Pharmacy, both of which were upper-class stores. In 1996, Bruno's began converting its Foodmax stores to the Bruno's banner in the Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
market, including the construction of several new stores to replace smaller, aging ones. Before the process was complete (some stores carried Foodmax signage on the outside and Bruno's signage inside), the company sold these stores to Albertsons, which finished construction, but spent less than 4 years in the market before shuttering all of its Nashville-area locations (most of which later became Publix
Publix
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...
).
Another concept, the upscale Vincent's Market, was tried in a one-location experiment in Homewood, Alabama
Homewood, Alabama
Homewood is a city in southeastern Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. It is a suburb of Birmingham, located on the other side of Red Mountain due south of the city center. It has one of the highest population densities in Alabama. As of 2009 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the...
. The experimental store featured a wide variety of prepared foods such as seafood, bakery goods and take-out meals as well as regular grocery sales. Around 2000, Vincent's Market was converted to the Bruno's nameplate (though it was largely unchanged otherwise), and the Vincent's Market name was applied to the deli/bakery departments in all existing Bruno's stores.
In 1995, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), a leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
firm. That acquisition was ill-fated, as the company's debt structure combined with management missteps and increased competition from Wal-Mart Supercenters to drive it into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2000 after closing a number of unprofitable stores, but acquiring three new stores from the Gregerson's chain in and around Gadsden, Alabama
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
. The company was sold in December 2001 to Ahold
Ahold
Ahold is a major international supermarket operator based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Ahold is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.-History:...
, a Dutch corporation, who then combined it with Bi-Lo. The new management struggled as well, and in 2005, Ahold finally sold the combined operation to Lone Star Funds
Lone Star Funds
Lone Star Funds is a worldwide private equity firm based in Dallas, Texas, that specializes in purchasing distressed companies and assets, often well-known consumer brands that have seen better times or gone through financial difficulties due to leveraged buy-outs...
, a private investment company which also owns Captain D's
Captain D's
Captain D’s is a U.S.-based chain of fast-food restaurants, specializing in seafood and fish and chips. The restaurant also features a low-carbohydrate menu. The restaurant chain's headquarters is located in Nashville, Tennessee....
and Shoney's
Shoney's
Shoney’s is a privately held restaurant chain that operates primarily in the Southeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic states and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. It is named after Alex Schoenbaum, who was the owner of the original chain of Big Boy restaurants in the southeastern United States...
restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...
s. Lone Star then sold some stores to C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items. With its headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the twelfth-largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2008 by Forbes. , they are the eighth-largest such company...
, which operated the new stores under its Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
affiliate for a time but closed most of the acquired stores in 2007. C&S Wholesale also is the primary supplier for Bruno's which derives from the agreement between Lone Star and C&S. C&S would own and operate the logistics and warehouse while Lone Star would own and operate the stores.
On March 20, 2007, Lone Star Funds announced it had spun out Bruno's from BI-LO creating a separate corporate entity. Seven unprofitable stores were closed as a result of this transaction.
At the beginning of 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets operated 23 Bruno's stores, 41 Food World stores, and 2 Foodmax stores in Northport
Northport, Alabama
Northport is a city in Tuscaloosa County in the west central part of the U.S. state of Alabama. Located on the Black Warrior River across from downtown Tuscaloosa, it is currently the 24th largest city in Alabama with an estimated population of 23,442 in 2009...
and Oxford
Oxford, Alabama
Oxford is a city in Calhoun and Talladega counties in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population was 14,592 at the 2000 census. Oxford is one of two principal cities of and included in the Anniston-Oxford Metropolitan Statistical Area...
. The Foodmax stores were operated the same way as Food World stores with their name being the only discernible difference. The two Foodmax stores were tied to labor agreements with the UFCW union, which prevented any name change to the stores. The employees in these stores wore "Food World" uniforms, and the signage in the stores used the Food World banner. Both of these stores were closed following the company's sale to Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
.
In October 2008, Bruno's announced plans to close 22 of their 40 in-store pharmacies "because of their consistently low performance over the last several years and the lack of prospect for turning them around." This left Bruno's with 18 in-store pharmacies within the 66 stores they ran at the time. All inventories and records were sold to CVS/pharmacy, and all employees were either offered severance packages or employment with CVS.
In December 2008 the corporate offices were moved to International Park office park located in Hoover, Alabama. This move left the former Bruno's headquarters located on Lakeshore Parkway in Birmingham totally in the hands of C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items. With its headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the twelfth-largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2008 by Forbes. , they are the eighth-largest such company...
who acquired the building in 2005 as part of purchasing the former logistics operations and warehouse previously owned by Bruno's. C&S has been trying to sell or lease the office space since 2005 but has not been able to secure a tenant.
As of June 2009, Bruno's ceased to exist as a going business concern with 31 of its locations being absorbed into the Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
chain. As a requirement of the sale agreement, Bruno's has petitioned the bankruptcy court to change its name to BFW Liquidations, LLC. Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
has purchased the rights to the banners of Bruno's, Food World, Food Fair, Food Max, and Vincent's Markets, and will no longer allow Bruno's Supermarkets, LLC to operate under any name which contains any of those banners.
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
has stated that they intend to continue the use of the Bruno's and Food World banners, and will not convert any of the stores to the Southern Family Markets banner.
Golf tournament
Bruno's was the chief corporate sponsor for many years of the Bruno's Memorial ClassicRegions Charity Classic
The Regions Charity Classic, formerly known as the Bruno's Memorial Classic, was an American golf tournament on the Champions Tour. It was held at Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa, one of ten courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail, located in Hoover, Alabama . The tournament was founded in...
golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
tournament
Tournament
A tournament is a competition involving a relatively large number of competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses:...
, a regular stop on the PGA
Professional Golfers' Association of America
Founded in 1916, the Professional Golfers' Association of America is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and is made up of more than 28,000 men and women golf professional members...
Champions Tour
Champions Tour
The Champions Tour, a golf tour run by the PGA Tour, hosts a series of events annually in the United States and the United Kingdom for golfers 50 years of age and older. Many of the PGA Tour's most successful golfers have gone on to play on the Champions Tour.The Senior PGA Championship, founded in...
. The "memorial" in the tournament name honors Lee and Angelo Bruno, brothers of founder Joe Bruno and founders of the tournament; they were killed in an airplane crash shortly after the tournament was announced in 1991. The first tournament was played the following year at Greystone Golf & Country Club
Greystone Golf & Country Club
Greystone Golf & Country Club is a private, 36-hole golf club located just outside Birmingham, Alabama, United States, in the suburb of Hoover, Alabama. The two courses are known as The Founders Course and the The Legacy Course . The Legacy Course is currently ranked #89 in Golf Week's ...
in Hoover, Alabama
Hoover, Alabama
Hoover is a city in Jefferson and Shelby Counties in north central Alabama, in the United States. The largest suburb of Birmingham, the population of the city was 62,742 as of the 2000 census and 81,619 in the 2010 census. Hoover is part of the Birmingham-Hoover, AL MSA and is also included in the...
.
With the Bruno's downsizing in 2005, the company was no longer willing to shoulder the entire cost of sponsorship for the tournament. Regions Financial Corporation took over as the title sponsor with Bruno's as a "presenting sponsor" for 2006 thru 2008 and the event moved to the new Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa
Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa
The Renaissance Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Spa is a 259-room resort, providing fine dining, a championship golf course, and equipped with a full service spa. In addition there is approximately of indoor/outdoor meeting space. The hotel is managed by PCH Hotels and Resorts, Inc...
, a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail
The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail is a collection of championship caliber golf courses, designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr., distributed across the state of Alabama, as part of investments by the Retirement Systems of Alabama. The Trail started with 378 holes at eight sites throughout the state,...
course in Hoover.
Ronnie Bruno
Ronnie Bruno
Ronald G. Bruno is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bruno's, Inc., a large Birmingham, Alabama-based supermarket chain. He is a co-founder and chairman of the Bruno Event Team, a Birmingham, Alabama-based sports marketing and event management company...
, son of Angelo Bruno, continues to serve as chairman of the tournament. Additionally, the group that managed the tournament, run by Ronnie Bruno and Gene Hallman, later became a full-time event-management company known as the Bruno Event Team. The team runs a wide variety of events, mostly sports-related, including many championships for the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
. (Bruno himself is no longer associated with Bruno's Supermarkets, nor are any other Bruno family members.)
On January 30, 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets LLC confirmed that it would no longer be a presenting sponsor of the golf tournament thus ending its 17 year association with the event.
Bankruptcy
On February 5, 2009, Bruno's announced plans to enter into Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganisationChapter 11, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 11 is a chapter of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Chapter 11 bankruptcy is available to every business, whether organized as a corporation or sole proprietorship, and to individuals, although it is most...
proceedings. The company planned to continue business as usual for the duration of the bankruptcy. The company retained the advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal to assist in the bankruptcy process. President and CEO Kent Moore resigned and the Company appointed Jim Grady, Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal, as Chief Restructuring Officer.
On February 18, 2009, Bruno's Supermarkets LLC applied to the bankruptcy court for permission to close 10 stores. These included 4 in the Birmingham area and 5 in the Montgomery-Auburn area. They also informed the court that 30 corporate office positions were being eliminated. This amounts to 15% of the store count and about 30% of the corporate office positions. They also asked the court for permission to hire a closeout firm to oversee the sell down and closing of the 10 closing stores. These 10 locations were closed by March 31, 2009.
On March 9, 2009, Bruno's filed a motion in bankruptcy court requesting approval to renegotiate its agreement with UFCW Local 1657. Bruno's announced its intent to sell some or all of its stores, and is seeking to remove the successorship clause from its contracts. The successorship clause requires any acquirer of the company or any of its stores to agree, as a term of the sale, to honor the collective bargaining agreements which are currently in place. The removal of this clause was hoped to make the company more marketable to potential buyers who said they would not buy the company or any stores if they were required to honor the collective bargaining agreements. The court ruled on April 27 that the successorship clause and the rest of the collective bargaining agreements would remain intact.
A court-ordered auction of Bruno's assets was held on April 29, 2009. The auction continued into the day on April 30. A hearing on the sale was held on May 4. Court documents show that Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets
Southern Family Markets, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, is a chain of American supermarkets owned and operated by C&S Wholesale Grocers, a distributor based in Keene, New Hampshire. The chain is operated as an affiliate of C&S...
, a subsidiary of C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers
C&S Wholesale Grocers is a wholesale distributor of food and grocery store items. With its headquarters in Keene, New Hampshire, C&S is the twelfth-largest privately held company in the United States, as listed in 2008 by Forbes. , they are the eighth-largest such company...
, was the only bidder for a significant number of stores. Southern Family Markets took possession of 57 locations (56 active stores plus one recently closed location). They elected to operate 31 of those, and turn over the remaining 25 open locations to Hilco Liquidators for "going out of business" sales. All of the 25 closing stores were closed by May 31, 2009.