 My name is Mark Skogen. I'm president and CEO of our company Appreciate having you all out here this morning for our groundbreaking ceremony. It's definitely an exciting day and exciting time for us to Begin with another new store here today. I was joking a little bit ago that it seems the last two stores This one being the third We had some really bad weather each time not that it's raining or anything, but cooler than it should be I think so We've been become a little bit wiser and started to put a tent around us here for these events Our store this will be number 15 being built right next to us And we should be able to open in September that is our plan as of right now It'll be somewhat the typical festival food store about 70,000 square feet is the size that we've been building as of late For those of you that have seen our store in Manitowoc. It'll be somewhat similar with a couple of changes We have kind of changed how our deli department looks. It's shopped in the round more than it is against a wall right now And we'll be doing more things along the line of being green Our store in Manitowoc does have light pipes and we'll have light pipes here as well Which allows us to turn the lights down in the store a little bit when we can get that natural light coming through And we also put doors on most all of our refrigerated cases now So typically grocery stores up to this point have sold yogurt and shredded cheese and butter without doors on those cases and we now put doors on those cases and Save some energy and really show off the product a little bit better than we used to in the past as well Sheboygan why sheboygan we often get asked, you know anytime we build a store why'd you decide? You know this location or this city We believe the site is a great site We've done market analysis as we do with any new store and our analysis shows that we can do a good amount of business here Healthy business, and I know that the question has come up over time You know is there room for another grocery store in Sheboygan well to that I always say that we wouldn't build here if we didn't think we could be healthy And we wouldn't build here if we thought somebody else needed to go out of business for us to succeed So yes, there is room for everybody In this market. It'd be a terrible bet to make to say we're going to build a store and run somebody out of business That's just not wise. That's not how we do business So I think we'll all coexist and and each have you know sort of a different niche in the market Manitowoc, you know was built a couple of years ago. So this was a natural progression for us coming down highway 43 and We like the community The size of the community You know what's going on here? It's our kind of place We get asked from time to time. Would you ever you know move to Milwaukee for example? And and that is a different animal to us, you know a city like Sheboygan feels comfortable good people I think it's got a lot of life to it and we look forward to being a part of that Give you a quick history of our company. We started back in 1946 with my grandparents They opened up about a 3,000 square foot store My dad always talks about how his house with his two brothers was connected to that grocery store There was a door between the two so they'd go in that house dribble there I'm sorry in that store dribble their basketballs around play catch ride their bikes grab What food they wanted and go back into their own house. So if you can picture groceries being done like that, you know back in 1946 It seems like an awful long time ago. We certainly wouldn't be very successful that sort of operation anymore I don't want my house connected to the store. I know that much so My mom and dad still live in the on Alaska area. That's where that store Started in in 46. I grew up there went to high school and college in the area My sister my one sister she is not active in the business right now and she lives in the Depeer area I live in the Depeer area as well. I've lived there for over 15 years now My grandma and grandpa have passed away At this point so they're not involved. My dad is the chairman of our company. So still very involved as well So a little bit about who we are again a lot of new faces here today. It might be wondering who are these people? I'll give you our five values in a quick statement about them servant leadership is very important to us Servant leadership basically means that we want to lead people in a way that removes barriers and obstacles for them So they can do their job better so they can grow It's a big topic servant leadership is but it's who we are and it's really been Important to our growth over the years Service is one of our values the boomerang theory you hear a lot about that and our advertising and our marketing That boomerang was an idea that came from a grocer in Ireland actually and what it means is that every Decision we make is based on one question. Will it bring the customer back a lot of businesses make decisions based on what's good for them What's good for the short term what how can you make a buck quick? And we understand and believe that looking long-term and being committed To a greater good is how you will be successful rather than short-term decisions So service is key to us execution is key if we say we're going to do something we're going to do it That's one of my biggest pet peeves. I don't like to you know Say we're going to have an event and have a very poor event let people down We do a pumpkin blow-up for example where we've got thousands of pumpkins in the parking lot And it's not just about selling pumpkins. It's about having fun and inflatable rides You know that some they have a petting zoo and it's just a big deal So execution of those sorts of events and anything we do is key to us Associate development is one of our values. We believe in you know helping people grow in our business a lot Of those who join us are you know their first job high school age kids and we have a great Opportunity there to bring them along and make them better when they leave than when they got here We don't want them to leave. We hope they stay forever, but you know, that is that is important to us We have a dollars for students program which helps them save for school for secondary education for college and we Match that amount that they save as well and then involvement. This is really key being involved in our communities Has been critical since back in 1946 my my grandpa was always good To those in the community Hear stories about how he used to be able to charge groceries back then just walk in and put it on your tab And quite often somebody had fallen tough times and he just forgive their Forgive their bill and so you know it meant a lot back then and it means a lot now We're involved in fireworks and a lot of our community sponsoring those giving back to nonprofit organizations is just what we do and If anything were at fault for it's not saying no enough because sooner or later you have to Make sure that The business is profitable, but we have been we've been successful and we've been able to give back We think it's the right thing to do Just want to say thank you to the city of Sheboygan This was a complicated process and at times because of you know Walmart Having been here and had some control over the building and things I want to thank Mayor Bob and the city Chad was wonderful to work with them The thing that I can say about them, you know, we get to work with a lot of cities and sometimes You might ask or request or look into something and the answer is sort of we don't do that here And I never felt that way, you know, not everything is possible. It's okay to say no But it was never closed-minded. So I appreciate what they did to get this done We have Robert Schmidt with us as well boulder venture Who will be our landlord here? In this facility and he had a lot of work to do as well to coordinate and make this all come together. So we appreciate Robert and the city of Sheboygan Also want to thank super value who is our business partner We have a couple guys from super value Jeff and Mike if you'd raise your hand super value provides us with about 50% of our groceries They are our wholesaler and we have a great partnership with them. They really help us grow It's it's crucial that those that bring you your groceries are part of the team as well And they've always been very supportive of what we do so You know in closing of what I'll say here before I'll bring up Mayor Bob is that you know We have a lot of work to do we have to earn the business that we'll have here in Sheboygan We have zero customers right now If you think about that nobody really knows us. Maybe you've been in a store in Manitowoc or in Green Bay, maybe Fond du Lac, but nobody really knows us We haven't earned anything and we know we won't be given it people Don't just show up at the store because you put a sign up and say alright I'm here to you know spend some money with you. So I think you're gonna find the shopping experience a good one in our stores Grocery shopping is a chore to most people most of you to raise your hand and say no I hate it. I don't like doing that. So how can we make it as good as possible? Enjoyable as possible through good people Like I talked about our associates a little bit. They are critical to our success. We sell a commodity 50,000 items in there. They're not that special the can of corn is the same here as it is down the street So what we'll make it better is the experience and that that really relies on the people who work with us So that's gonna be key. We'll hire about 230 here And I would say 95% of them will be folks from Sheboygan that don't work with us today Our store manager Michael P. Weiss is here. He's in the back Mike's been with us in various new stores opening a new store for us and that can be complicated in itself So we're excited to have Mike a veteran at doing that opening our store but he'll put a team of 230 together and We're looking forward to serving all of you and earning your business I want to thank my assistant Danielle some of you I wanted to raise her hand because some of you have had email correspondence with her and She organized this event today. So thank you for that as well as Steve Burkhart one of our supervisors There's Steve in the back Helped us put this together too. So So with that, thank you for coming look forward to meeting you You know, don't be afraid to reach out and you know, let us know about what's going on in the community Or an idea you have for the store or ways we can hit the ground running when we open the doors because We've got a lot of work to do and we appreciate any help and how welcome you've made us feel After a mere Bob comes up. We will go outside to do some pictures with shovels Having the confidence in these citizens of Sheboygan in our city to come here and do business with us This has been a long process We began with Robert Schmidt and Boulder Ventures several months back many months back in trying to facilitate The building of this store in Sheboygan as we all know we had a former Walmart property here and it had some deed restrictions on it and They asked us if we would assist them in getting those deed restrictions lifted As everybody said while you can't fight Walmart and we decided we give it a try anyway and Walmart was Cooperative enough to lift those deed restrictions that this could happen So that was big for us We felt that festival foods Would be the anchor of this entire complex out here this Taylor Taylor Heights complex Which one Walmart pulled out has fallen on some hard times. We thought that with festival foods here It would rejuvenate this area since then tonight at Common Council. We are signing an agreement To redevelop the rest of this complex It's going to be remodeled and it will some of these stores will be expanded and it will have the same look as The facade of the festival foods property So what we believed is going to happen this entire area will be rejuvenated We are in the process of acquiring all of the land across Taylor Drive here, which is known as the sugard farm to develop this area full more fully and To make this again a vibrant quarter for the city of Sheboygan. I'd like to also think Both Robert Schmidt and Mark Skogan right now as this building is being demolished It's being demolished by Wagner excavating a local company. It's very important to us as the new building is going up It's being constructed by Joe Schmidt Joe Schmidt construction company again a local company. It's very important to us to use local companies and to employ our local people So this is nothing that we have control over However, I asked that you know if at all possible in the bidding process if we can get some local contractors involved and these gentlemen were We're kind enough to do that and we are employing local people in this process As well as the couple hundred local people that are going to be hired to work this facility So this is a great day for the city of Sheboygan and for the citizens of Sheboygan and I think it's time to break some ground Thank you what one quick last thought here and that's what I get for going off script trying to read my notes but Schmidt construction happy to be partnered with them in this project. I can remember The mayor asking us, you know, you know, let's look at the local folks Forbidding and we've used a small handful very small handful of general contractors in the past And you get kind of picky about what you want to have who you want to work with when you build a new store And I can say that they came in and really impressed us from the get-go Everything came together nicely, you know, I would have put it at somewhat of maybe a long shot that it would work But I'm very impressed with everything I've heard and how the relationship has Has started here. So I think we were the ones who are missing out on their services over the years And it's it's just great that we've connected and we're going to do this project together So happy to be partnering up with the Schmidt team on this project. So with that, let's Head a few folks outside. Thanks everybody