Delhaize Group SA (, ) was a Belgian multinational retail company headquartered in

Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (French language, French, ) or (Dutch language, Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western p ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and operated in seven countries and on three continents. The principal activity of Delhaize Group was the operation of food supermarkets. On 24 June 2015, Delhaize reached an agreement with Ahold to merge and form a new parent/holding company headquartered in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Ahold Delhaize Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (in Dutch language, Dutch literally "Royal Ahold Delhaize"), commonly known as Ahold Delhaize, is a Dutch-Belgian multinational retail and wholesale holding company. Its name comes from the 2016 merger of two comp ...

History

Delhaize was founded near

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

, Belgium, in 1867 by Jules Delhaize and his brothers Auguste, Edouard and Adolphe. He was helped in this endeavor by his future brother-in-law, Jules Vieujant. For their new shop, they chose the lion, the symbol of strength, as their logo. They also chose a motto: unity is strength. In 2005, Delhaize Group completed the acquisition of the Belgian supermarket chain Cash Fresh for 118.6 million euros. Delhaize paid an additional 51 million euros to acquire real estate assets of Cash Fresh. As of 31 December 2014, Delhaize Group had a sales network (which includes directly operated, franchised, and affiliated stores) of 3,402 stores and employed approximately 150,000 people (excluding the stores and related associates of divested and discontinued operations). Store formats are primarily supermarkets, which represent 85% of Delhaize Group's sales network. Delhaize Group's sales network also includes other store formats such as neighborhood stores, convenience stores, and specialty stores. The company is actively engaged with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program to manage energy efficiency across its U.S. facilities. In addition to food retailing, Delhaize Group engages in food wholesaling to stores in its sales network and in nonfood retailing of products such as pet products and health and beauty products. In 2014, Delhaize Group recorded revenue of €21.4 billion and underlying operating profit of €762 million. Delhaize Group's operations are located primarily in the United States ( Food Lion LLC, Hannaford Brothers Company) and Belgium. Other operations are located in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. Delhaize entered the U.S. market through its acquisition of Food Town Stores in 1983, renaming it

Food Lion Food Lion is an American regional supermarket Chain store, chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1,000 supermarkets in 10 states: Delaware, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsyl ...

due to name conflict with other stores, and expanding from 22 stores to 226. In 1985, it became a franchisee for Cub Foods and opened the first of many stores in the Atlanta area and in 1996, acquired Kash n' Karry, a

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

grocery chain. Both its Cub Foods stores, and the Kash n' Karry chain have since been sold by Delhaize. In 2007, the company left the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

market after 16 years and sold all of its 97 supermarkets to Billa. On 19 January 2009 Delhaize announced on request that the branches in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

should be sold. In 2009, the company left the German market after 6 years and sold all of its 4 supermarkets to

REWE Group The REWE Group is a German diversified retail and tourism co-operative group based in Cologne, Germany. The name REWE comes from "Revisionsverband der Westkauf-Genossenschaften", meaning "Western Buying Co-operatives Auditing Association". His ...

. In 2011, Delhaize acquired Serbian retailer Delta Maxi. In May 2013, Harveys was sold along with sister supermarket chains Sweetbay and Reid's to BI-LO, LLC for $265 million. The locations in

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

were sold in 2013. The locations in

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

were sold in 2014. In November 2014, Delhaize Group signed an agreement to sell its Bottom Dollar food store locations in the U.S. to

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

, Inc. The stores were closed on 12 January 2015, and the transaction was completed early 2015. On 24 June 2015, Delhaize reached an agreement with Ahold to merge, forming a new parent company,

. The merger agreement was signed after approval by shareholders and competition authorities on 23 July 2016. Ahold CEO Dick Boer became CEO of the merged company until his retirement in July 2018, with Frans Muller, CEO of Delhaize initially as deputy CEO and chief integration officer under supervision of Dick Boer. Frans Muller succeeded as CEO in July 2018.

Sales divisions

Europe

* Delhaize * AD Delhaize * Proxy Delhaize * Shop & Go * Delhaize.be * Caddyhome.be * Delhaizewineworld.com

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

* (1991–2007)

* Delhaize * Proxy Delhaize

* Alfa-Beta Vassilopoulos * City AB * AB Shop & Go * AB Food Market * ENA

* Mega Image * Shop & Go

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

* Maxi * Shop & Go (formerly: Mini Maxi) * Tempo Centar (formerly: Tempo Cash & Carry) * Mega Maxi

North America

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Operated as Delhaize America, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delhaize Group: * Bottom Dollar Food *

* Hannaford

Asia

* Super Indo (51%)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Ahold Delhaize 1867 establishments in Belgium Retail companies established in 1867 Companies established in 1867 1867 establishments 2016 disestablishments in Belgium Retail companies disestablished in 2016 2016 mergers and acquisitions Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Brussels Convenience stores Supermarkets of Belgium Companies of Belgium Supermarkets of the United States Belgian brands Publicly traded companies Food retailers Wholesalers