Monica Garnes takes stock of Fry’s Zero Hunger/ Zero Waste initiative and being a leader in a tumultuous year PERSPECTIVE A Fresh I n 1960, Fry’s opened its first grocery store in Phoenix at Seventh Street and Missouri Avenue. Today, Fry’s has 123 locations across Arizona and employs 21,000 people, making it the state’s fifth-largest employer. But for all its success, no one could have predicted how the supermarket chain would be celebrating its 60 th anniversary this year. COVER STORY {by karen werner}

More Than 11M 11M Meals Donated in 2019 New sanitizing protocols, special shopping hours for seniors, supply chain challenges, employees acknowledged as “essential workers” in the state’s economy — Fry’s has remained nimble throughout the many months of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing some stability for its communities in these challenging times. “I think about the amazing responsibility we have to ensure that people have food on their tables,” said Monica Garnes, the president of Fry’s Food Stores. “We have found a way to adjust to the new normal and still show up in ways that everyone needs us to show up.” Garnes became president of Fry’s in 2018, but, in many ways, she’s trained her whole life for this moment. A native of Columbus, Ohio, she received a scholarship to the University of Rhode Island, where she was a four-year starter, and two-year captain, of the university’s women’s basketball team. After earning a degree in business management, Garnes moved back to Columbus and started working for The Kroger Co. in its management training program. Since then, over the last 25 years, she’s had almost every job in the grocery field and at the corporate office. Store manager, human resource coordinator, produce buyer, public affairs/media relations manager, district manager, and produce manager — Garnes has done it all. She served as VP of merchandising for Fry’s Food Stores in Phoenix and corporate VP of produce and floral merchandise in Cincinnati, Ohio. “I’ve had numerous careers inside of the Kroger families and great mentors along the way,” she said. “We have found a way to adjust to the new normal and still show up in ways that everyone needs us to show up.” FRONTDOORS MEDIA | 23 | NOV/DEC 2020