Couche-Tard Appoints Family Dollar Executive to Lead U.S. Food Merchandising
Dan Larmondra will join Alimentation Couche-Tard on March 23 as head of U.S. food merchandising, after 12 years at Family Dollar. He will lead Circle K's fresh food merchandising operations and work alongside the company's recent promotion of Trey Powell to drive U.S. food service revenue growth at four times the rate of merchandise revenue.
At a Glance
- Alimentation Couche-Tard has hired Dan Larmondra as its head of U.S. food merchandising, effective March 23. Larmondra confirmed the news to C-Store Dive on Monday (March 20).
- Larmondra said he will lead Circle K's fresh food merchandising operations to align with the convenience store retailer's push to expand that business segment. According to his LinkedIn profile, he spent 12 years in the food and merchandise divisions of discount retailer Family Dollar.
- Couche-Tard is making several adjustments to its fresh food operations, aiming for U.S. food revenue to grow four times faster than merchandise revenue.
Deep Dive
Larmondra's arrival comes just weeks after Couche-Tard promoted company veteran Trey Powell to senior vice president of U.S. food and retail, a role that also oversees merchandising functions. Larmondra said he is part of the "newly expanded team structure" led by Powell.
Larmondra added that his position is newly created and that he is "immediately working to fill several director and category manager roles" to support Couche-Tard's "aggressive growth plans" in foodservice.
Larmondra's addition aligns not only with Couche-Tard's ambitious foodservice revenue goals, but also comes on the heels of the company's strongest quarterly U.S. same-store merchandise sales growth in over two years. Executives said on Couche-Tard's earnings call last week that the growth was driven primarily by foodservice, especially Circle K's meal deal program.
As of press time, Couche-Tard representatives had not responded to requests for comment on Larmondra's appointment.
According to LinkedIn, Larmondra's most recent role at Family Dollar was vice president of food and beverage merchandising for three years; prior to that, he served as vice president of home essentials merchandising for three years, and earlier held the role of director of food and beverage merchandising and category management for six years.
Earlier in his career, Larmondra spent eight years on the category management team at Delhaize America, the U.S. grocery arm of Amsterdam-based supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize. He also spent three years as a category management analyst at Rich Products, a foodservice supplier for convenience stores.