2022 Hy-Vee ROY

2022 Midwest Retailer of the Year

Hy-Vee takes lead on innovation, ventures into new spaces

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

Hy-Vee operates more than 550 retail locations, including retail, convenience, clinics and wine and spirits stores across eight Midwestern states, with plans to expand farther into and beyond the region.

The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based grocer announced in January that it would bring “a smile in every aisle” into Zionsville, Indiana. That was followed later by news the company would also open stores in Louisville, Kentucky, and Spring Hill, Tennessee. The announcements were met with much acclaim from the respective municipalities.

“We are excited that Hy-Vee has chosen Zionsville as a location to put down new roots,” said Mayor Emily Styron. “With their commitment to quality of service, variety of products, selection of healthy food and an in-store pharmacy, Hy-Vee will benefit Zionsville residents, our neighboring communities and visitors. We are grateful for the collaboration with the Hy-Vee team and welcome them to town.”

Spring Hill’s mayor, Jim Hagaman, echoed that sentiment.

“Hy-Vee made a great decision to locate its first Tennessee store in Spring Hill and we welcome them,” Hagaman said. “Having surpassed 50,000 in population, our city continues to be a favored destination for additional specialty and high-end firms. Our residents are in the drivers’ seat and like doing business locally.”

These stores will be some of the company’s first locations in the Southeast. The company also has plans to continue expanding south into Alabama. While this has been announced, the timeline has undergone a slight shift.

“We’ve delayed [construction] a little bit. We’re going to start in the middle of 2023,” said Hy-Vee Chairman and Executive Director Randy Edeker. “With construction costs up about 17 to 20 percent everywhere, we decided to just pause a little bit. But we’ve got at least three locations going up, with more sites under review.”

Edeker explained part of this delay has to do with the massive scope of the projects.

“We’re going to build a 155,000-square-foot store with a fullblown micro-fulfillment center attached to each one,” he said. “We’ll approach e-commerce within each of those markets with a different style store.”

He compared the expansion stores with Hy-Vee’s flagship store in Grimes, Iowa. That store totals 95,000 square feet and includes a full restaurant, deli, bakery, non-grocery retail space, pharmacy, wine and spirits department, Starbucks, butcher shop and grocery store.

“The basic layout of the store is [like Grimes], but you have to add another 60,000 square feet

to it,” Edeker said.

As with many large-scale projects, preparation for opening new locations begins long before ground is broken. While the expansion is larger than anything Hy-Vee has previously undertaken, the company has a foundation that helps it understand what the communities they are moving into expect and need.

The company believes the best way to give back is to understand what the needs are in the community. The company says executives have already been living in areas where the retail chain plans to expand to learn the communities they will be in and understand the market, what it has to offer and what customers are looking for.

“To be able to be in the fabric of the community that we want to be a part of is who we are,” Edeker said.

Alongside the additional markets, Hy-Vee is in the process of opening new warehouses, including one for specialty groceries. That facility is set to open in 2024.

The company’s current specialty grocery warehouse has been in operation for a number of years and is at capacity. Hy-Vee’s frozen warehouse in Ankeny, Iowa, recently added 175,000 square feet of space.

Hy-Vee has continued to invest in “back room” retail locations. Perishable Distributors of Iowa is a Hy-Vee subsidiary that handles meats, seafood, bakery and all perishables outside of produce. Expanding warehouses and distribution centers has been necessary to alleviate some of the growing pains of adding more retail.

This same principle applies to Hy-Vee’s micro-fulfillment pharmacy and e-commerce centers, which use AI technology to place prescriptions into bottles that are then transported to pharmacies. Kristin Williams, EVP and Hy-Vee’s chief health officer, helped open the first center in 2013 and continues to oversee their operations.

“We offset the time spent on the manual filling process by utilizing automation to fill the prescriptions,” she said. “Then we actually send it back to our stores. Our pharmacists then confirm the prescription.”

Hy-Vee is in the process of opening five more pharmacy fulfillment centers. And there are plans to continue the foundation of micro-fulfillment centers with e-commerce grocery, according to Jeremy Gosch, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, Inc.

Hy-Vee’s expansion goes well beyond stores and warehouses. It is continuing to boost product offerings and signature brands that surpass grocery. In 2017, the company announced partnerships with Walhburgers and Orangetheory Fitness.

“Hy-Vee has been a great partner for us with our Performance Inspired nutrition line. Their commitment to quality and innovation shows in everything they do,” Mark Wahlberg, actor and founder of Wahlburgers, said in a news release at the time. “I can’t think of a better fit for Wahlburgers to introduce our family’s hospitality to the Midwest.”

Please see page 16

Randy Edeker

New cities and opportunities will continue powering retail leader’s omnichannel growth

Alongside Wahlberg and his two brothers, Paul and Donnie, Hy-Vee has the opportunity to sell products from other well-known brands and collaborators. Names such as Drew Barrymore, 50 Cent, Kirk Cousins, Lee Greenwood and Moe Cason can be found throughout its retail locations.

These are not the only brands with which Hy-Vee has exclusive partnerships. It also offers an original line of beauty products called Bellissima.

Hy-Vee believes in partnering with many brands for an array of products. The full list of partnerships – exclusive and nonexclusive – is too large to go into great detail, but Edeker said they help “strengthen who Hy-Vee is.”

However, Hy-Vee’s growth doesn’t stop with retail grocery. Gosch oversees all retail – the core of Hy-Vee’s business – but that core expands beyond the traditional banner. While all of Hy-Vee’s subsidiaries would be challenging to completely detail, the grocer does offer four other banners for its customers.

Dollar Fresh Market follows Hy-Vee’s supermarket format but uses the value pricing associated with other stores such as Dollar General. Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh is its convenience store and gas station banner.

Fast & Fresh also partners with outside restaurants, mostly coffee shops, such as Starbucks and local Iowa brand Smokey Row. Hy-Vee also owns and operates six standalone Wahlburgers restaurants and more than 60 Wahlburgers at Hy-Vee locations throughout eight Midwestern states.

Hy-Vee’s most recent addition is its Wall to Wall Wine and Spirits, a standalone banner announced last year.

“At Hy-Vee, we focus on the evolving lifestyles of our customers,” Edeker said at the time of Wall to Wall’s announcement. “With the creation of our Wall to Wall Wine and Spirits division, we are excited to continue to provide the best wine, beer and spirits selection, as well as a customer service experience of the highest caliber.”

Alongside alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages and sodas and seltzers, the stores feature specialty grocery items such as cheese, charcuterie, chips and crackers.

The concept debuted in West Des Moines, with three other locations in Lincoln, Omaha and Papillion, Nebraska.

“We believe we are the best retailer in the country...as you walk through our halls and speak with our team, I think you realize how diverse we are…and you think about the health and wellness side of our business, the digital side of our business, our marketing teams, the data side, our stores, our people, our layout – we are very diverse. We have a great group of people who work for this company every single day.”

– Jeremy Gosch, CEO and President of Hy-Vee, Inc.

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Retailer ranks as one of America’s Best Places to Work

Diverse and employee owned, Hy-Vee is making a difference in communities it serves

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

All retailers know they would not exist – and certainly not prosper – without the people who work and shop in their stores.

Hy-Vee, The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, has many avenues to care about its employees and customers – from competitive wages and benefits to charitable contributions and a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

In fact, Hy-Vee was named a 2022 Great Place to WorkCertified Company. The West Des Moines, Iowa-based retailer has accomplished this through an assortment of programs. While the numbers for 2022 are not yet available, the company quantified its worker benefits in a year-in-review publication at the end of 2021. They included:

• $84.3 million in shared bonuses with full- and part-time employees

• $34.7 million in matching contributions through the Hy-Vee and Affiliates 401(K) plan

• $34.3 million in savings for employees and their families through Hy-Vee’s 10-percent employee grocery discount

• More than $2 million in holiday pay to retail employees

• $318,141 awarded to recipients of Hy-Vee’s Tuition Assistance Program.

Last year, the company also introduced free access to WeeCare and care.com for employees. The care.com website allows them to connect with services for their homes, families and pets, while the WeeCare concierge service connects employees with child care that best fits their families’ needs.

Once a month and during special times like holidays, Hy-Vee offers a three-day weekend for its employees to receive a 20-percent discount compared to the everyday 10 percent.

On the national level, Hy-Vee has been recognized by Forbes as Best-in-State Employers in Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota. In a 2021 USA Today reader’s choice poll, Hy-Vee was voted the best grocery and convenience store in the Midwest and the No. 2 best grocery and convenience store in the country.

Newsweek featured the company as a leading Online Retailer for its rapid e-commerce growth, sales and website traffic. Finally, Hy-Vee received recognition from its home state,

earning Iowa’s Healthiest State Large Workplace award for its efforts to improve the physical, social and emotional well-being of its employees.

“We’ve done a lot of work the past couple of years to become the best place to work in America,” said Georgia Van Gundy, EVP, chief administrative officer and chief customer officer. “We ensure we stand apart from other employers so that we can attract the talent that we need in order to grow and do business [and] be the best place to work in America.”

Van Gundy said Hy-Vee collects feedback and data via roundtables and surveys when deciding what policies are best suited for its workforce. Other offerings include: more training and education options; easier access to certifications by revamping Hy-Vee University, the company’s leadership training program; and added orthodontia and chiropractic care to insurance coverage. In addition, the company has made insurance benefits available to part-time workers.

Jen Kopriva, district store director, said Hy-Vee’s autonomy has been one of the most beneficial aspects during her 30 years with the company.

“I think a lot of customers forget. They don’t consider us local because Hy-Vee is big,” she said. “But we do a good job, especially locally. We are an employee-owned company.

“We make sure that our customers understand that one of the benefits…within our stores is our employees. They share in the profits of our store. It makes us special and different from competitors.”

Kopriva has stayed with Hy-Vee for so long because she fell “in love with the business on the customer side and the employee side.”

“[Working for] Hy-Vee is very fortunate because they give us so much opportunity,” she said. “Customers make it fun. It’s challenging. There’s always things that are changing. Especially when COVID started. But there’s a reason I’ve been here so long, along with so many others.”

Hy-Vee continues to support minority employees. In 2021, the West Des Moines Chamber honored Hy-Vee for its DEI efforts. That same year, the 24/7 Black Leadership Advancement Consortium named Hy-Vee its Equity Champion for serving as an inclusion leader in the pursuit of economic equity within the Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa, communities.

Hy-Vee and Chairman and Executive Director Randy Edeker were both featured earlier this year in The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s DEI special section.

“Randy has championed investment in their employee population to better reflect their communities, including a requirement for all stores to submit quarterly action plans,” according to the article. “In the past year, Hy-Vee has increased the number of non-white retail management-level employees by 11 percent.”

“We are one of the greatest merchants when it comes to community engagement and doing things for our customers and our communities…it’s our responsibility to help out our neighbor in need and help feed the world, and we take great pride in doing that.”

– Donna Tweeten, EVP, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief of Staff

The article also highlighted Hy-Vee’s donation of $1 million to organizations that support racial unity and equality and how the company is working toward completing a commitment of one million volunteer hours.

“The Hy-Vee leadership team has significantly bolstered efforts to broaden and increase its diverse supplier partners. Hy-Vee sponsored the Black and Brown Business Summit and has also begun hosting ‘Best of Local Brands’ summits to encourage more local brands of all demographics the opportunity to have Hy-Vee carry their products,” the article continued.

Externally, Hy-Vee makes contributions to the communities where it has stores. Last year, the retailer made $54 million in donations, according to Edeker.

He went on to explain Hy-Vee’s work to support youth organizations, veterans, land conservation and economic development. Hy-Vee Homefront is the company’s charitable foundation devoted to veterans. Variety, a longtime partner of Hy-Vee, is a children’s charity focusing on those who are at-risk, underprivileged or critically ill.

“We have our Veterans Day breakfasts that we do every single year where we feed veterans for free. We send out something to every single veteran employee in the company to say thanks for their service,” Edeker said.

Hy-Vee One Step, the company’s largest charitable arm, encompasses the company’s mission to fight food insecurity, plant trees and build wells.

Any time One Step products are bought, a portion of the proceeds go toward the initiatives. The products include: One Step Cereal, a brand that is packaged in 100 percent recycled cardboard boxes; One Step Russet Potatoes; One Step Paper Products, another product made from recycled materials; One Step Eggs, which are produced on small family farms in Southeast Iowa and Northeast Missouri; and One Step Water.

To date, more than 26 million meals have been donated to nonprofits; some 600,000 trees have been planted across Hy-Vee’s market territory and 107 clean water projects have been undertaken.

“We know we can’t solve all of the world’s problems, but we can do something,” Edeker said. “We’ve funded 107 wells around the world for people that we’ll never meet and never know but are desperate.

“Last year alone, we fed 26 million children off of the boxes of cereal that sell every single day. Since the program started, we’ve also dug 850 local gardens off the sales of our potatoes. We’ve planted more than 620,000 trees off of the sale of our paper towels.”

To further combat food insecurity, Hy-Vee holds Food Bank Fridays. Edeker implemented the fundraisers when he saw the coming tide of inflation and food shortage issues in early 2022.

“If inflation hits, if people are getting in tough spots, they’re going to start emptying the food banks,” he explained.

Hy-Vee has a long history of partnering with local food banks. But through the campaign, customers are asked to donate when they checkout online or in store. Within the first six weeks of the campaign’s start, Hy-Vee had raised $1 million, according to Edeker.

Grocer is using e-commerce evolution to expand its reach

Innovations, offerings include Hy-VeeDeals.com, Hy-Vee Aisles Online, PetShip and Vitamine

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

E-commerce has been an avenue for businesses to expand and showcase their wares. And the COVID-19 pandemic showed many large grocery retailers the need to enlarge their online offerings.

Hy-Vee, The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, has spent the last few years continuously expanding its e-commerce to not only innovate in a technologically-driven world but also introduce the brand to a wider market. Hy-Vee aims to make the lives of its customers easier, healthier and happier and it uses e-commerce to accomplish this.

The most ambitious of the company’s innovations is Hy-VeeDeals.com and Hy-Vee Aisles Online. As the name suggests, the Hy-VeeDeals website brings deals to everyone, anywhere in the country. It has become one of the company’s highest priorities.

Hy-Vee hopes to offer services well outside its market area through the e-commerce offering, as well as familiarize new customers with its brand.

The site also allows customers to buy items however they wish – even in bulk – or using personalized coupons, something Jeremy Gosch, CEO and president of Hy-Vee, says is becoming more prevalent to offset rising costs of inflation.

“Hy-VeeDeals.com allows customers to pick and choose what they want from us,” he explained. “We are always trying to find ways to serve our customers and everybody is trying to find ways to save money. The thing about Hy-VeeDeals.com is customers can find what they need in any shape or form from anywhere.”

Hy-Vee Aisles Online allows customers to order groceries online and have them ready for pickup within two hours or get them delivered to their homes.

While many retailers found that e-commerce was necessary with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hy-Vee had its program in place. But the company has continued to expand it.

“Hy-Vee was on the front end of e-commerce, especially in our eight states where we do business,” said Georgia Van Gundy, EVP, chief administrative officer and chief customer officer. “It’s evolved over time and what drives that is our customers’ needs.

“Once [the pandemic arrived], we started making changes to e-commerce. We knew customers wanted their groceries within two hours. So we went from fulfilling our orders at a fulfillment center to actually going back to the store level and having people doing our Aisles Online and fulfilling orders within the stores.”

Aisles Online pickup kiosks are attached to or located near a store. The special areas “reduce the distance and labor of transporting orders to the pickup space and limit products’ exposure to the elements,” according to a news release.

“We really ramped up the work that we’re doing from an e-commerce perspective so that we could meet our customers’ needs,” Van Gundy said. “We knew we needed to add a lot more digital offerings.

“The people picking the orders can communicate back and forth with our customers, making sure that we’re meeting needs by talking to them about out of stocks or some of the different products and services that we might be able to substitute for them. We want to maintain that connection with the consumer and make sure that we get their orders correct.”

Last year, Hy-Vee combined its previously separate Hy-Vee and Aisles Online apps into one to make shopping easier. The app learns about the user to offer recipes, how-to videos, seasonal products and special deals. It allows customers to use every aspect of Hy-Vee, including ordering groceries online, pre-paying for prescriptions and keeping track of their Hy-Vee Fuel Saver + Perks rewards.

Hy-Vee also offers a premiere subscription service, Hy-Vee Plus, which allows members access to extra savings and exclusive benefits both in store and online. The benefits include exclusive monthly deals and offers such as free grocery delivery on orders of $30 or more; free two-hour express pickup; access to a personal shopper to get and give real-time feedback on online orders; and the ability to earn exclusive fuel rewards with purchases.

“Consumers want to make fewer trips and be able to get more done in the trips that they make. That’s what’s exciting about our stores and all our e-commerce offerings…people want to be able to access more,” Van Gundy said.

PetShip and Vitamine are similar to Hy-VeeDeals.com. PetShip is an e-commerce platform for Hy-Vee that focuses on pet and animal products, while Vitamine is a personalized service that delivers vitamins to customers’ homes.

Alongside the app and website, Hy-Vee offers products through social media, Hy-Vee Seasons online magazine and its digital streaming network, HSTV. Customers can also view items to purchase instantly through platforms such as Facebook or Instagram.

Customers can also use their phones in store through Hy-Vee’s Scan & Go option. Consumers can link their preferred payment methods to the app. While they go about shopping, they can scan and bag their items and checkout via the app.

“Scan & Go was something we saw during the pandemic. People wanted a fast and convenient way to shop that didn’t require them to touch any keypads or even speak to our associates if they didn’t want to,” said Randy Edeker, chairman and executive director.

Hy-Vee Seasons is its monthly magazine that features food and drink recipes, how-to articles and home display features. Last year, Hy-Vee began offering the publication digitally. The digital edition allows readers to interact and engage with content through videos, games and animations.

Hy-Vee’s Helpful Smiles TV is the company’s visual media brand that has some 50 series showcasing different products and brands in a variety of cooking, pet, holiday, home decor and fashion shows.

HSTV is a free streaming platform for original content that meets online shopping. Viewers can shop the products seen on an HSTV show and they can be shipped anywhere in the country.

“We do anything for a customer. We have a lot of innovations in our stores to meet their needs. I think we make it exciting for them. We do a lot to take care of our employees as well as the communities where we’re doing business. We care a lot about our customers and the service we provide them.”

– Georgia Van Gundy, EVP, Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Customer Officer

Health, wellness ‘major component’ of company’s mission

Services extend well beyond traditional pharmacy

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee’s commitment to healthcare goes beyond the traditional pharmacy shelves. The company believes in a holistic approach for its customers. This approach includes not only the traditional pharmaceutical operation but also promoting and maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle.

Hy-Vee, The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, has been in the pharmacy business for more than 50 years, with 270 retail pharmacies across eight states employing more than 1,100 pharmacists.

In addition to store-front pharmacies that offer services seven days a week, Hy-Vee operates a fleet of 28 mobile health units it deploys to rural communities and businesses to provide

on-site COVID-19 vaccination clinics, according to Kristin Williams, EVP, chief health officer and president of Hy-Vee subsidiary Amber Specialty Pharmacy.

While COVID-19 itself and COVID vaccinations are not as prevalent as two years ago, Hy-Vee prides itself on its accomplishments throughout the pandemic.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously named Hy-Vee a National Federal Retail Pharmacy Program partner for Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

As of October, the company had administered more than 3.6 million COVID-19 vaccines through a variety of partnerships. It also was responsible for holding and coordinating community

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“It’s our people and their commitment to our customers that make Hy-Vee the company that it is today. We put our customers first. We give them excellent service and value and quality…I think we have a unique model that nobody else offers today.”

– Aaron Wiese, CEO, Hy-Vee Health and Innovation; president of Hy-Vee Healthcare, LLC

vaccination clinics, drive-thru flu shot events and rapid PCR and molecular PCR testing sites.

Hy-Vee has been working to use this infrastructure to implement it in a post-pandemic world. One aspect of this is Hy-Vee Healthy You Mobiles, which were originally Winnebagos outfitted to help serve customers and patients, Williams said.

Since finding success with the mobile health clinics, the company has increased its fleet by 18. These two- to four-room mobile treatment centers allow for a variety of health-related services.

financial administration. It’s a service Amber Specialty Pharmacy began nearly 25 years ago.

“Specialty pharmacy is caring for the most vulnerable of patient populations,” Willaims said. “We started in 1998, caring for patients who had just received an organ transplant.

“In the past three years, we’ve really been focused on partnering with manufacturers to launch their limited distribution medications for a small subset of the population.”

Amber Specialty Pharmacy is not the only subsidiary that offers low-cost personalized healthcare to patients. RedBox Rx is Hy-Vee’s newest addition that provides low-cost telehealth and online pharmacy services that ship prescriptions to patients’ homes.

The overarching goal is to offer a telehealth appointment with a physician and opportunity to get prescriptions at a reasonable cost.

“We don’t want to disrupt their sense of self,” Wiese said. “RedBox allows patients to be comfortable and discuss their needs with a physician in a space they are comfortable. These telehealth visits give [patients] an opportunity to speak openly with their doctor.

“The majority from this past year were giving the COVID vaccines, but we have been using them for flu vaccines and also biometric screenings when we go to employer groups or we can bring them to larger events like the Iowa State Fair,” Williams said. “We also partner with communities that maybe don’t have a pharmacy readily available.”

But retail pharmacy is not the only healthcare focus. Hy-Vee’s expansive network includes specialty healthcare options, discounted prescriptions, lifestyle and diet advice and telemedicine.

“We have the most robust portfolio of healthcare subsidiaries that we’ve ever had,” Williams said.

Vivid Clear Rx is Hy-Vee’s pharmacy benefit manager and provides advisor, advocacy and proactive approach to pharmaceutical finances. The goal is to help provide customers with the understanding of how their money flows through the healthcare process. They accomplish this via a customizable dashboard that provides real-time medication application.

One of the largest benefits to stem from Vivid Clear Rx is its discount card.

“Think like GoodRx,” said Aaron Wiese, CEO of Hy-Vee health and innovation and president of Hy-Vee Healthcare LLC. “Customers who maybe don’t have insurance or they have limited coverage under their prescription drug benefit, they can go use our Vivid discount card and get incredible savings off their prescription drugs. They can go to any pharmacy in the country.”

Hy-Vee’s subsidiaries also include Amber Specialty Pharmacy, based in Omaha, Nebraska. Their partnership dates to 2010, but Hy-Vee officially purchased Amber Pharmacy in 2014. Specialty pharmacy is the fastest growing concern within the pharmacy industry, according to Williams. Specialty pharmacies help patients manage complex, chronic conditions by assigning a health care team – an enrollment specialist, pharmacist, patient care coordinator and billing coordinator.

The team develops a comprehensive plan for the patient’s clinical care, insurance and

“We can coordinate things from there by shipping it directly to their door if they’d like. It’s a frictionless experience that gives that great service that we give our customers every day in our stores.”

The consultations themselves cost a maximum of $39, but also can be free depending on the type of treatment. Consultation fees often are less expensive than typical medical insurance co-pays and RedBox Rx does not accept insurance.

However, patients can use their HSA or FSA card to pay for the consultation or prescription costs. RedBox is also a complementary or alternative health care option for the coverage conditions that employers can share at no cost.

“At Hy-Vee, health and wellness is a major component of what we strive to assist our customers with every day,” said Randy Edeker, Hy-Vee chairman and executive director. “We know that more people are looking for quick, convenient and personalized health care options shipped directly to their homes and RedBox Rx does exactly that.”

Hy-Vee also works to promote healthy lifestyles and diets. Hy-Vee’s HealthMarket department is its “store within a store” concept that carries products such as vitamins, fresh meats and seafoods, produce and frozen foods and sports nutrition products.

Hy-Vee has had the concept for more than 20 years. But it is also conscious to carry products for specialized diets.

The HealthMarket was one of the first in the country to emphasize gluten-free products, Wiese said. It also offers products that cater to paleos, vegans, vegetarians and many others. The markets are conscious of ensuring customers receive the right information about products and diets with help from their in-store dietitians and its WholeLotta Good e-commerce offering.

“One of the things that makes Hy-Vee’s such an innovative approach is we were one of the first retail supermarkets to bring dieticians into the store,” Wiese said. “It makes it so easy for the consumer to find what they’re looking for.

“We’re very innovative. I’ve been with Hy-Vee since I was 14. We’ve always had the power to take care of the person in front of us. We empower our employees…we’re always encouraging them to do what’s best for the customer. People appreciate that flexibility to creatively solve their own problems.”

– Kristin Williams, EVP, Chief Health Officer Hy-Vee Inc.; President of Amber Specialty Pharmacy

“If they are hoping to follow a specialized diet or have been recently diagnosed with diabetes and want to know how to eat a sugar-free diet, they have a personalized source right there in the store.”

WholeLotta Good takes that experience and brings it into an online marketplace experience. The online marketplace comprises dietitian-approved foods, vitamins, supplements, bath and body products, fitness equipment and household products that can be categorized to fit the consumer’s desired lifestyle. These categories include organic, gluten-free, keto, vegan and plant-based products. All of which will ship to the customers’ homes. It also offers daily discounts and free shipping on purchases over $49.

But healthy eating is only part of the equation. Proper health care, treatment and preventative care are also necessary. Hy-Vee strives to be a “one-stop shop” for customers living healthy lifestyles.

Hy-Vee’s commitment doesn’t stop there. The company has a Disaster Relief Fleet that has helped those impacted by natural disasters.

Following the devastation of Category 4 Hurricane Ian in September, Hy-Vee deployed its fleet to bring fresh water, supplies and more than 1 million meals to southwest Florida.

That fleet included Hy-Vee’s mobile command center, a water tank and pump trailer, two Hy-Vee rapid response pickup trucks and nine Hy-Vee semis filled with water, ice, snacks, cleaning supplies and protein.

Hy-Vee previously deployed its team to Mayfield, Kentucky, and parts of Tennessee in December 2021 to assist in the cleanup efforts following devastating tornadoes.

Sports partnerships help showcase burgeoning brand

Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend ‘resounding success’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

Competition is ingrained into human nature. Competition can be found between friends, rivals, businesses and communities.

Hy-Vee, The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, has a long history of suppporting amazing competition in sports on a local, national and now international level.

The most recent example of a sporting partnership was the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend. Held July 22-24 at Iowa Speedway, about 30 minutes east of Hy-Vee’s headquarters in West Des Moines, it marked the company’s first major foray into racing. The grocer sponsored the full weekend of racing and several cars. The main one, the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda, was driven by Jack Harvey.

The weekend kicked off with Free Family Friday, during which fans could enjoy driver autograph sessions, Victory Lane visits, live music and more than 50 food trucks.

It was the only doubleheader race of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series. Saturday’s race was the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash, while Sunday’s was the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google.

“In times of great need like these, it’s important that we help in the way we know best, by providing essentials like food and water as well as a helping hand,” Edeker said.

The fleet itself was established just two years ago, according to Williams. But they don’t just carry food and supplies, they can also bring Hy-Vee’s mobile healthcare units.

“Part of that disaster relief team is a mobile pharmacy,” she said. “We recognized that we needed to have that as a play for all modern disaster relief. We are sometimes the only pharmacy in the towns that we serve and we see the need for these mobile units as a crucial part of our infrastructure and we decided to invest in that.”

The weekend also featured performances from musical artists Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton.

The company’s decision to move into INDYCAR sponsorship started with Chairman and Executive Director Randy Edeker, who had begun following European-based, Formula One racing and saw how quickly it was gaining popularity.

“If you look at Formula One, their numbers are up unbelievably internationally. If you look at their shift, their greatest growth categories is with 18 to 35 [year olds] because they developed a game and a Netflix show called ‘Drive to Survive,’” he said. “I looked in the U.S. and thought, ‘Who’s most like that?’ It’s INDYCAR.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hy-Vee had run a car in the INDYCAR series with driver Graham Rahal.

“We formed a partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to run a partial season,” Edeker said. “I watched it and I measured it with what we thought that we could do with it. I believe that INDYCAR in the United States could be a rival to Formula One if they formulate the path that Formula One alreay has.”

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This is where the idea to showcase Hy-Vee’s newest online offerings formulated in Edeker’s mind.

“That’s why we initially got into it. Then we asked, ‘How do we apply it?’ Hy-VeeDeals.com, WholeLotta Good, PetShip and RedBox RX pharmacy all were in their infancy,” he said. “We started looking at how we drive our social media brands and HSTV. We thought INDYCAR was worth the investment. We decided we would tie it into the race itself because the INDYCAR races are national.”

Alongside this, Hy-Vee launched exclusive cereals featuring Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. The proceeds from these cereals will benefit the Thielen Foundation and the 87 & Running Foundation, respectively. Both organizations aim to support youth through mentorship, athletics and critical life skills. Hy-Vee has had other iterations of this program such as its partnership with Kirk Cousins last year.

This year’s race weekend was a rousing success. Nearly 60 percent of the total tickets sold were from out-of-state fans. Across the three days, the event drew more than 80,000 fans, which represented one of the largest weekends in the 16-year history of Iowa Speedway, according to a Hy-Vee press release.

According to NBC Sports Network, the two races drew a television plus digital audience of more than 1.7 million and delivered some of INDYCAR’s top social media engagement of the year. Across all social channels, the weekend surpassed total engagement with hundreds of thousands of video views. While the exact economic impact of the event is still being tabulated, the effects are certain to linger.

While it does help the brand become more recognizable, it also has intangible benefits, according to Donna Tweeten, EVP, chief marketing officer and chief of staff. These come from the connection to the community they are targeting.

“Our sports marketing has been community based, whether that’s supporting a high school team, college team or a pro team that happens to be in the market that we do business in,” she said. “Embedding ourselves in the community, sharing that fandom has been beneficial to us… there’s more blue sky engagement that we get with our fans.

“Through our sponsorships…you can see engagement, specifically on social media. When people think about the Vikings or Chiefs game this Sunday, they’re thinking Hy-Vee. We know this. We’ve tested. We’ve done the research and have the results to prove it.”

Every time the Chiefs play a home game, people from around the country can see the team enter or exit its tunnel with a Hy-Vee logo on top.

“Everyone’s in sync in every store doing the same thing in terms of these sports marketing efforts…it allows us a local and national platform to advertise Hy-VeeDeals.com or Redbox Rx or e-commerce,” Tweeten said. “It gets our brand out there in a national audience, which only serves us better for other growth opportunities.”

Hy-Vee is an employee-owned business, which allows its stores large amounts of autonomy for partnerships down on a smaller scale. That could be promoting and sponsoring the local high school, church, band or food bank. Hy-Vee has been using this autonomy, specifically within sports to help promote a wider range of campaigns and services.

“It all comes back to showcasing the brand,” Tweeten said.

For example, the INDYCAR races and traveling NFL teams will provide a useful avenue to get Hy-Vee’s name into unfamiliar markets.

“The [race] was a fantastic event that got a lot of positive press for Hy-Vee awareness. It helped catapult the reach of our digital properties,” Tweeten said.

The weekend was a resounding success for the community and for the state of Iowa and race fans. It was more than just a race, the marketing and operations team earned credit for creating a whole festival atmosphere with top-tier talent.

This is not the only national sports partnership for the company has ties with the Kansas City Chiefs, Minnesota Vikings and, most recently, the Green Bay Packers. This carries with it the ability to sell products with the teams’ logos or players’ names attached.

Titletown, a park that sits outside of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, welcomed Hy-Vee in early September, officially naming it Hy-Vee Plaza “to be a gathering space at the heart of Titletown.”

“The primary reason [Hy-Vee is Retailer of the Year] is the service we provide to our customers. We’re 92 years old this year and not many competitors can say that. It’s about the service we provide… our employees, the longevity that we have with our staff, I think it’s second to none and that helps deliver that great experience to our customers.”

– Jen Kopriva, District Store Director