Adam Whitney has been promoted to Festival Foods’ Chief Operating Officer.
In this expanded role, Whitney takes full operational and strategic responsibility for running the Festival Foods business, driving day-to-day execution and long-term growth across all banner functions, as well as assuming oversight for Hometown Grocers, Inc. Whitney will head the Festival Foods / HGI Banner Leadership Team while also serving on the executive leadership team for the holding company, 1939 Group, Inc.
“As we build for the future across Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers, we needed a leader who combines deep retail experience with a clear vision for where our industry is headed,” said Todd Schnuck, chairman and chief executive officer of Festival Foods. “Adam brings a proven track record, a pragmatic ‘measure twice, cut once’ approach to execution, and a strong ability to leverage the new data and technology driving our growth.”
Whitney joined Festival in November 2023 as senior vice president of merchnadising and marketing and was promoted to Chief Merchant in January 2026, taking on expanded responsibility for the company’s Fresh department. Since joining Festival’s executive leadership team, Whitney has helped lead a broad transformation of the merchandising and marketing organization, including a companywide strategic roadmap, an organizational restructuring, updates to the company’s technology stack and renewed vendor partnerships.
Under his leadership, Festival has sustained growth and has expanded market share in both center store and fresh categories.
“I am honored to take on this expanded role and lead such an exceptional team at Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers,” said Whitney. “We have built tremendous momentum over the past few years, and I look forward to building on that foundation – delivering outstanding value, quality, and service to our guests and communities across Wisconsin.”
