Festival Foods: Retired Festival foods grocer Marlin Greenfield honored as 2019 Grocer of the Year

Madison WI – Marlin Greenfield, recently retired from Skogen’s Festival Foods, will be surprised with the
announcement that he has been selected as the 2019 Grocer of the Year, the Wisconsin Grocers Association’s (WGA)
highest honor. The surprise presentation will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, at the Darboy Festival Foods,
W3195 Van Roy Rd. in Appleton. Marlin was nominated by Mark Maloney of Russ Davis Wholesale.
Marlin Greenfield retired in 2018 after more than 28 years of service with Festival Foods. Mark Skogen, Festival
Foods president and CEO, said that Marlin is among the most influential associates in Festival’s 71-year history and
that “much of what we now know as hallmarks of Festival Foods began with Marlin.” For most of his Festival career,
Marlin was chief operations officer and in 2015, he transitioned to senior operations leader, a role that provided him
flexibility to serve Festival in a pre-retirement role as a mentor and support leader for Festival Foods’ store operations
teams. Marlin served on the WGA Board of Directors for eight years and was also honored in 2015 with the Wisconsin
Grocers Care Political Action Award, which recognized his many efforts to advance the grocery industry in the state.
Marlin began his grocery career at age 15 at a small grocery store in his hometown of Waupun. After college, he
joined the Copps Corporation, which then was a family-run, private company. He spent 10 years with Copps, working
and managing six locations in Wisconsin. Marlin then joined newcomer (at the time) Cub Foods, managing stores in
Madison, Milwaukee, and finally St. Cloud, Minnesota.
In 1990, Marlin met the then-president and CEO of Festival Foods, Dave Skogen, and joined the Festival team at their
first store under the Festival Foods banner in Onalaska. Dave Skogen notes several ways that Marlin helped shape the
company and the Festival Foods culture, including mentoring three generations of Skogens; always holding others
accountable by being firm, but likeable; and relationship building.
Marlin’s positive attitude of service and relationship building carried over into the community. Among his many
community service commitments was serving on the board of the Boys & Girls Club (BGC) of Oshkosh, and he was
instrumental in building the partnership between BGC Oshkosh and Festival Foods. In addition to supporting BGC
events and programs, Marlin helped establish the annual Festival Foods Turkey Trot, a fundraising partnership that
benefits BGCs and YMCAs throughout Wisconsin.
The WGA is the Wisconsin food industry’s trade association with more than 750 members, and the Grocer of the Year
Award is its most prestigious award. Presented annually, the award is given to a WGA member who makes significant
contributions to the industry and community. Marlin Greenfield will receive his formal award Oct. 2 at the Grocers
Innovation Expo at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells.