Big-game hunter
Mark Wineka, Jason Lesley · 2021
Tom Smith sat in his car waiting for the manager to arrive and open the Ketner Center Food Town. The boys were friends, attending China Grove High School together. In the fall of 1958, Jeff had told Tom, a junior, about Food Town’s plans to open a second store in Salisbury. The company would need more baggers, and Smith wanted a more dependable income than he was making on his family’s farm. Tom arrived at his usual time, only to find Jeff sitting there waiting for the manager. Many years later, when Tom Smith was president and chief executive officer of the grocery chain that became Food Lion, he continued to be the first to arrive at work in the morning. Folks in the media have found Smith cooperative, if he views their intentions as honorable – that is, he doesn’t like surprises and appreciates knowing beforehand where an interview and story are headed.