Fleming Companies, Inc

Fleming Companies was founded as Lux Mercantile in Topeka, Kansas, in 1915 by O. A. Fleming, Gene Wilson and Samuel Lux. In 1941, the company name was changed to The Fleming Company, and Ned Fleming was named President, Chairman, and CEO. The company's IPO occurred in 1959, when 100,000 shares were offered. In 1981, R. D. Harrsion was elected Chairman and CEO of the company, with Dean Werries serving as President and COO. Fleming Companies grew to become the nation's largest supplier of consumer packaged goods to U.S. retailers, serving approximately 50,000 retail locations. These locations included supermarkets such as IGA, convenience stores, supercenters, discount stores, concessions, limited assortment, drug, specialty, casinos, gift shops, military commissaries and exchanges and others. In the early 1990s, Fleming was the largest food wholesaler in the United States. The company served more than 3,500 supermarkets and other retail food stores in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

In 1994, Fleming formed Fleming Supermarkets of Florida, Inc. whereby it inherited a chain of supermarkets in Florida (operating as Hyde Park Markets and Wooley's Fine Foods) and launched them as a Healthy Gourmet upscale Market where diet, nutrition and recipe programs were incorporated and rolled out by the company's Chief Nutrition Director, Donna DeCunzo, R.D., L.D. under the name Hyde Park Market. The 11 store chain was sold off by 2000.

The company moved its headquarters to Oklahoma City in 1984, and then to Lewisville, Texas in 2000 before it went into bankruptcy.

Fleming Companies announced in April 2003 that it had filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company's fortunes had suffered considerably over the previous two years as the result of an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into questionable business and accounting practices. Fleming had also faced a class-action lawsuit from its shareholders over the validity of its public statements, ended its relationship with its largest customer, Kmart, and saw its stock price drop to less than one dollar per share. Peter S. Willmott, a member of the company's board of directors, was appointed to lead Fleming through reorganization.

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