PITTSBURGH _ Citing low food prices and other industry pressures, grocer Giant Eagle says it plans to offer buyouts to a number of corporate employees.
"Like many food retailers regionally and nationally, Giant Eagle has recently been impacted by various industry factors, including but not limited to deflationary trends in food pricing," Dan Donovan, director of corporate communications, said in a statement.
"The company has realized a need to maximize cost efficiencies, reduce overhead costs and streamline our supply chain," Donovan said. "These efforts include a voluntary separation offer made available to a number of team members in its corporate offices."
The buyout offers are limited to corporate employees and won't affect store positions, such as cashiers and baggers. Employees who take the buyout offer will receive a severance package and outplacement assistance.
A company spokesman declined to say how many employees are expected to take the offer or how many the grocer, headquartered outside Pittsburgh, is targeting.
Overall, Giant Eagle has 34,000 employees at more than 420 retail locations with about $9.6 billion in annual sales. In addition to its supermarkets, it operates the GetGo convenience store chain.
It has been a challenging time for grocers, with many companies consolidating and seeing encroaching online grocery delivery.
On Monday, Minneapolis-based Supervalu Inc. agreed to sell its Save-A-Lot grocery business to Canada's Onex Corp. for $1.37 billion in cash. Last year, Albertsons Cos, an Idaho-based grocery chain with more than 2,000 stores across the country, delayed its initial public offering, citing market volatility, Bloomberg News reported in October 2015.
Meanwhile, food prices have been falling.
Overall, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported in September that its food index was unchanged over the previous 12 months _ the first time it did not rise over a 12-month period since 2010.
One component of that index _ food at home _ fell 1.9 percent over the past 12 months. The fruits and vegetables index rose 0.3 percent over the span, while the five other major grocery store food group indexes declined. The index for meats, poultry, fish and eggs posted the largest decline, falling 6.5 percent, the bureau reported.
