THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, July 1, 1994                   TAG: 9407010412
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: D3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   46 lines

FORMER PRESIDENT WILL REJOIN FARM FRESH AS FINANCIAL CHIEF

Farm Fresh Inc. is turning to a former executive to help lead the Norfolk-based food store chain to more profitable times.

Keith E. Alessi, a former president and chief operating officer for the company, will rejoin Farm Fresh as chief financial officer. He left the company in 1991 to manage his own chain of supermarkets.

Alessi is the second-largest individual stockholder in Farm Fresh - he owns 4.4 percent of the chain. He is also a board member.

Two executives will leave Farm Fresh soon. Douglas R. Voris, the chain's executive vice president and chief administrative officer, exits the company today, and Timothy E. Kullman, the chief financial officer, goes July 8.

The latest departures add to some recent high-level personnel shifts in the chain. Ann Pinchera, director of food merchandising; Eric Weichart, senior vice president of Village Foods; and Don Ortolano, assistant to Julian, left the company earlier this year.

Asked whether the executive changes are part of an overall effort to improve company performance, Chairman and chief executive Michael Julian said, ``I would not characterize it as some grand plan. It's not re-engineering, so to speak. . . .

``It doesn't connote a major shift. Things are going well at Farm Fresh. We have some momentum.''

Citicorp Venture Partners has owned Farm Fresh since a leveraged buyout in 1988. Farm Fresh has since expanded, buying former Safeway stores in the Richmond area in December last year. The company has also launched an aggressive marketing campaign.

Farm Fresh has tried to get into the black since the 1988. It lost $20.7 million in the fiscal year ended Jan. 1, compared with an $8.5 million loss in 1992.

``Because we're a highly leveraged company, our balance sheet is not as good as the operating company,'' Julian said. ``What we're really looking at is restructuring capital and putting the company in a position to continue to grow.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

by CNB