Darrell Jones, best known for his aw-shucks manner and being the face of Save-On-Foods on TV commercials and on billboards promoting "Darrell's Deals" at the food chain, plans to retire, the Pattison Food Group said this morning on a post on LinkedIn.
The 65-year-old's last day at the company is set to be Feb. 28.
Jones is has been president since 2012 of what is now known as the Pattison Food Group. That subsidiary of the Jim Pattison Group owns more than a dozen grocery chain banners, including Save-On-Foods, Nesters Market, Choices Market, Buy-Low Foods, Quality Foods and PriceSmart Foods.
The company's COO Jamie Nelson is slated to assume the role of president starting March 1.
Jones has had a 48-year career at the company, starting in Cranbrook in 1976, when he was in Grade 11 and hired to bag groceries, he told BIV in 2016.
The company was previously known as the Overwaitea Food Group. B.C. billionaire and current owner Jim Pattison launched grocery operations by buying a chain of stores known as Overwaitea in 1968.
Jones oversaw the phasing out of the Overwaitea name, which some stores still carried in the past decade. Any of the remaining stores that were known as Overwaitea were rebranded as Save-On-Foods during Jones' tenure because that brand was both better known and more trusted, Jones told BIV.
Indeed, Save-On-Foods last year ranked No. 1 on a list of the most trusted brands in B.C. in a an Ipsos survey.
"Darrell has set the bar high when it comes to ensuring his team of almost 30,000 embodies the company’s 109-year-old culture of always giving their customers a little extra," the company said on LinkedIn.
It praised his leadership and "collaborative innovation," and said that he focused on the company’s mission to provide customer-first service.
It remains unclear what will happen to the Save-On-Foods' promotions known as "Darrell's Deals," and whether they will become "Jamie's Deals."
The company's president before Jones was Steve van der Leest, who had a lower public profile because he did not include his face in marketing materials and he did not appear in commercials. Van der Leest was accessible to media, however, and attended store openings.
