INDIANAPOLIS, Jan. 24, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Marsh Supermarkets Inc. (Nasdaq:MARSA) (Nasdaq:MARSB) today announced that, effective February 15, it will cease operations of its Fresh Express Home Delivery Operation.
The Fresh Express Home Delivery Service, which originated in December 1995, allowed customers to place grocery orders by telephone, fax or order on-line for delivery to their home or for store pickup. The technology for this service had been provided to Marsh by a third-party software provider.
"Due to a substantial increase in technology cost from our vendor over the past year, we have made the difficult decision to close our delivery service and streamline our support structure to focus our energies on our core business of supermarket operations," said Don E. Marsh, chairman and CEO.
Meanwhile, Marsh also noted that it will be reassigning a number of associates at its Corporate Office to maximize acquisition synergies and improve the efficiencies of its supermarket divisions.
Marsh Supermarkets, one of the largest regional grocery chains in the United States, operates 67 Marsh Supermarkets, 35 LoBill Food Stores, 3 Savin*$(r), 8 O'Malia Food Markets and 171 Village Pantry(r) convenience stores in central Indiana and western Ohio. The Company also operates Crystal Food Services (tm), which provides upscale catering, cafeteria management, office coffee vending and concessions, Primo Banquet Catering and Conference Centers and McNamara Florists and Enflora - Flowers for Business.
Marsh Supermarkets is a publicly held company which employs through its various divisions, 15,000 people, principally in a two-state area. Marsh common stock is traded on the Nasdaq National Market System (MARSA and MARSB).