U.S. Business: We of A. & P.

• Share

Since January, the offices of The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company have hummed like a checkout counter as executives switched jobs. First, Chairman-President Ralph W. Burger, 73, stepped out as president and was succeeded by John D. Ehrgott, 67, despite the complaint of six outside directors that A. & P. needed younger blood. Next, Burger announced his retirement as chairman, creating an empty seat. Last week the seat was filled when quiet, reticent Jack Ehrgott moved up to chairman and chief executive after less than a month in his last job. As its new president A. & P. picked Vice President Melvin W. Alldredge, 51, in an apparent effort to mollify criticism of extreme age among the company's executives. Alldredge is an expert in merchandising, now becomes heir apparent.

A. & P.'s commanding share of the U.S. food dollar has slipped some in recent years, and Chairman Ehrgott will dust off and polish up an old company philosophy to see what he can do about it. "There are," he says, "only three reasons for the chain-store business: low prices, low expenses and reasonable profits. If you get away from that, you're in trouble." Ehrgott intends to run the world's largest grocery chain and the largest U.S. merchandiser (1962 sales: an estimated $5.4 billion) by committee, will ask other top company officers to join him in making decisions right down to selecting new store sites. Says he: "I don't expect to call the signals, take the ball, throw it, run down the field, catch it and make the touchdown. I can't say 'I,' I have to say 'We.' "

A. & P.'s new chief has never clerked in an A. & P. store, but, like most company executives, he started low and worked long (46 years) before making it into the top echelon. A graduate of New York University, he rose through the accounting side, for years worked with A. & P. Developers John and George Hartford, and still frequently invokes their names ("Mr. John" or "Mr. George"). Chairman Ehrgott's first problem at "the Tea Company," in fact, is to decide whether to move into Mr. John's hallowed office, where a sign on the wall tells him what he is up against: "Ache & Pain Dept."