When Heath Redman became the manager of a Harris Teeter grocery store in Asheville, N.C., he never could have imagined that, years later, the well-known, beautiful mountain town would be devastated by a hurricane.
Heath Redman grew up in the area and started his career in the grocery industry 24 years ago at the age of 16 when he was hired as a bagger at the Harris Teeter in Asheville’s neighboring town of Hendersonville.
“I knew even as a 16-year-old that I wanted to work in a service industry where I could make a positive impact helping others,” Redman said. “Once I begin that career, and I saw the potential for growth and advancement at Harris Teeter, it motivated me to continue my development in hopes of reaching a role where I could make a bigger and better impact, helping our community and helping develop our associates.”
Redman quickly realized he enjoyed helping others develop their skills and advance in the industry.
“I think the most rewarding part for me is the ability to train, coach and develop our future leaders,” he said. “There’s no greater feeling than to see someone that you either hired or trained accept a promotion to advance their career.”
Redman’s strong leadership was acknowledged earlier this year by FMI — The Food Industry Association when he was selected as a finalist for FMI’s 2025 Store Manager Awards — an acknowledgement that was further supported by his peers, who subsequently voted him winner of this year’s People’s Pick Award.
Responding to tragedy
Redman’s love of supporting his associates and giving back to his community was put to the test on Sept. 27, 2024, when Hurricane Helene brought extreme rainfall and catastrophic flooding and landslides to the area. Redman’s store was spared and only lost power for 24 hours. Harris Teeter immediately stepped in with a generator, dry ice and products that allowed the store to reopen quickly and stay open for longer hours to serve the community and store associates who were thankful to have a place to charge their phones and electronic devices.
Though he was working 12-hour days, Redman prioritized feeding his employees hot meals every day, grilling food for them outside the store. He made sure associates received groceries and necessities and created schedules to ensure everyone had access to showers and laundry services. In addition, Redman helped coordinate securing hotel rooms for associates who experienced long-term power loss at their homes — some for up to 14 weeks.
Beyond the aisles: Prioritizing people, providing support
Those efforts also spilled over into the community, as Redman and Harris Teeter coordinated the delivery of vital supplies and collaborated with local agencies to maximize the store’s role as a community resource. The retailer also donated $250,000 to the area’s MANNA Food Bank, along with two truckloads of emergency food boxes loaded with nearly 40,000 ready-to-eat meals, and supported first responders in the area with gift cards and goodie bags.
Since a lack of clean running water was a long-term issue, Redman had to rethink the store’s offerings.
“We made the decision to be open for the community, and while I couldn’t sell deli sandwiches or prepared foods, I decided I was going to fill up with essentials,” he said. “I was selling toiletries, I was selling water. I was working closely with our category managers and our merchandising teams to anticipate in advance which items these associates and customers were going to really need and what was sustainable that they could live off of if they didn’t have power.”
Resilience and recovery: The lasting impact of caring
As the area is still recovering, Redman’s store has seen an influx of customers who have continued to show their support for one of the few stores that remained open during their time of greatest need.
“Supporting the community during this time wasn’t just a business decision – it was the right decision,” Redman said. “The strength of our communities and our associates and neighbors came together to make a difference amid a disaster. The storm reminded us of the importance of quality, customer care and having access to fresh products, but what we could not have anticipated is how our associates came together – whether it was a part-time cashier or a more tenured leader, everyone came together with the community, and it was just such a great feeling. Everyone was taking care of everyone else.”
This is the third installment in a series of spotlights on FMI — The Food Industry Association’s 2025 Store Manager Award winners. Click below to read the profile of two other 2025 winners, as well as features on each of the 2024 award winners:
- How one employee’s straight talk forever changed a grocery store manager’s leadership style
- Award-winning grocery store manager shares what does — and doesn’t — lead to success
- Q&A: A day in the life of an award-winning grocery store manager
- The Fresh Market leader shares lessons learned from stock boy to store manager
- How a co-op grocery store manager brings Seattle’s diverse community together
- Inspirational speeches, funny uniform inscriptions part of store manager’s motivational toolkit
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