Grocery store chains often boast fiercely loyal customers. In many communities, it’s akin to Coca-Cola versus Pepsi, McDonald's versus Burger King, or the Red Sox versus the Yankees.
Winning over loyal customers like that is often hard-won. The supermarket business operates on razor-thin margins, and many rivals compete head-to-head, frequently operating locations within minutes of one another.
For example, customers downright rave in Florida about Publix (and its famous rotisserie chicken) to just about everyone who will listen.
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In New England, customers are so loyal to Market Basket that they boycotted stores in 2014 when the Board of Directors attempted to fire its long-time CEO, Arthur T. Demoulas.
Such support for a CEO is pretty rare today. Unfortunately, those efforts to reinstall Arthur T. in his role 11 years ago apparently haven’t ended the drama, given Market Basket is facing yet another boardroom brawl.
Image source: Getty Images
Market Basket’s boardroom battle resurfaces in 2025
In 2014, worker protests and customer boycotts forced the hands of Market Basket’s board. This resulted in Arthur T. buying out his cousins, who were behind attempts to remove him because of his resistance to reducing staffing and modernizing the chain.
The chain, founded in 1917 by Greek immigrants Athanasios and Efrosini Demoulas, is unique in that it remains family-owned over 100 years later. The company has come a long way from its humble beginnings in Lowell, Massachusetts, given revenue this year will reportedly exceed $7 billion.
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The company’s growth has spawned a slate of public dust-ups between descendants of the original founding brothers, the most notable being the 2014 challenge to Arthur T’s leadership.
This time around, however, it’s not a battle between cousins. In 2014, Arthur T. Demoulas’s sisters supported him. This time, they’re behind the attempted coup, which included placing Arthur T on paid suspension in May 2025 and firing key executives Joe Schmidt and Tom Gordon, seen as loyal to Demoulas, for insubordination in July.
The board says these moves were necessary because Arthur T was resisting board oversight, and allegedly, attempting a work stoppage, while pushing for a succession plan with his children that appears to bypass board approval.
Market Basket workers united around CEO
Perhaps unsurprisingly, grocery stores employ many people, partly because they quickly turn over inventory on their shelves. Also unsurprisingly, workers often become a big reason behind customer loyalty, particularly in key departments such as customer-facing parts of the store, such as the bakery, deli, produce, or the front end.
Many store workers are fiercely loyal to their employers because many have worked their entire careers for them, starting as baggers and climbing through the ranks to department heads, buyers, and store managers.
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That’s certainly true at Market Basket, where many workers within the 95-store chain helped organize the strike that saved Arthur T. DeMoulas' job as chief executive 11 years ago because they credited him for their success and, more broadly, the supermarket’s family-oriented culture.
The situation in 2014 was so unique in corporate America that it spawned multiple documentaries, including Food Fight: The Battle For Market Basket.
This time around, some appear equally supportive.
“What was once a culture grounded in mutual respect, integrity, and accountability has, in recent months, devolved into one defined by fear, hostility, and lack of direction,” said Director of Advertising and Store Operations Supervisor Valerie Polito in a July 18 to the Board of Directors, according to CBS News. “This punitive atmosphere has created a chilling effect where many now fear speaking openly.”
Will Market Basket suffer strikes and a boycott again?
There are whispers of employee unrest and boycotts reminiscent of 2014, but there’s a chance that cooler heads may prevail this time around.
Related: Major supermarket chain workers start strike across 4 cities
The widespread strikes and boycotts in 2014 were very costly to Market Basket, with lost revenue and profit and potentially lost customers to rivals like Hannaford and Stop & Shop, major grocery chains that compete toe-to-toe with Market Basket in many places.
According to BBC reporting, Market Basket lost $70 million per day at the peak of protests in 2014 before Arthur T bought out the stake in the company his supporters didn't control for $1.5 billion.
The board, likely wanting to avoid a similar losses, has agreed to mediation with Arthur T Demoulas in September.
Market Basket’s unique culture may be at stake
Market Basket is one of the few large family-owned grocery stores out there. It’s not as big as the family-owned powerhouses Wegmans or Meijer, but it’s still a major player, so it’s not surprising that the Demoulas’ family is concerned about succession.
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The risk, however, is that concessions in mediation or Arthur T's eventual ouster could jeopardize the very culture that has won it so many loyal shoppers.
Unlike rivals Hannaford and Stop & Shop, Market Basket has resisted technology like self-checkout.
It's common to find workers in white shirts and ties stocking and facing grocery shelves, ready to point customers in the right direction. It's also not rare to find every cash register open, with baggers at each station asking, “Paper or plastic?” — something less and less common at competitors. Name tags proudly display the number of years of an employee's service, and it’s not rare to find employees who have worked there for many years.
Market Basket has also shunned costly renovations, preferring to maintain a nostalgic decor that harkens back many decades to simpler times, even for its new locations.
Perhaps, because of this approach, the grocery store chain is widely considered to have some of the lowest prices in the region.
Whether any of that changes remains to be seen, but for customers, the reasons behind their loyalty could be at stake, making the mediation in September key to whether or not workers go on strike or customers decide to boycott again to protect Arthur T’s job.
