The Massachusetts Bar Association will present the 2015 MBA
Pinnacle Awards to Market Basket and Fresh Truck on Wednesday, Nov.
18, as part of the MBA's Second Annual Consumer Advocacy Symposium,
which will be held at the MBA's Boston office at 20 West Street,
from 4-7 p.m. Established by the MBA's Consumer Advocacy Task
Force, the MBA Pinnacle Awards recognize companies - one large and
one small - which have demonstrated the highest commitment to their
customers by taking affirmative steps to improve the consumer
experience in Massachusetts.
In addition to the Pinnacle Award ceremony, this year's
symposium will feature two panels on food labeling: 1) Litigation
over food labeling as "healthy" or "natural;" and 2) Legal issues
triggered by the mislabeling of seafood.
Demoulas Super Markets Inc., doing business as Market Basket
food stores, is a retail food operator that started in 1917 in
Lowell, Massachusetts, and is now headquartered in Tewksbury.
Market Basket has always been a socially responsible company that
puts consumers and communities first by consistently offering low
prices and high quality groceries without sacrificing variety,
customer service and an enhanced shopping experience. Employing
25,000 dedicated and loyal associates, it operates 75 retail stores
and three distribution centers. Market Basket's "People First"
culture was established many decades ago by the late Telemachus A.
Demoulas, who led the company for nearly 70 years and built the
company and culture as we know it today. The company's culture
starts with respect and dignity for all and balances the interests
of all stakeholders so that all prosper. In 2015 Market Basket is
projected to hit a milestone of $5 billion in annual sales.
"The outpouring of support Market Basket received from its
customers in July 2014 when the company was threatened with a
change of management showed how strongly Massachusetts families
supported Market Basket's consumer-based approach to doing
business," said MBA Vice President Christopher A. Kenney, chair of
the MBA's Consumer Advocacy Task Force. "We are honored to present
Market Basket with our 2015 Pinnacle Award in recognition of its
unwavering commitment to pro-consumer policies, which have brought
affordable groceries, dignified jobs and more to our
communities."
Fresh Truck is a mobile food market on a mission to radically
impact community health by getting food to those who need it most.
Founded in Boston in 2013, Fresh Truck operates converted school
buses as 300-square-feet mobile food markets and interactive
food-health learning spaces. Fresh Truck partners with health
centers and other community organizations to combine health care
services and access to affordable, healthy food.
"By identifying novel and creative ways of delivering healthy
food options to low-income households, Fresh Truck itself has
become a staple in the communities it serves," said Kenney. "We are
proud to honor Fresh Truck with a 2015 Pinnacle Award for its
innovative and forthright response to consumer demands for
community access to healthy foods."
The MBA's Consumer Advocacy Task Force
The MBA's Consumer Advocacy Task Force was established in 2013
to advance the MBA's commitment to protecting consumer rights.
Comprised of lawyers from a variety of legal practices, the Task
Force is focused on empowering the public by serving as a
clearinghouse of consumer protection information for consumers. In
2014, the Task Force created the MBA Pinnacle Awards to recognize
companies that employ proactive initiatives for the benefit of
consumers in Massachusetts. The Pinnacle Awards will be given out
during the MBA's Consumer Advocacy Symposium, an annual event
featuring panel discussions on cutting-edge legal issues around
consumer interests.