In 1859, George Huntington Hartford, with the aid of George Gilman, founded The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company in New York. A private man, he created what was once the largest grocer in the world, and sold more goods than any other company besides GM. Time magazine wrote in 1950 that “of every dollar the U.S. spends on food, about 10¢ is passed over A & P counters—a massive yearly total of $2.9 billion.”
Hartford was born in a small farming town in Augusta, Maine, and received little formal education. At age 18, he sailed to Boston, where he was hired as a dry goods clerk at a small grocery store. While in Boston, Hartford met his future business partner George Gilman, who hired him to expand his leather company. Instead of focusing on leather, Hartford and Gilman planned to import tea directly from China to sell it at lower-than-usual prices. They cut out the “middle man” and used the import ships owned by Gilman’s father to sell tea for $.30 per lb rather than the market price of $1 per lb. Hartford created his own tea called “Nectar” by mixing damaged boxes of green and black tea and selling it for far below prices of competitors. Their innovation and ability to slash costs while still producing a quality product let to the formation of The Great American Tea Company, which later switched its name to the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company—more commonly known as A&P.
In 1878, Hartford was elected as mayor of the town of Orange, New Jersey. By this time, the tea business was booming and Gilman had trumpeted news of his retirement. Two years later, A&P started producing their own private label of goods, including baking soda and coffee, that followed the model of their tea and sold for low prices. Not long after, in 1913 the first A&P grocery store was created. This store was so successful that it put the other local stores out of business within 6 months.
Hartford liked to run A&P as a small business even though it consistently brought in the most profits of any grocery store chain at the time. He fired no one except for dishonesty or violence, and promoted workers exclusively from within the company. He also instituted a generous pension plan without any pressure from outside sources. Hartford also believed in helping those less fortunate: after the Great Chicago fire of 1871, Hartford made sure to send food, supplies, and workers to aid in the city’s recovery effort.
Hartford’s empire now operates under the names A&P, Super Fresh, Path Mark, Food Basics, The Food Emporium, and Waldbaums. Through his innovation and leadership, these companies still operate as grocery leaders today.
