The NY Post reports that the Fairway Market in Harlem has a new boss.
The struggling grocer has quietly named Abel Porter, a supermarket veteran who had been a consultant to the company, to succeed Jack Murphy as chief executive, according to a report.
Owned by Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners, Fairway emerged from bankruptcy in July. Murphy had been at the helm for the past two and a half years, presiding over two ownership turns and Fairway’s precipitous fall from Big Apple darling to a bruised chain.
Porter, 57, spent the past 20 years at Smith Food and Drug in Utah, according to Supermarket News, which first reported his appointment on Monday.
The company, with its 15 stores in the New York metro area, is frequently cited as a candidate for a second bankruptcy filing because of declining customer traffic at its stores and its unwieldy debt.
Fairway never posted a profitable quarter after going public in 2013, and interest payments on its $280 million in debt consumed its cash.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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