Karns finds success with local products; community markets

A third-generation grocery store has found success working with local farmers and food makers for 65 years and expanding through acquiring existing businesses.

Karns Quality Foods, which started in 1959 when Dave Karns used what he learned in the U.S. Air Force to open a butcher shop, has grown into 10 stores across Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry and York counties, said Andrea Karns, CEO.

“We’ve grown strategically when we’ve seen an opportunity and capitalized on it,” Karns said.

Those opportunities, which have seen a 45% growth in earnings over the past five years, were found when store owners were looking to retire or otherwise close.

“We aren’t looking at a set number of stores, but the right stores,” Karns said, explaining that the company looks to take over community grocery stores to keep fresh foods in neighborhoods.

“We are always looking, but don’t look at specific locations. We don’t build new stores,” she added.

“The last 10 years have been active for us,” she said. “We find locations that fit our format and everything lines up just right.”

That format still includes a full-service meat department that offers customers custom cuts.

“That is where we hang our hat,” Karns said. “Customers get the cuts and quality they are looking for. We have a butcher shop feel in a real grocery store.”

Karns said her grandfather’s butcher shop quickly became a grocery store when he realized it would be convenient for him to offer his customers eggs, milk, bread and other items in one spot.

“He knew it would increase foot traffic and provide sales opportunities,” she said. Keeping with the butcher shop roots, Karns started a beef business in late summer 2022 with Keystone Farm Future to offer customers PA Preferred Angus beef, she said.

“We wanted a way to introduce local Pennsylvania beef to our customers and support local farmers,” Karns said.

Since the launch, Karns said the company has partnered with JBS Foods, who she said is better at scaling the availability of the product.

“We work with 38 farms and 5,000 head of cattle,” she said. “We kicked it up to allow for better availability. When we started this, we worked with the farmers, but the partnership has allowed it to grow.”

In fact, she said, since the partnership was formed both the number of farms and head of cattle have grown.

With the beef business, Karns said customers in each store can get cuts they can’t get anywhere else.

“One of the big items we offer is to cut to customer specifications,” she said. “We have the whole strip so if someone wants steaks cut 1 ½ inches thick, we can do that. We cut by hand.”

Karns said the company trains its butchers and meat cutters on site.

“Our meat managers identify team members who want to learn new skills and we train them. Depending on what they want, they can become butchers or meat cutters,” she said.

In addition to the full-service meat department, Karns said the family offers a “huge number” of locally produced items.

“Our salty snacks are mostly local brands, and you can find items your neighbors are making,” Karns said.

“We live in central Pennsylvania and when we are out and about, when we find a product we like, we seek out an opportunity to have it in the stores,” she said, adding local vendors also contact the store. “We are accessible to talk to.”

The company also has a long tradition of working with local farmers to offer fresh fruits and produce, she said.

“That’s the magic. We work with a lot of local farms. Our two primary farms are Hollabaugh Brothers (Biglerville, Adams County) and Oak Grove Farms (Mechanicsburg, Cumberland County),” Karns said.

“We’ve worked with them for as long as I can remember, at least 30 years,” she added.

Fresh produce comes to each store four times a week and Karns said customers want to support their local agriculture. She said that will continue through fall due to Pennsylvania’s strong apple season.

While the company, which employs around 1,200, is being led by the third generation now with Karns’ cousin Mathew Rudderow serving as president and sister Megan Karns as chief human resources officer, Karns said the second generation is still “very active.”

“We are hoping for a fourth generation, but they are all still too young,” she quipped. “There are a number of cousins running around, but it’s too early to tell. You have to want to be present and show up every day in a family business.”

Being a small grocery operation, Karns said it has the unique ability to be “truly part of the community” and support the nonprofit organizations.

“We are more agile and can move faster with requests,” she said. “We support community projects and customers like that.”