Baldor Specialty Foods announced Monday that its longtime President Michael Muzyk will be retiring at the end of 2023.
Muzyk has worked for the mid-Atlantic food distributor since 1996, when he was hired as a sales representative. During his time with Baldor, Muzyk helped the distribution company establish headquarters in the Bronx, New York, as well as expanded services from Maine to Virginia, opening regional distribution centers in Boston, the Washington, D.C., suburbs and Philadelphia, per the announcement.
Muzyk also grew the company’s product catalog beyond produce to offer specialty, dairy and meat as well as led the acquisition of seafood distributor Pierless Fish. He also led the development of Fresh Cuts, which is the company’s processed fruit and vegetable operation that employs 300-plus workers, according to the press release.
Today, Baldor sells over 5,000 SKUs and services more than 400 routes for more than 12,000 customers.
Muzyk’s work as a sales representative made him “indispensable” and the “right hand man” to Baldor founder and CEO Kevin Murphy before Murphy’s passing in 2013, the announcement said. Muzyk helped Murphy’s son, TJ Murphy, take over as CEO and the owner of the company.
Muzyk, along with TJ Murphy, have been collaborating on the succession for over a year. However, Murphy stated that a new president would not be appointed: “I couldn’t expect anyone to fill Michael’s shoes,” Murphy said in a statement.
The two are “bolstering the leadership team with subject matter executives from larger companies. In the last 18 months, Baldor has hired eight individuals to vice president and senior vice president level positions and plans to hire more c-suite executives in the coming months.
