Methuen Mayor David P. “D.J.” Beauregard Jr. used tough language Thursday to take the board of Demoulas Super Markets to task for, what he calls, the “Same mess, same playbook and the same clear solution” as the company’s 2014 civil war.
Beauregard called on the board behind the Market Basket chain to “do the right thing…and bring back Arthur T. Demoulas—before the damage becomes irreversible.” The mayor noted Methuen has two Market Basket stores and residents work there and rely on them to make ends meet during a time of high food prices and food insecurity.
“On any given day, you’ll find our residents lined up with carts full of groceries,” Beauregard said in a letter to Market Basket’s corporate office in Tewksbury.
The mayor took a stand at the start of the letter, writing, “Let me be clear. Whatever is happening behind closed doors at Market Basket needs to stop. Now.”
As WHAV reported in May, the executive committee of the Market Basket Board of Directors suspended the beloved DeMoulas as CEO and said it is investigating “credible allegations that Mr. Demoulas began to plan a disruption of the business and operations of Market Basket with a work stoppage.”
In an email to WHAV this week, Demoulas himself called the board’s firings of Grocery Director Tom Gordon and Director of Operations Joe Schmidt “the worst decisions that could be made.”
“Steven Collins of Exeter Capital doesn’t understand this company’s culture. Nor do his fellow board members Jay Hachigian of Gunderson Dettmer and Michael Keyes of Intercontinental Real Estate. To them, Tom, after 50 years with the company, and Joe after 39 years, are easily cast aside. They are just collateral damage in this pre-planned coup.”
Beauregard recalled a similar family feud in 2014, writing, “You remember how that ended, right? With customers and employees standing shoulder-to-shoulder to demand the return of Arthur T. Demoulas—the one leader who actually understood what made Market Basket different.”