Welcome to the Food-A-Rama History Website

1947-1985



Dedicated to the Legacy - and the Founders - of Food-A-Rama (1947-1985), a Baltimore-based chain of 48 supermarkets. The stores were located in Maryland, Washington DC, Virginia, and Delaware. When sold in 1985, Food-A-Rama was the second largest supermarket chain in the region, behind Giant Food.

Recent News and Articles

Obituary: Roy Marks (01/23/2018) - Progressive Grocer
Lidl Gears Up for U.S. Expansion, Eyes Maryland Market (6/10/2017) - Baltimore Sun
Shoppers to Take Over Farm Fresh Merch, Ops (3/30/2017) - Progressive Grocer
With Changes, Public City Markets Strive to Remain Relevant (3/5/2017) - US News

More News and Articles »

Food-A-Rama Quotes

Ben Schuster pointed out that "10 of our managers are originally from Europe and came to us without any real supermarket experience, learning much of the business on the job."
- Supermarket News
  June 1976
Part of the people, who help the company expand, come right from the family. Paul's two sons, Abe and Marvin are active in the business, as are Ben's children, Avi Hershkovitz and Victor Elhai.
- Food World Magazine
  June 1979
"We feel we can compete with any store in the Baltimore market. We feel the opportunities here and we're taking advantage of it," Paul Diamond said.
- The News American
  November 1981
Dave Diamond said he could not say if Food-A-Rama would vie for any of the A&P locations. Diamond, who co-owns the shopping center in which the Irvington A&P is located also said he has received no firm notice that the store would close.
- The News American
  December 1981
A public offering of it's stock would make a lot of sense... Whether you agree with its policies or practices, Food-A-Rama is indeed one of the great success stories in the market.
- Jeff Metzger
- Food World Magazine
  1983
They often dressed funny and sometimes they were hard to understand, but no independent retailer made more of a mark in the Baltimore market in the 1970's and 80's than the owners of Food-A-Rama. Gathered at a 1975 industry reception were the three principals of the firm: Paul Diamond, Dave Diamond, and Ben Schuster.
- Food World Magazine
- Special Issue
  1995
The next time you walk into a grocery store it may very well have been owned by the Diamonds and you will literally step into history.
- Mark Newgent
- Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
  May 2008



Paul Diamond
1921-1993

Dave Diamond
1924-1989

Ben Schuster
1920-2006

Food World Magazine, Supermarket News, Progressive Grocer Magazine, Food Marketing Institute, Supervalu Inc. - Eastern Region, The Diamond Family, The Schuster Family, Roy Marks, Leonard Jaslow, Al Rosenstadt, Ruth Sommer, Jerry Esterson

E-mail any additional information or suggestions to Jeremy Diamond




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