Fairway Market Quietly Hires New CEO

Fairway Market has quietly named Abel Porter, a supermarket veteran who had been a consultant to the company, to succeed Jack Murphy as CEO, according to reports. Murphy had been chief executive for the past two-and-a-half years, making it through two ownership turns and a bankruptcy. Porter worked for Smith Food and Drug in Utah for 20 years prior to this appointment.

Fairway Market, 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.