Fanney Kim Du marks 40 years with Krónan

Fanney Kim Du has worked in grocery retail for 40 years, including decades with Icelandic supermarket chain Krónan, mbl.is reported. The company celebrated her anniversary at its headquarters.

Du began working on 7 October 1986 at a grocery store in JL-húsið on Hringbraut in Reykjavík. She was 16 and had gone looking for work after missing the deadline to apply to a vocational school. Store manager Gunnar Bjartmarz hired her on the spot and told her to start the next day.

Her first tasks included stocking shelves and looking after the milk refrigerator. After six months, she became purchasing manager. A few years later, she was offered a store manager position, which she accepted. She managed stores on Hringbraut and at Austurver on Háaleitisbraut.

The Hringbraut store later became Nóatún and then Krónan, which is operated by Festi hf. Du now works as category manager for fruit and vegetables across the company’s stores. Her responsibilities include handling products, quality control, displays, labelling and staff training.

She said the selection of fruit and vegetables continues to grow, with new products sometimes coming from Asia through suppliers in Denmark. She also visits stores to check that the fruit displays look good and are being managed properly.

At the anniversary gathering, Krónan operations and service director Ólafur Rúnar Þórhallsson called Du an indispensable colleague, praising her expertise and business sense. He said more than a quarter of the company’s over 1,200 employees are of foreign origin.

Krónan has 26 stores as well as a smart store. Du moved to Iceland from Vietnam with her parents and nine siblings in 1983; she has said there are 14 siblings in the family altogether.