John Augustine Hartford: Hard Work and Determination Brought Him to the Top

John Augustine Hartford was the former president of the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) for 35 years. He and his brother George Ludlum Hartford inherited the company from their father, George Huntington Hartford. John Augustine, who was known as the Merchant Prince, took care of the business operations while George Ludlum was responsible for the finances.

In those days, the Hartford brothers were considered experts in business and were oftentimes interviewed by leading publications. For instance, John Augustine and George Ludlum were featured in the cover story of Time Magazine in November 1950. According to Time, “going to A&P was almost an American tribal rite.” The August 29, 2011 editorial of Wall Street Journal said, “Together the [Hartford] brothers, neither of whom finished high school, built what would be, for 40 years, the largest retail outlet in the world.” On September 7, 2011, the New York Times said about the Hartford brothers in its editorial as “among the 20^th century’s most accomplished and visionary businessmen.”

John Augustine was born on February 10, 1872 in Orange, New Jersey. He began his career with A&P 1888. He was well traveled because he represented the company in far flung areas. When his father acquired the company from George Gilman, John Augustine converted the company from a tea and coffee shop chain to a grocery chain and led the company’s expansion until it became the largest grocery chain in the US in 1915.

During his presidency, John Augustine reinvented A&P three times. In 1912, A&P took the concept of an economy grocery store. In the mid-1920s, A&P combined grocery, meat and produce. In the late 1930s, A&P was presented as a DIY self-service supermarket. These reinventions were credited for the improvement of the country’s nutrition because of lower costs of food in proportion to the growing average American diet.

A&P also ventured into manufacturing. John Augustine consulted with Henry Ford on vertical integration and turned the company into one of the largest food manufacturers in US. Among the products manufactured by A&P are canned goods including salmon packaging in Alaska, Bakery products, and coffee and tea.