Special thanks to author Steve McClain, Kentucky Grocery & Convenience Store Association, for this story!
Since Cox Foods started serving the people of eastern Kentucky in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a simple statement has guided the company: “To serve the people of eastern Kentucky clean, fresh, family-friendly grocery stores at a competitive price.”
Tate Cox, the company’s president, said that simple sentence speaks volumes on how Cox Foods has succeeded.
“That’s what it is, and that’s what it’ll always be, regardless of how many people are here or what the economy is doing. So that’s what we’ll always try to do,” he said.
A Family Legacy
Perhaps it was inevitable that Tate would end up in the grocery business. His dad, Jimmy, helped establish the Cox Foods brand in eastern Kentucky, and his older brother, Martin, also stepped in to help.
“I grew up in Hindman, and that’s where he ran a small store and he and my mom lived in an apartment over the store. I grew up in a double-wide trailer the first years of my life that was right next to the store and we could walk to it,” Tate said. “From there, he expanded into multiple stores and my older brother, Martin, stepped in as well to help. At one point, they had actually grown the company to about 14 stores throughout Kentucky and Ohio.”
But then, Tate’s dad was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease when he was in his mid-50s and Tate was a teen. While he was in college, his dad’s health was declining and Tate’s future took a turn.
“He and my brother asked me to kind of step into that role, so I became president of the company in February of 2020,” Tate said. “We had to do some different things, kind of downsize and restructure the company and the group. And then, COVID in March of 2020.”
A new president, his dad’s health declining and a national pandemic.
“It’s weird to say it was a blessing that nobody else knew how to handle it either, so you just kind of had to figure it out on your own,” Tate said. “But we had a really good team, and that’s what allowed us to do what we needed to do and why we are still here today.”
Community Partners
Today, Cox Foods has locations in Happy, Jackson, Hyden, McDowell and West Liberty. [Additionally, they added Pikeville to their portfolio, and have renovated that location, reopening it in 2025.] All the locations take pride in being a valuable member of their communities, and no better example of that is when those communities have experienced a disaster.
West Liberty was the site of a massive, deadly tornado in 2012, and then there was the deadly flooding in eastern Kentucky in 2022.
“The West Liberty store was one of the few things that somehow managed to not get damaged. We spent a lot of time just trying to be there for the community,” Tate said. “That was the right thing to do, and we spent a lot of time handing water and cleaning supplies out. Just being there for the community.”
Then came the floods where employees lost their homes and everything they had.
“I do think part of our job as the local grocer is to be there for people, whether it’s your own employees or the customers,” he said. “You just [have] to be there for your communities, and I think that’s one of our greatest strengths. This is us. This is who we are, where we are from. We are born and bred and raised here, and it’s our people.”
Tate said that mindset goes back to the legacy his dad left.
“I feel like my dad was one of the kindest and wisest people that I ever knew, and he always took care of people. I can remember Christmases where he would have a box full of holiday hams and I’d ride with him around the community just handing out hams for free to people. That leaves an imprint on your mind.”
Protecting SNAP Benefits
During the 2023 General Assembly, House Bill 367 was filed, which would have restricted SNAP eligibility requirements. The bill did not pass the Senate, but Cox Foods knows how important the benefits are for their communities.
“I think there’s a stigma out there that eastern Kentucky is known for struggling. And I’m from here; I understand what that means and what that feels like. And food stamps do play a huge role in the overall health of our economy. So many people need them and truly need them to help feed their families. It’s not just a cliché. I mean, people really need it.”
He said it is easy to see the impact SNAP benefits have on the community when he sees sales reports.
“The first thing you see is, wow, what happened to the SNAP benefits here? Because you can just physically see the numbers coming in,” Tate said. “Compare it to during COVID, when they were sending out more benefits with people, and then all [the sudden] take it away. And you can physically see the drastic decreases. You can see it through the month, because they come out typically first of the month, and then towards the end you see the falloff.
“It feels like there’s probably a lot of hungry people right now, which is sad. It’s a huge part of our community, and there’s no doubt that when those things are altered or changed, it not only impacts the people in our community, which we care about the most, but it also greatly impacts the local grocer and their ability to do what they need to do to support the community.”
Cox Foods Has Seen the Region Through It All
Cox Foods has seen eastern Kentucky’s ups and downs through the coal boom and busts.
“Dad felt like he was part of that coal boom and got to see the towns thriving. It’s weird to hear and see some of the numbers of some of the stores’ sales back in those days versus the store sales today. You can just visibly see the change in the economy and the change in the number of people [who] are here,” Tate said.
As the region now sees its own struggles as people move out of the region, there’s the challenge of finding workers. Cox Foods employs about 225 to 250 people. Tate said they do all they can to attract and retain workers. They have been fortunate to have several people that have been with the company long term, including store managers who have 40 years of experience and several employees with 25-plus years of experience.
“That’s what makes the company go. It’s not me; it’s truly the team of people that we have,” he said. “So many of them act and treat this company or their store as their own, and that’s the way I hope they always see it. That’s why I feel like we’ve survived because we have some of the best people that I’ve ever met. When someone walks through the store, they know their name, they know their family, they know what they are doing, who they are. And that just goes such a long way with customers and being in the community.
“I do think it’s important that we are here for these people and give them what our mission statement says — fresh, clean, family-friendly grocery stores for the people of eastern Kentucky. That’s what it is, and that’s what it’ll always be, regardless of how many people are here or what the economy is doing. So, that’s what we’ll always try to do. We’ll survive as long as we can.”
Partnership with Mountain Association
By Ariel Fugate
Mountain Association has supported Cox Food Group over the decades with affordable financing and energy savings expertise.
Most recently, we worked with Tate on his acquisition and renovation of the former Velocity Market in Pikeville, which they reopened as the reimagined Pikeville Fresh Market in Spring 2025. With the renovation they significantly expanded the stories produce, deli and meat departments. Our Energy Team was also happy to provide additional support in their USDA Rural Energy for America Program grant, which brought in funding to support more efficient lighting and upgraded refrigeration to support to expanded fresh options.
