Longtime Supermarket Employees Recognized for Service

Five Hasbrouck Heights residents have been honored for their years of service with Inserra Supermarkets, which is celebrating 58 years of service by honoring 408 of its associates who have reached milestone anniversaries this year.

Hasbrouck Heights’ Kliff Bajraktari, Gerald Delvecchio and Charles G. Linder have been recognized for their 25 years of service with Inserra. Also, Heights residents Karl W. Warren has been honored for 15 years of service and Liliana Maci for 10 years of service.

The honorees were recently recognized for their milestone years-of-service anniversaries, ranging from five to 50 years, at a reception held at the Sheraton Mahwah Hotel, announced the supermarket chain in a statement this week.

“These very special individuals inspire all of us at Inserra Supermarkets to carry on the legacy of our founder – my grandfather – Patsy Inserra, each and every day,” said Lawrence Inserra, Jr., president and CEO of the Mahwah-based company, in a statement. “Even though the supermarket business is much different than it was when we opened our first store in Lyndhurst almost six decades ago, our associates continue to make the communities in which our stores are located a better place to shop, work and live.”

Among this year’s honorees were William “Billy” Gordon of Pompton Lakes and Henry “Hank” Garofalo of Lyndhurst, both of whom marked 50 years with the company. Gordon, a former meat department manager in Lyndhurst and Ramsey who now conducts technology-related in-service programs at all of Inserra’s stores, and Garofalo, a former produce manager in Lyndhurst who is the receiving manager in Hackensack, have forged a lifelong friendship.

“I have been fortunate enough to be part of this family-oriented company for all of these years and have made good friends who are as close to me as my own family members,” said Garofalo, who also met his wife of 43 years, Jean, at the former Hasbrouck Heights store. She now works at the Lodi store.

“I was at Hank’s wedding and we have shared many, many things over the years,” added Gordon. “Friendship and family – from the stock people to the managers – is what working at Inserra Supermarkets is all about. This philosophy has been passed down through the generations by the Inserra family and is something you just don’t see anymore.”