The Hire

HFA Architecture + Engineering has named Randy Sauer, AIA, Senior Vice President, placing the 30-year AEC veteran in charge of a team of more than 160 professionals dedicated to retail and grocery design and delivery across North America. Sauer, who is based in Portland, Oregon, will also take on business development responsibilities as the Bentonville, Arkansas-based firm pushes deeper into grocery renovation and new-store construction.

Sauer arrives from ESI Construction, the Boise, Idaho firm known for its large retail and grocery practice, where he spent six years in a senior business development role. Before that, he held vice president and principal-level positions at Core States Group, DLR Group, Gensler, and MG2 — a résumé that spans some of the most active commercial design practices in the country. His grocery-sector client list includes Whole Foods Market, Target, Safeway, and multiple Kroger-owned banners. On the restaurant and specialty-retail side, he has worked with Buffalo Wild Wings, Nike, H&M, Vans, and Petco.

What It Means for Operators

For grocery and foodservice operators evaluating capital programs, the appointment signals HFA's intent to compete more aggressively for complex, multi-discipline project mandates. The firm's retail practice spans architecture, structural engineering, refrigeration design, fueling infrastructure, permitting, and MEP engineering — a breadth that positions it to serve operators managing simultaneous remodels, brand refreshes, and new-unit builds under a single project-delivery umbrella. That integrated capability is increasingly attractive as grocery and foodservice chains seek to compress project timelines and control costs amid sustained labor and materials inflation.

Sauer pointed specifically to grocery-sector dynamics that are driving capital deployment: value-focused banners, he noted, often accelerate store investment during price-pressured economic cycles precisely because renovation and efficiency upgrades help operators deliver lower shelf prices and build customer loyalty. "Prices are high enough today that at times it can feel like a recession to some consumers," Sauer said. "Efficient project design empowers retailers to keep on delivering those lower prices their customers depend on."

Fueling and Fulfillment

Beyond traditional grocery and restaurant work, Sauer flagged two growth vectors he intends to scale. HFA's fueling practice — with completed projects for 7-Eleven, Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores, Stripes Convenience Stores, Kum & Go, MAPCO Express, Parker's Kitchen, and Jiffy Trip — is positioned as a differentiator as convenience-store and grocery operators add traditional and EV fueling to their site footprints. The firm's teams also carry project experience in customer pickup, fulfillment centers, and automated distribution — capabilities that align with the omnichannel buildout underway across the grocery segment.

HFA CEO Dave Wilgus cited Sauer's track record growing retail and grocery practices at nationally recognized AEC firms and his "people-first leadership philosophy" as the deciding factors in the hire. The 650-plus-person, 100% employee-owned firm operates offices in Bentonville, Fort Worth, Baltimore, Springfield, Boston, Franklin (Mass.), and Mexico City.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.