PENSION PLANS

12 Months Ended

Jul. 31, 2021

Compensation Related Costs [Abstract]

PENSION PLANS

PENSION PLANS

Company-Sponsored Pension Plans

The Company sponsored four defined benefit pension plans. One of the plans was terminated in fiscal 2020, and two of the plans are frozen and participants no longer earn service credit. Two are tax-qualified plans covering members of unions. Benefits under these two plans are based on a fixed amount for each year of service. One is a tax-qualified plan covering nonunion associates. Benefits under this plan are based upon percentages of annual compensation. Funding for these plans is based on an analysis of the specific requirements and an evaluation of the assets and liabilities of each plan. The fourth plan is an unfunded, nonqualified plan providing supplemental pension benefits to certain executives.

Net periodic pension cost for the plans include the following components:

	2021		2020
Service cost	$	216	$	202
Interest cost on projected benefit obligation	1,689		2,154
Expected return on plan assets	(1,932)		(2,792)
Loss on settlement	587		1,604
Amortization of gains and losses	588		555
Net periodic pension cost	$	1,148	$	1,723

On December 23, 2019, the Company terminated the Village Super Market, Inc. Retail Clerks Employees’ Retirement Plan. All participants of the plan were former employees of a store previously closed in 1994. An annuity contract totaling $1,302 was purchased with an insurance company for all participants who did not elect a lump sum distribution. Additionally, lump sum distributions related to the termination totaled $451. The plan had sufficient assets to satisfy all termination transaction obligations, and no benefit obligation or plan assets related to the Village Super Market, Inc. Retail Clerks Employees’ Retirement Plan remained as of the termination date. As a result of this termination, the Company recognized a non-cash pre-tax settlement charge totaling $669 during fiscal 2020. This settlement charge represents the plan’s remaining unrecognized losses within accumulated other comprehensive loss as of the termination date.

Additionally, the Company recognized a settlement loss of $587 and $935 in fiscal 2021 and 2020, respectively, for plans where benefits paid exceeded the sum of the service cost and interest cost components of net periodic pension cost.

The changes in benefit obligations and the reconciliation of the funded status of the Company’s plans to the consolidated balance sheets were as follows:

	2021		2020
Changes in Benefit Obligation:
Benefit obligation at beginning of year	$	76,849	$	69,932
Service cost	216		202
Interest cost	1,689		2,154
Benefits paid	(796)		(887)
Settlement	(2,563)		(6,733)
Actuarial loss	(2,166)		12,181
Benefit obligation at end of year	$	73,229	$	76,849
Changes in Plan Assets:
Fair value of plan assets at beginning of year	$	70,683	$	65,173
Actual return on plan assets	(4,277)		13,130
Employer contributions	—		—
Benefits paid	(796)		(887)
Settlements paid	(2,563)		(6,733)
Fair value of plan assets at end of year	63,047		70,683
Funded status at end of year	$	10,182	$	6,166
Amounts recognized in the consolidated balance sheets:
Pension liabilities	10,182		6,166
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, net of income taxes	9,833		8,092
Amounts included in Accumulated other comprehensive loss (pre-tax):
Net actuarial loss	$	14,167	$	11,299

Company expects approximately $504 of the net actuarial loss, excluding the impact of any potential plan settlements, to be recognized as a component of net periodic benefit costs in fiscal 2022.

The accumulated benefit obligations of the plans were $71,931 and $76,849 at July 31, 2021 and July 25, 2020, respectively.  The following information is presented for those plans with an accumulated benefit obligation in excess of plan assets:

	2021		2020
Projected benefit obligation	$	73,229	$	11,465
Accumulated benefit obligation	71,931		11,465
Fair value of plan assets	63,047		4,068

Weighted average assumptions used to determine benefit obligations and net periodic pension cost for the Company’s defined benefit plans were as follows:

	2021		2020
Assumed discount rate — net periodic pension cost	2.26	%	3.41	%
Assumed discount rate — benefit obligation	2.44	%	2.26	%
Assumed rate of increase in compensation levels	4.50	%	4.50	%
Expected rate of return on plan assets	3.36	%	4.82	%

Investments in the pension trusts are overseen by the trustees of the plans, who are officers of Village. The Company utilizes a liability-driven investment ("LDI") strategy. A LDI strategy focuses on maintaining a close to fully-funded status over the long-term with minimal funded status risk.  This is achieved by investing more of the plan assets in fixed income instruments to more closely match the duration of the plan liability.  The investment allocation to fixed income instruments will increase as each plans' funded status increases. The target allocations for plan assets are 0-15% equity securities, 85-100% fixed income securities and 0-10% cash. Asset allocations are reviewed periodically and appropriate rebalancing is performed.

Equity securities include investments in large-cap, small-cap and mid-cap companies located both in and outside the United States. Fixed income securities include U.S. treasuries, mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds of companies from diversified industries. Investments in securities are made through mutual funds. In addition, one plan held Class A common stock of Village in the amount of $512 and $573 at July 31, 2021 and July 25, 2020, respectively.

Risk management is accomplished through diversification across asset classes and fund strategies, multiple investment portfolios and investment guidelines. The plans do not allow for investments in derivative instruments.

The fair value of the pension assets were as follows:

	July 31, 2021						July 25, 2020
Asset Category	Level 1		Assets Measured at NAV		Total		Level 1		Assets Measured at NAV		Total
Cash	$	83	$	—	$	83	$	61	$	—	$	61
Equity securities:
Company stock	512		—		512		573		—		573
Mutual/Collective Trust Funds - U.S. (1)	—		1,174		1,174		—		1,214		1,214
Mutual/Collective Trust Funds - International (1)	—		387		387		—		396		396
Fixed income securities:
Mutual/Collective Trust Funds - Fixed Income (1)	—		60,891		60,891		—		68,439		68,439
Total	$	595	$	62,452	$	63,047	$	634	$	70,049	$	70,683

(1)Includes pools of investments that are measured at fair value using the Net Asset Value (NAV) per share (or its equivalent) practical expedient. The NAV is based on the underlying net assets owned by the fund and the relative interest of each participating investor in the fair value of the underlying assets. The underlying investments are classified as either level 1 or 2 of the fair value hierarchy.

Based on actuarial assumptions, estimated future defined benefit payments, which may be significantly impacted by participant elections related to retirement dates and forms of payment, are as follows:

Fiscal Year
2022	$	63,114
2023	180
2024	220
2025	170
2026	7,410
2027 - 2030	1,010

In fiscal 2020 the Company began the process of terminating the Village Super Market, Inc. Employees’ Retirement Plan. Upon satisfaction of all regulatory requirements, which is expected to occur during fiscal 2022, the Company will fully fund and liquidate all plan assets to purchase annuity contracts from an insurance company for all participants who do not elect a lump sum distribution. At the time of settlement, the Company will recognize a non-cash pre-tax charge representing the plan’s remaining unrecognized losses within accumulated other comprehensive loss as of the termination date. As of July 31, 2021,

the funded status of this plan is a net liability of $3,844 and the pre-tax amount included in Accumulated other comprehensive loss is $15,155. Contributions to the remaining plans are expected to be immaterial in fiscal 2022.

Multi-Employer Plans

The Company contributes to three multi-employer pension plans under collective bargaining agreements covering union-represented employees.  These plans provide benefits to participants that are generally based on a fixed amount for each year of service.  Based on the most recent information available, certain of these multi-employer plans are underfunded. The amount of any increase or decrease in Village’s required contributions to these multi-employer pension plans will depend upon the outcome of collective bargaining, actions taken by trustees who manage the plans, government regulations and the actual return on assets held in the plans, among other factors.

The risks of participating in multi-employer pension plans are different from the risks of participating in single-employer pension plans in the following respects:

•Assets contributed to a multi-employer plan by one employer may be used to provide benefits to employees of other participating employers.

•If a participating employer stops contributing to the plan, the unfunded obligations of the plan allocable to such withdrawing employer may be borne by the remaining participating employers.

•If the Company stops participating in some of its multi-employer pension plans, the Company may be required to pay those plans an amount based on its allocable share of the underfunded status of the plan, referred to as a withdrawal liability.

The Company’s participation in these plans is outlined in the following tables.  The “EIN / Pension Plan Number” column provides the Employer Identification Number (“EIN”) and the three-digit pension plan number.  The most recent “Pension Protection Act Zone Status” available in 2020 and 2019 is for the plan’s year-end at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019, respectively, unless otherwise noted.  Among other factors, generally, plans in the red zone are less than 65 percent funded, plans in the yellow zone are between 65 and 80 percent funded and plans in the green zone are at least 80 percent funded.  The “FIP/RP Status Pending / Implemented” column indicates plans for which a funding improvement plan (“FIP”) or a rehabilitation plan (“RP”) is either pending or has been implemented. 

		Pension Protection Act Zone Status		FIP/RP Status Pending / Implemented	Contributions for the year ended (5)					Expiration  date of Collective- Bargaining Agreement
Pension Fund	EIN / Pension Plan Number	2020	2019		July 31, 2021		July 25, 2020		Surcharge  Imposed (6)
Pension Plan of Local 464A (1)	22-6051600-001	Green	Green	N/A	$	874	$	886	N/A	August 2025
UFCW Local 1262 & Employers Pension Fund (2), (4)	22-6074414-001	Red	Red	Implemented	2,721		2,789		No	October 2023
UFCW Regional Pension Plan (3), (4)	16-6062287-074	Red	Red	Implemented	$	1,260	$	1,231	No	June 2024
Total Contributions					$	4,855	$	4,906

(1)The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan’s year-end at December 31, 2020 and December 31, 2019.

(2)The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan’s year-end at December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018.

(3)The information for this fund was obtained from the Form 5500 filed for the plan’s year-end at September 30, 2020 and September 30, 2019.

(4)This plan has elected to utilize special amortization provisions provided under the Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010.  There were no changes to the plan’s zone status as a result of this election.

(5)The Company’s contributions represent more than 5% of the total contributions received by each applicable pension fund for all periods presented.

(6)Under the Pension Protection Act, a surcharge may be imposed when employers make contributions under a collective bargaining agreement that is not in compliance with a rehabilitation plan.  As of July 31, 2021, the collective bargaining agreements under which the Company was making contributions were in compliance with rehabilitation plans adopted by each applicable pension fund.

Other Multi-Employer Benefit Plans

The Company also contributes to various other multi-employer benefit plans that provide health and welfare benefits to active and retired participants. Total contributions made by the Company to these other multi-employer benefit plans were $33,270 and $29,965 in fiscal 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Defined Contribution Plans

The Company sponsors a 401(k) savings plan for certain eligible associates. Company contributions under that plan, which are based on specified percentages of associate contributions, were $1,791 and $1,765 in fiscal 2021 and 2020, respectively.   The Company also contributes to union sponsored defined contribution plans for certain eligible associates.  Company contributions under these plans were $3,296 and $2,296 in fiscal 2021 and 2020, respectively.