Food Lion is an American grocery store chain headquartered in Salisbury, North Carolina, that operates over 1000 supermarkets in 10 states of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, employing over 63,000 people. It was founded in 1957 as Food Town, a single grocery store in Salisbury. It later expanded to many locations across North Carolina. It was independently operated until it was acquired by the Belgium-based conglomerate Delhaize Group in 1974.. In 1983, the company changed its name and branding to Food Lion to allow it to expand into regions where Food Town was already in use by unrelated stores. Following further mergers and acquisitions, Food Lion, LLC. is currently owned by Ahold Delhaize.