Employee Benefit Plans

9 Months Ended

Jul. 03, 2011

Pension and Other Postretirement Benefits Disclosure [Abstract]

Employee Benefit Plans

4. Employee Benefit Plans

The Company maintains various retirement benefit plans for substantially all domestic full-time employees of the Company and its subsidiaries. These plans include the Ruddick Corporation Employees' Pension Plan ("Pension Plan"), which is a qualified non-contributory defined benefit plan, the Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan ("SERP"), which is a non-qualified supplemental defined benefit pension plan for certain executive officers and the Ruddick Retirement and Savings Plan ("Savings Plan") which is a defined contribution retirement plan. The following table summarizes the components of the net periodic pension expense for the Pension Plan and SERP (in thousands):

		13 Weeks Ended						39 Weeks Ended
		July 3, 2011			June 27, 2010			July 3, 2011			June 27, 2010
Pension Plan:
Service cost	$	661		$	447		$	1,983		$	1,341
Interest cost		4,541			4,630			13,622			13,892
Expected return on plan assets		(5,743	)		(5,195	)		(16,623	)		(14,478	)
Amortization of prior service cost		21			34			64			100
Recognized net actuarial loss		3,157			2,360			9,471			7,082
Net periodic pension expense	$	2,637		$	2,276		$	8,517		$	7,937
SERP:
Service cost	$	203		$	189		$	610		$	566
Interest cost		489			550			1,466			1,650
Amortization of prior service cost		62			62			186			186
Recognized net actuarial loss		380			344			1,140			1,032
Net periodic pension expense	$	1,134		$	1,145		$	3,402		$	3,434

Expense related to the Savings Plan amounted to $6,113,000 and $5,527,000 for the 13 weeks and $16,630,000 and $15,786,000 for the 39 weeks ended July 3, 2011 and June 27, 2010, respectively.

As previously disclosed in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in the Company's 2010 Annual Report, the Company's current funding policy for its Pension Plan is to contribute annually the amount required by regulatory authorities to meet minimum funding requirements and an amount to increase the funding ratios over future years to a level determined by the Company's actuaries to be effective in reducing the volatility of contributions. Based on the actuarial calculations, the Company was not required to make a contribution to the Pension Plan in fiscal 2011; however, the Company has contributed a total of $50 million during the 39 weeks ended July 3, 2011.

Contributions to the SERP are equal to the benefit payments made during the year. The Company has contributed $924,000 during the 39 weeks ended July 3, 2011, and anticipates contributing approximately $308,000 more for expected future benefit payments during the remainder of fiscal 2011.