Mi Pueblo Food Center

Last updated
Mi Pueblo
Company typePrivate
Industry Retail
Founded1991
FounderJuvenal Chávez
DefunctJuly 2017
FateMerged with Cardenas in 2017
Headquarters San Jose, California, U.S.
Number of locations
21
Area served
 Northern California
Key people
Founder Juvenal Chávez
President and CEO Javier Ramírez
ProductsMeat, produce, seafood, flowers, baked goods
Parent Cardenas   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website mipueblofoods.com

Mi Pueblo was a Northern California neighborhood grocery chain based in San Jose, California. [1] It had a total of 21 store locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley and Monterey Bay Peninsula. [2] Mi Pueblo attempted to emulate the fresh-food markets of Mexico and Latin America while also carrying all the grocery items generally available in mainstream supermarkets. [3] [4]

Contents

Mi Pueblo was established in 1991. [5] It was purchased by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts in 2016, along with Ontario, California–based Cardenas. The two chains merged in July 2017, and the Mi Pueblo brand was phased out the same year. [6]

History

Mi Pueblo was founded by Juvenal Chávez, who emigrated to the United States from Aguililla, Michoacán, Mexico in 1984. Only speaking Spanish at the time, Chávez took odd jobs while attending night school to learn English. At one point, he worked as a janitor at Stanford University. [7] In 1986, Chávezwent into business with his brother running Chavez Meat Market. [4] Five years later, deciding to go off on his own, Chávez purchased County Time Meats in San Jose, California, starting his mercantile chain. [4] In 1998, Chávez changed the name to "Mi Pueblo Food Center", and expanded into produce, bakery, and deli, and then grocery. [4] [5]

Mi Pueblo supermarket in San Jose, California Mi Pueblo Market, SJ, 1.jpg
Mi Pueblo supermarket in San Jose, California

While expanding into Fruitvale, the local merchants association protested the opening of a Mi Pueblo location, on the grounds that it would take business away from local small businesses. [8]

Bankruptcy

On July 22, 2013, Mi Pueblo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [9] Less than a year later on June 4, 2014, Mi Pueblo announced that they formally emerged from Chapter 11 reorganization after receiving $56 million in financing from Chicago- based investment firm Victory Park Capital (VPC). [10] As part of the restructuring, Javier Ramírez was appointed as president and CEO, succeeding Juvenal Chávez who was named chairman of the board. [10]

Acquisition

The chain was purchased in 2016 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and merged with Cardenas. The Mi Pueblo brand was phased out the following year. [6]

Products and services

Mi Pueblo had seven different departments in the store, including meat, produce, bakery, taqueria, tortilleria, deli, and seafood. [5] [4]

In October 2014, Mi Pueblo started offering Western Union services throughout all its stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, Monterey Bay Peninsula and Central Valley [11] to enhance existing customer needs such as check cashing, utility payments, money transfers and money orders.

Community involvement

In 2011, Mi Pueblo launched a scholarship program to "help students prepare for a brighter future".[ citation needed ] Three years later, Mi Pueblo, in collaboration with partners including the Mexican Heritage Corporation and Consul General of Mexico, raised over $100,000 to provide legal representation to unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border through its month- long campaign Unidos por los Niños. [12]

Controversy over immigration checks

In September 2012, Mi Pueblo was criticized by labor organizations for enrolling in E-verify, a Department of Homeland Security program which screens employees for irregularities in their immigration status. As an owner, Juvenal Chávez was accused of hypocrisy since he started out in business as an illegal immigrant. A spokesperson for the business said that Chávez supported fixing the "broken" immigration system. [2]

References

  1. ↑ "City's Mi Pueblo Food Center thriving". Patch.com. 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  2. 1 2 "Hispanic market chain chief targeted for checking new employee immigration status". Oakland Tribune . 2012-09-12. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  3. ↑ Himmel, Sheila (2010-01-14). "Filling Shopping Carts, and a Community Need". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Mi Pueblo owner has more in store". 2006-06-11. Archived from the original on 2006-08-30. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  5. 1 2 3 "Mi Pueblo Succeeding with Crossover Shoppers". 2009-01-12. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
  6. 1 2 Stoepfel, Bryce (2018-02-14). "Mi Pueblo becomes Cardenas Market". Gilroy Dispatch . Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  7. ↑ "Mi Pueblo bags $300M in revenue". San Francisco Business Times . 2010-07-18. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2013-02-02.
  8. ↑ Love, William (2005-09-05). "Fruitvale merchants resist 'Latino Wal-Mart'". East Bay Times. Retrieved 2023-04-09.
  9. ↑ "Why Mi Pueblo filed for bankruptcy - it's not what you think". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  10. 1 2 "Chavez out as Mi Pueblo CEO, successor named". Bizjournals.com. 2014-06-04. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  11. ↑ "The Western Union Company - Western Union Continues Expansion; Signs Mi Pueblo". Ir.westernunion.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  12. ↑ "Unidos por los Niños: Mi Pueblo Foods Helps Raise More Than $100,000 for Unaccompanied Minors - Hispanics in Philanthropy". Archived from the original on 2015-05-05. Retrieved 2015-04-21.
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