Mi Pueblo Food Center

Last updated
Mi Pueblo
Company typeprivate
Industry Retail
Founded1991
FounderJuvenal Chavez
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 Chavez
President and CEO Javier Ramirez
ProductsMeat, produce, seafood, flowers, baked goods
Parent Cardenas   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Website mipueblofoods.com
Mi Pueblo supermarket in San Jose, California Mi Pueblo Market, SJ, 1.jpg
Mi Pueblo supermarket in San Jose, California

Mi Pueblo was a Northern California neighborhood grocery chain based in San Jose, California. [1] Mi Pueblo had a total of 21 store locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley and Monterey Bay Peninsula. [2] It 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] In 2016, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts purchased Mi Pueblo along with Ontario, California–based Cardenas. The two chains merged in July 2017, and the Mi Pueblo brand was phased out the following year. [6]

History

Mi Pueblo was founded by Juvenal Chavez, who emigrated from Mexico in 1984. Speaking no English at the time, Chavez took odd jobs while attending night school to learn English. At one point he worked as a janitor at Stanford University. [7] In 1986, he went into business with his brother running Chavez Meat Market. [4] In 1991, deciding to go off on his own, he purchased County Time Meats in San Jose, California, starting his mercantile chain. [4] In 1998, he changed the name to "Mi Pueblo Food Center", and over time expanded into produce, bakery and deli, then grocery. [4] [5]

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 Ramirez was appointed as president and CEO, succeeding Juvenal Chavez 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 in 2017. [6]

Products and services

Mi Pueblo has 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 Bay Area, Monterey 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 ] In 2014, 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 Chavez was accused of hypocrisy, since he started out in business as an illegal immigrant. A spokesperson for the business said that Chavez supported fixing the "broken" immigration system. [2]

Related Research Articles

Albertsons Companies, Inc. is an American grocery company founded and headquartered in Boise, Idaho.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grocery store</span> Retail store that primarily sells food and other household supplies

A grocery store (AE), grocery shop (BE) or simply grocery is a foodservice retail store that primarily retails a general range of food products, which may be fresh or packaged. In everyday U.S. usage, however, "grocery store" is a synonym for supermarket, and is not used to refer to other types of stores that sell groceries. In the UK, shops that sell food are distinguished as grocers or grocery shops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kohlberg Kravis Roberts</span> American investment manager

KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strategic partners, hedge funds. As of December 31, 2022, the firm had completed more than 690 private equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $700 billion of total enterprise value. As of December 31, 2022, assets under management (AUM) and fee paying assets under management (FPAUM) were $504 billion and $412 billion, respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Publix</span> American supermarket chain in the southeastern United States

Publix Super Markets, Inc., commonly known as Publix, is an employee-owned American supermarket chain headquartered in Lakeland, Florida. Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, Publix is a private corporation that is wholly owned by present and past employees and members of the Jenkins family. Publix operates throughout the Southeastern United States, with locations in Florida (865), Georgia (211), Alabama (90), South Carolina (69), Tennessee (57), North Carolina (54), Virginia (20), and Kentucky (1). Kentucky is the most recent addition to the Publix footprint, with the company's first store in that state having opened on January 10, 2024 in Louisville.

Schnucks is a supermarket chain. Based in the St. Louis area, the company was founded in 1939 with the opening of a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) store in north St. Louis and currently operates over 100 stores in four states throughout the Midwest. Schnucks also ran stores under the Logli Supermarkets and Hilander Foods banners. Schnucks is one of the largest privately held supermarket chains in the United States and dominates the St. Louis metro grocery market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King & Story, San Jose</span> Neighborhood of San Jose in Santa Clara, California, United States

The King & Story, also known as Story & King, neighborhood of San Jose, California is located in the Alum Rock district of East San Jose, centered on the intersection of King and Story roads. King & Story is one of San Jose's most notable and historic Chicano/Mexican-American neighborhoods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Lee Corporation</span> American defunct consumer good company

The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. On July 4, 2012, Sara Lee Corporation was split into two companies: one for North American operations renamed Hillshire Brands, the other for international beverage and bakery businesses named D.E Master Blenders 1753.

Fred Meyer is an American chain of hypermarket superstores founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, United States, by Fred G. Meyer. The stores are found in the northwest U.S., within the states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. The company was acquired by Kroger in 1998, though the stores are still branded Fred Meyer. The chain was one of the first in the United States to promote one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, bank, clothing, jewelry, home decor, home improvement, garden, electronics, restaurant, shoes, sporting goods, and toys. The Fred Meyer division is headquartered in Portland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H-E-B</span> American supermarket chain

H-E-B Grocery Company, LP, is an American privately held supermarket chain based in San Antonio, Texas, with more than 380 stores throughout the U.S. state of Texas and Mexico. The company also operates Central Market, an upscale organic and fine foods retailer. As of 2022, the company had a total revenue of US$38.9 billion. H-E-B ranked number 6 on Forbes's 2022 list of "America's Largest Private Companies". H-E-B was named Retailer of the Year in 2010 by Progressive Grocer. Supermarket News ranks H-E-B 13th on the list of "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" by sales. Based on 2019 revenues, H-E-B is the 19th-largest retailer in the United States. It donates 5% of pretax profits to charity. The official mascot of H-E-B is named H-E-Buddy, an anthropomorphic brown grocery bag, with multiple grocery items emerging from the top.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashas'</span> Arizona based grocery store chain

Bashas' is a grocery store chain, primarily located in Arizona, with two locations outside the state in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and Shiprock, New Mexico. Its headquarters are in unincorporated Maricopa County, Arizona, near Chandler. As of December 15, 2021, Bashas' is owned by Raley's Supermarkets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vons</span> American supermarket chain owned by Albertsons Companies, Inc

Vons is a supermarket chain owned by Albertsons, with most of its locations in Southern California and the Las Vegas Valley. It is headquartered in Fullerton, California, and operates stores under the Vons and Pavilions banners. It was owned by Safeway Inc. and headquartered in Arcadia, California, before that company was acquired by and folded into Albertsons along with all of their subsidiaries, including Vons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chedraui</span> Mexican supermarket company

Chedraui is a publicly traded Mexican grocery store and department store chain which also operates stores in the U.S. in the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada under the banner name El Super and stores in Texas under the banner name Fiesta Mart. It is traded on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the symbol CHEDRAUI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Randalls</span> American supermarket chain in Texas owned by Albertsons Companies, Inc

Randalls operates 32 supermarkets in Texas under the Randalls and Flagship Randalls banners. The chain consists of 13 stores located around the Houston area and 15 stores located around the Austin area as of May 2020. Randalls today forms the nucleus of the current Houston division of Albertsons and is headquartered in the Westchase district of Houston. The office served as the headquarters of the independent Randalls company before its takeover and later the Texas division of Safeway. The Randalls distribution center was near Cypress, Texas, and now is serviced by the Tom Thumb distribution in Roanoke, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.

Davis Food City was a supermarket chain headquartered Houston, Texas, United States, founded in 1965 and closed in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save Mart Supermarkets</span> American grocery store company

The Save Mart Companies is an American grocery store operator founded and headquartered in Modesto, California. It owns and operates stores under the names of Save Mart, Lucky, Lucky California, FoodMaxx, and Maxx Value Foods. The stores are located in northern and central California and northern Nevada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sprouts Farmers Market</span> American supermarket chain

Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., is a supermarket chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The grocer offers a wide selection of natural and organic foods, including fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat, poultry, seafood, deli, baked goods, dairy products, frozen foods, natural body care, and household items. Sprouts employs 35,000 workers and operates more than 380 stores in 23 states.

Sunflower Farmers Market was an American chain of full-service grocery stores headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, which emphasized value-priced natural and organic products. Sunflower opened its first store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2002. In June 2013, Sunflower Farmers Market was operating 38 grocery stores located in eight Southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas. In June 2012, Sunflower merged with Sprouts Farmers Markets.

Best Market was a family-owned, regional supermarket chain with 30 stores in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The company was headquartered in Bethpage, New York, and had been owned by the Raitses family since the company's first store opened in Lake Ronkonkoma, New York, in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cardenas (supermarket)</span> American supermarket chain

Cardenas is a supermarket chain based in Ontario, California, United States, that specializes in Latin American cuisine. As of 2019, the company operates 49 Cardenas stores and seven Los Altos Ranch Markets stores in California, Arizona, and Nevada.

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.