H-E-B
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| H.E. Butt Grocery Company | |
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| Type of Company | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1905 |
| Headquarters | San Antonio, Texas |
| Key people | Charles Butt, Chairman & CEO; Martin Otto, CFO; Bob Loeffler, COO |
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks |
| Revenue | $12.4 billion USD (2005) |
| Employees | 60,000 |
| Slogan | Here Everything's Better (in Mexico "El Verdadero Lugar del Ahorro") |
| Website | www.heb.com |
H.E. Butt Grocery Company (abbreviated H-E-B) is a privately held San Antonio, Texas-based supermarket chain with over 300 stores throughout Texas and northern Mexico. H-E-B ranked No. 11 on Forbes' 2006 list of "America's Largest Private Companies," with $12.4 billion in annual revenue.[1]
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[edit] History
The company was founded in 1905 when Florence Butt opened C.C. Butt Staple and Fancy Groceries on the ground floor of the family home in Kerrville, Texas. In 1919, Howard E. Butt, her youngest son, took over the store upon his return from World War I. In 1924, he expanded the Butt Grocery Company with a new store in Junction, about 60 miles from Kerrville. Charles, the youngest son of Howard E. Butt, became president of the H.E. Butt Grocery Company in 1971. Today, Charles Butt is chairman and CEO of H-E-B, having grown the business from sales of $250 million in 1971 to $11 billion in 2003. In 2003, the company was #10 on Forbes' list of largest privately held companies; H-E-B is also the largest privately held company in Texas. Mr. Butt, whose fortune is estimated to be over $2 billion, is the richest man in San Antonio.
Historically, the company is known for its generosity, with 5 percent of annual pre-tax earnings given to civic and charitable causes in the communities they operate in, including education and food banks. H-E-B is also very environmentally driven, focusing on recycling and conservation, and in 1999 began converting their Houston distribution fleet to run on liquified natural gas.
The year 2005 marked the company's 100th year in operation.
[edit] Operations
[edit] Central Market
In 1994, H-E-B introduced its popular Central Market concept in Austin. Originally test-marketed in 1990 as H-E-B Marketplace in San Antonio, Central Market is an upscale store featuring hard-to-find gourmet foods and includes a European bakery, a deli with meats and cheeses from around the globe, juice and ice cream bars, humidors, and extensive wine and beer selections.
The chain is now comprised of eight stores (two in Austin and one each in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano, San Antonio, and Southlake). While still bannered as H-E-B Marketplace in San Antonio, this initial concept store is now a standard (core) food-drug store.
[edit] Hybrid formats
H-E-B operates three (upscale) "hybrid" format stores: The Woodlands Market and Kingwood Market in greater Houston and the Austin-Escarpment store in south Austin.
In 2006, the two largest stores in the Houston region debuted when new 125,000-sq-ft stores in Katy and Beaumont opened.[2][3] The two new stores resemble Plus! stores, though the stores are designed as hybrid formats featuring an expanded assortment of general merchandise. At this point, H-E-B has not launched the "Plus!" format in the Houston region due to the H-E-B name being so new to the market.
All five of these stores contain a Central Market Café on the Run restaurant and feature select items from both Central Market and core H-E-B stores.
In summer 2007, a 105,000-sq-ft "Vintage Market" store will open at the intersection of Texas State Highway 249 and Louetta in greater Houston.[4]
[edit] H-E-B Plus!
In 2004, the company launched three (in Austin, San Juan and Waco) H-E-B Plus stores, 109,000-square-foot megastores with an expanded focus on non-food categories like entertainment, general merchandise, and a gift registry. In 2005, this concept was further expanded with three new locations (Corpus Christi, Round Rock and San Antonio) comprised of 161,000 sq. ft. each.
As of September 2006, H-E-B has plans for as many as 12 more H-E-B Plus stores statewide,[5] including four more such stores in the San Antonio area,[6] one in Leander, one in Pearland,[7] and one in Kyle.[8] (One of the four planned San Antonio-area stores eventually opened on November 1 with an Enterprise Rent-A-Car and a café inside the store.[9])
[edit] H-E-B Video Central
In 1987 H-E-B began H-E-B Video Central, a chain of video rental stores. After growing to 33 locations, H-E-B sold the chain to Hollywood Entertainment in 1993.
[edit] Own-brand manufacturing
The company operates several manufacturing facilities in Texas, including one of the largest milk and bread processing plants in the Southwest.[10] H-E-B produces many of their own-brand products, including milk, ice cream, bread, snacks, and ready-cooked meats and meals. These and other private-label products are sold under various brands, including "Central Market Naturals", "Central Market Organics", "EconoMax", "H-E-B", "H-E-Buddy", "Hill Country Fare" and "Personal Expressions." "H-E-B Creamy Creations" ice cream, "H-E-B Mootopia" milk, and "H-E-B Fully Cooked" meats are perhaps the most well-known and successful private brands.[citation needed]
[edit] Markets
[edit] Austin
H-E-B operated 38 Austin-area stores as of 2004 and held more than a 50 percent share of the grocery market. There are also seven stores in the Waco area and various other communities along the I-35 corridor.
[edit] East Texas
H-E-B first entered the East Texas market with its H-E-B Pantry Foods in Beaumont, Carthage, Crocket, Conroe, Lufkin, Nacogdoches, and had one store in Jasper, which closed in 2005. Most of the these store have been converted to full-size stores.
[edit] Houston
H-E-B first entered the Houston market with its H-E-B Pantry Foods stores in 1992. These limited-assortment stores were typically 30,000 square feet in size with limited perishables, including no perimeter departments such as a butcher counter, deli or bakery. Beginning in 2001, H-E-B shuttered or expanded and converted its 45 H-E-B Pantry stores to full-service (core) H-E-B grocery stores to better compete with Kroger Signature and Randalls Flagship stores. These full-service grocery stores now average 78,000 square feet in size, more than double the size of pantry stores. In 2006, H-E-B opened Mi Tienda in Pasadena — a 63,000-square-foot Latino-themed store.[11]
[edit] North Texas
H-E-B initially entered the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with the 2001 opening of a Central Market in Fort Worth. Even with the addition of three more Central Market locations in the area, it is currently unclear whether H-E-B will bring their core stores to this market. Cleburne, Ennis and Waxahachie, communities to the south of the Metroplex, each support one store.
[edit] San Antonio
H-E-B has about 52 stores and almost a 63 percent market share in San Antonio, trumping Wal-Mart's 17 stores and 25 percent market share.[1] As of early 2002, H-E-B's then 44-store San Antonio operation had reached a 61 market share and was the area's top grocer at the same time Albertsons, then the area's second top grocer, exited the market by closing its 20 remaining area stores (after already shuttering three other stores in December 2001). At the time of their withdrawal, Albertsons held a 15 market share. Albertsons was the area's third top grocer before Kroger exited the market in mid-1993, when it closed its 15 area stores. Then, H-E-B's 37 area stores held a 43.2 market share, Kroger's 15 area stores a 13.7 share, and Albertsons' 10 stores a 13.1 share.
[edit] South Texas
In the Laredo metropolitan area, there is an H-E-B called the H-E-B Mercado.
[edit] West Texas
H-E-B operates five stores in the West Texas communities of Abilene, Big Spring, Midland, Odessa, and San Angelo. All of these stores opened in the late 90's.
[edit] Mexico
As of mid 2006, H-E-B has operations in four northern Mexican states: Coahuila (1 store), Nuevo León (15 stores), San Luis Potosí (1 store), and Tamaulipas (4 stores). They have 15 stores in the Monterrey metropolitan area, and it was in this city where they started operations in Mexico in 1997. H-E-B in Mexico competes fiercely with Soriana and Sam's Club.
[edit] Louisiana
H-E-B opened its first store outside of Texas in 1996 — a 24,000-square-foot pantry store in Lake Charles. However, H-E-B closed its sole Louisiana store in 2003.
[edit] References
- ^ a b H-E-B still 11th-largest private U.S. company. MySA.com (November 15, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November 2006.
- ^ H-E-B Announces Closure of Major Drive Store; Dowlen Store to Open Next Day. KBTV4 (September 12, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
- ^ H-E-B store opens Wednesday. The Beaumont Enterprise (September 26, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
- ^ Vintage Park Houston. Vintage Park Houston. Retrieved on 11 December 2006.
- ^ H-E-B adding more Plus stores. MySA.com (September 27, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
- ^ H-E-B Plus is coming to the North Side. MySA.com (July 8, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
- ^ Pearland retail center lands H-E-B as anchor. Houston Business Journal (July 12, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
- ^ H-E-B to start work on Kyle store. Austin American-Statesman (November 1, 2006). Retrieved on 2 November 2006.
- ^ Doors opening at second H-E-B Plus. MySA.com (November 1, 2006). Retrieved on November 2, 2006.
- ^ The Largest Private Companies. Forbes.com (November 9, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November 2006.
- ^ H-E-B courts Latinos with new Houston store. MySA.com (October 5, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October 2006.
[edit] External links
- H-E-B Official website
- FundingUniverse.com Additional H-E-B history
- Forbes.com Forbes' 2004 List of World's Richest People: Charles Butt
