| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail (Grocery) |
| Founded | 1872 |
| Headquarters | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Number of locations | 156 |
| Key people | Robert A. Mariano, Chairman & CEO |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks |
| Revenue | USD 3.9 billion (2006) |
| Owner(s) | Willis Stein & Partners |
| Employees | 18,000 |
| Website | roundys.com |
Roundy's Supermarkets (Roundy's) is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based supermarket chain with 154 stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin,[1] and 4 stores in Illinois.[2] Based on 2006 fiscal year estimated sales of $3.9 billion, Roundy's was ranked as number 33 among "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" for 2007[3] and as the seventy-eighth largest retailer in the United States.[4]
Roundy's operates under the names Pick 'n Save in Wisconsin (founded in 1975)[1], Rainbow Foods in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region (acquired in 2003)[2], Copps Food Center in Wisconsin (acquired in 2001)[3], Metro Market (a pilot concept store in downtown Milwaukee, opened in 2004)[4], Ultra Mart Foods, and Mariano's Fresh Market in Illinois.[5]
Roundy's operates three main distribution centers located in Stevens Point, WI, Mazomanie, WI, and Oconomowoc, WI. Roundy's continues to operate Copps Food Center out of its Stevens Point headquarters.
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The company was founded in 1872 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as Smith, Roundy & Co. by William E. Smith, Judson Roundy and Sidney Hauxhurst. Over the years it has also operated as the Roundy, Peckham & Co. and Roundy, Peckham & Dexter Co.
Roundy's was a major warehouse distributor to non-company supermarkets, including IGA, but it has moved out of the wholesale market to focus on retail.
In 2004 Roundy's had revenues of over $4.77 billion. It dropped out of the Fortune 500 list in 2006.
The Pick 'n Save chain, which was the backbone and propellant for growth and sale of the company in 2002, was the prodigy of two Kroger educated marketers . Vincent R. Little and Michael D. McGee, the fathers of Pick 'n Save, came up through the ranks at The Kroger Company.
Roundy's saw rapid growth during the John Dickson years. Dickson became sick and handed the reins to Gerald F. Lestina. On Lestina's watch the company built only one corporate store, at the fairgrounds in Oshkosh, Wisconsin over a period of 7 years. That store was then sold years later to a director, George Prescott, for approximately $ 1.1 million although the board of directors had been told the price was $ 5 million.
In 2002, Roundy's was taken private through a purchase by the Chicago private-equity firm Willis Stein & Partners. A strong effort was made in 2007 to sell Roundy's, but because of the softness in the credit markets there were no takers. Rumors have swirled from time to time regarding a possible sale of Roundy's to Cincinnati-based Kroger in conjunction with some or all of Safeway-owned and Chicago-based Dominick's stores.[5]
The current lCEO is "Chairman Bob" Robert Mariano, who was the CEO of Dominick's prior to Dominick's sale to Safeway in 1998. Most of Mariano's senior staff at Roundy's held the same positions with Mariano at Dominick's.
In March 2011, Roundy's was rumored to be for sale again.
On December 6, 2011 Roundy's plans to take company public with IPO. Roundy's will use cash raised by the stock sale to pay down part of its corporate debt, which totals about $800 million. Some of the debt is tied new stores that Roundy's has been opening, including stores in the Chicagoland area. They plan to continue expanding in the Chicago area at about 4-5 stores yearly for the next 5 years. Earlier this year the company was again put up for sale, but failed to be sold. They have put a lot of focus on the Illinois Mariano Fresh Markets which are higher end stores, which include high end produce, meats and tuna flown in daily from Hawaii.
In December 2011, Roundy's filed with the SEC to raise up to $230 million in an initial public offering.[6]
Roundy's operates stores using 5 distinct banners. They are Pick 'n Save, Copps, Rainbow Foods, Metro Market, and Mariano's Fresh Market. Within the store, three of those banners are practically identical in merchandising style and strategy, while Metro Market and Mariano's offer more urban-upscale product offering with modern fixturing and amenities.
Almost all stores carrying the Pick 'n Save banner are located south and east of a line from Madison to Green Bay, Wisconsin. All Copps stores are located in Wisconsin north and west of the line described. All Rainbow Foods stores are located in Minnesota and within the Twin Cities metro area. Mariano's Fresh Market is in the Chicago area.
On January 19, 2010, a round of layoffs occurred at the corporate headquarters in Milwaukee. 62 full-time employees were released due to "economic conditions" as stated by Roundy's public relations official Vivian King. The layoffs affected all departments housed at the downtown Milwaukee office and were effective immediately. No other information was forthcoming concerning any store impacts or future potential layoffs.
New competitors for Pick 'n Save stores in the Milwaukee market in 2008 include a Woodman's Food Market in the suburb of Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Woodman's is a large store focused on variety and price. The company opened another store in Menomonee Falls in late 2010, and has had a store in Kenosha for many years.[7]
Also, Wal-Mart has opened supercenters with full grocery selections in the communities of Germantown, Mukwonago, Sturtevant, West Bend, Hartford, Franklin and Milwaukee. New supercenters will soon be constructed in Muskego and Waukesha.[8] The chain also hopes to convert its Delafield discount store into a supercenter.[9]
Costco Wholesale recently entered the market with a store in Grafton.
Sendik's Food Market, a local, high-end food market, also competes with Pick 'n Save, and has slowly expanded further using former Kohl's and Jewel-Osco locations to expand within the suburban fringes of the area. A long time retailer on Milwaukee's north side, Lena's Food Markets(Piggly Wiggly), has used the same strategy to expand within Milwaukee proper.
In the Twin Cities market, Roundy's owned Rainbow Foods is a distant second in the marketplace to Supervalu owned Cub Foods. Other competitors, including SuperTarget, Costco, and Wal-Mart Supercenters continue to gain ground against Rainbow.
In northern Wisconsin, independents such as Festival Foods along with Wal-Mart Supercenters have seriously impacted Roundy's stores throughout the Fox River Valley region.
Roundy's operate 27 Copps Food Centers in Wisconsin, outside the Milwaukee area, according to the company website.