H-E-B

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H.E. Butt Grocery Company <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;"></td></tr>
Type	Private
Founded	1905
Headquarters	San Antonio, Texas <tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Charles Butt, Chairman & CEO; Martin Otto, CFO; Bob Loeffler, COO</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>Retail (Grocery)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Products</th><td>Bakery, dairy, deli, frozen foods, general grocery, meat, pharmacy, produce, seafood, snacks</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Revenue</th><td>$12.4 billion USD (2005)</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Employees</th><td>60,000</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Slogan</th><td>Here Everything's Better (in Mexico "El Verdadero Lugar del Ahorro")</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>www.heb.com</td></tr>

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.<ref name="note 1">H-E-B still 11th-largest private U.S. company. MySA.com (November 15, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November, 2006.</ref>

1 History
2 Operations
3 Markets
4 References
5 External links

[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

Image:Central Market north Austin.jpg

Main article: Central Market (Texas)

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 seven stores (two in Austin and one each in Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Plano, San Antonio). (An eighth store is to open on December 6, 2006, in Southlake.) While still operating as H-E-B Marketplace in San Antonio, the 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 north of the Houston area 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.<ref>H-E-B Announces Closure of Major Drive Store; Dowlen Store to Open Next Day. KBTV4 (September 12, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref><ref>H-E-B store opens Wednesday. The Beaumont Enterprise (September 26, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref> The two new stores are Plus! stores without the title, though the stores are designed as hybrid formats featuring an expanded assortment of general merchandise. The "Plus!" logo was intentionally avoided due to branding concerns in the Houston region.

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.

[edit] H-E-B Plus!

Image:HEBPLUS.PNG

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,<ref>H-E-B adding more Plus stores. MySA.com (September 27, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref> including four more such stores in the San Antonio area,<ref>H-E-B Plus is coming to the North Side. MySA.com (July 8, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref> one in Leander, one in Pearland,<ref>Pearland retail center lands H-E-B as anchor. Houston Business Journal (July 12, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref> and one in Kyle.<ref>H-E-B to start work on Kyle store. Austin American-Statesman (November 1, 2006). Retrieved on 2 November, 2006.</ref> (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.<ref>Doors opening at second H-E-B Plus. MySA.com (November 1, 2006). Retrieved on November 2, 2006.</ref>) And another store is to open in Victoria on November 3.

[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

Image:HCFitems.jpg

The company operates several manufacturing facilities in Texas, including one of the largest milk and bread processing plants in the Southwest.<ref>The Largest Private Companies. Forbes.com (November 9, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November, 2006.</ref> 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", "H-E-Butt", "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

Image:HEB.jpg

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] Dallas/Fort Worth

H-E-B initially entered the 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. Though Cleburne, Ennis and Waxahachie, communities to the south of the Metroplex, each support one store.

[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

Image:HEBPANTRY.gif

H-E-B first entered the Houston market with its H-E-B Pantry Foods stores in 1992. The pantry stores were typically 30,000 square feet in size. Beginning in 2001, H-E-B either shuttered or expanded and converted most of its 45 H-E-B Pantry stores to full-service H-E-B grocery stores to better compete with Kroger Signature and Randalls Flagship stores. The full-service grocery stores were some 78,000 square feet in size, more than double the size of a pantry store. They were branded The Big New H-E-B. In 2006, H-E-B opened Mi Tienda in Pasadena — a 63,000-square-foot Latino-themed store.<ref>H-E-B courts Latinos with new Houston store. MySA.com (October 5, 2006). Retrieved on 8 October, 2006.</ref>

[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.<ref name="note 1">H-E-B still 11th-largest private U.S. company. MySA.com (November 15, 2006). Retrieved on 15 November, 2006.</ref> 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.