Historical Ralphs subsidiaries

Uh...California.

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luckysaver
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F4L Pomona

Post by luckysaver »

Back in the early 1990's, Ron Burkle's Yucaipa Companies owned Food4Less General Merchandising Corporation, which included Food4Less (conventional and warehouse formats), Ralphs, Alpha Beta (green and yellow scheme), Boys, Viva, and Marina. When Burkle sold F4L to Fred Meyer in 1997, it was FM that reorganized F4L to be the new Ralphs Grocery Company that includes Ralphs, F4L/PriceRite, and Cala/Bell. If you want, I can post a list of all the subsidiaries of Ralphs/F4L from 1997.

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Ron Burkle and Yukaipa Capital

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Yes, please do Luckysaver. I would be interested in that...post away. I think others would find that interesting as well.
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Historical Ralphs subsidiaries and brief description of each

Post by luckysaver »

Ralphs Grocery Co/Ralphs Supermarkets Inc 1990's subsidiaries pre Fred Meyer/Kroger merger:
Ralphs Grocery Company - Umbrella holding company for all Ralphs/F4L properties, one of the largest subsidiaries of Kroger today. In mid 1990's, RGC was a subsidiary of RSI.
Ralphs Supermarkets Inc - Ralphs/Ralphs Fresh Fare bannered stores in Southern and Northern California. Ralphs Marketplace was conceived after Fred Meyer acquired RGC.
Falleys Inc - Falley's/Food Barn chain of midwestern US grocery stores. Falley's is now a phantom name, may have converted to F4L.
Cala Foods Inc - CALA bannered grocery stores in Northern California
Alpha Beta Company - assets and rights to the name, Burkle acquired it after American Stores divested this division due to Lucky Stores acquisition. Burkle shelved it as a subsidiary of F4L Corporation and redesigned/remodeled stores to a green/yellow scheme and a new logo. In 1995 when Ralphs merged with F4L, most Alpha Beta and all
conventional F4L stores rebranded as Ralphs and some larger sized Ralphs or Ralphs Giants remodeled/rebranded as F4L or FoodsCo. Absorbed remnants of Boys, Viva, Marina, and ABC Markets. Current Ralphs stores such as the one on 425 S Citrus (Covina) that were former Alpha Beta stores register any special licenses (business or liquor sales) as Alpha Beta Company.
Occasional F4L plastic produce bags were used in AB stores in the 1990's.
Bell Markets Inc - BELL bannered grocery stores in Northern California
Cala Company - holding company for CALA and BELL
Food 4 Less of California Inc - holding company for F4L California operations
Food 4 Less Merchandising Inc - holding company for F4L Kansas, Indiana, and Illinois - may currently be part of Dillons.
Food 4 Less of Southern California Inc - holding company for F4L in Southern California - shares corporate office with Ralphs at their massive Compton complex.
Food 4 Less Gm Inc - holding company of F4L assets
Bay Area Warehouse Stores Inc - operates FoodsCo and PriceRite banners in Northern California, Nevada, and New Mexico. PriceRite in Nevada converted to F4L, PriceRite in New Mexico was either sold or transferred to the Fry's Division of Kroger
Artesia Quality Products - distributor of Ralphs corporate store brands (identified only on older labeled Private Selection products). They named it after the street that their Compton CA headquarters is located, which is on 1100 Artesia Blvd.
- Burkle at the time he held Ralphs operated Dominick's Finer Foods (now part of Safeway), Almac's, Breko, Smitty's Super Valu and sister subsidiary Smiths Food and Drug Centers.
F4L-AB Foundation was the charitable arm for RGC at the time, now evolved as Ralphs-Food4Less Foundation.

The list of subsidiaries was from an old SEC 10K report from around 1996. Information on Ron Burkle owning other grocery chains was from Fundinguniverse.com's article on Yucaipa Companies.

I don't know where Crawford Stores Inc (another phantom subsidiary going back to the 1960's-1980's that included the 3 Crawfords in SoCal and the Market Basket chain) would fall in - would it be a Ralphs or a Kroger subsidiary). During Kroger's split sale of Market Basket in 1982, Ralphs acquired about a dozen Market Basket stores (the first known association between Ralphs and Kroger).

Kroger's c-stores in Northern California (dba Quik Shop) operates as a separate subsidiary of Kroger and was never part of Ralphs Grocery Company.

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Post by storewanderer »

Price Rite in New Mexico is back to control of Smiths. This is the last Price Rite in operation.

Smiths started Price Rite. It appears when Burkle got involved, those were quickly transferred to being under Ralphs. Price Rite had a very brief visit, under Fred Meyer, in Arizona as well.

The logos for "Price Rite" and a discount Winn Dixie concept called "Save Rite" are very similar. This is no coincidence. The same guy who was involved with Price Rite also started that Save Rite.
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Post by Dean »

Can someone describe/explain the Food 4 Less operations in Northern California.

I believe that they are licensed/operated by independent operators. I remember seeing an ad one time that stated as such.
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Post by krogerclerk »

Food 4 Less was franchised by the now defunct Fleming wholesale operation. Yucaipa had the Southern California franchise and consolidated F4L with Ralphs' after buying Ralphs', as noted in a previous post many Ralphs' Giants became F4L afterwards, and smaller F4L became Ralphs'. Viva, Boys, ABC, and Alpha Beta were rebranded Ralphs' a little later. Hughes' Markets were owned by QFC, which became a subsidiary of Fred Meyer and when the Yucaipa stores in SoCal and Kansas(Falley's and Food 4 Less) were acquired the Hughes were consolidated in Ralphs.

Northern California is a little more complicated. Food 4 Less was licensed to several independents by Fleming. Ralphs' acquired Cala/Bell, returning the chain to the Bay Area. The Albertson's/Lucky's merger had a great deal of overlap which had to be divested. Many ex-Albertson's and a few Lucky's were sold to Ralphs'(actually then parent Fred Meyer) and most were bannered Ralphs' and the eventual intention was to convert Cala/Bell to Ralphs' as had happened in SoCal. The desire to operate a price impact store resulted in Ralphs' opening a Food 4 Less clone in NorCal, but with FoodsCo as the banner, since the rights to F4L belong to other operators. Oddly, FoodsCo is still operating in the Bay Area and Sacramento since the closing of Ralphs'/Cala/Bell stores in the region.

After the Kroger/Fred Meyer merger, Kroger then acquired Baker's in Omaha, NE from Fleming, a deal which included a couple of F4L's in the area. Kroger has since expanded the F4L banner to Chicago, a market which Kroger exited roughly 1971 by selling most locations to Dominick's, which was part of Fisher Foods at the time. Kroger owned Dillon's was(and is) the dominant grocer in Kansas, and Falley's/Food 4 Less locations in Kansas were sold by Fred Meyer prior to the merger to Kansas City based Associated Wholesale Grocers. I'm not sure who owns the actual rights to the Food 4 Less name since Fleming's bankruptcy, it could be Kroger, C&S, or still another entity. Oddly another Alpha Beta/Lucky spinoff was the victim of Fleming's demise, ABCO(Arizona Alpha Beta), created when American acquired Lucky's, along with the Furr's chain in neighboring New Mexico and El Paso, TX.
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Post by Dean »

The Food 4 Less website directs to the Kroger website. Leads me to believe that Kroger owns the Food 4 Less name.

It lists Food 4 Less & FoodsCo as "Price Impact Warehouse Stores".

Question remains...since FoodsCo was launched in Northern California since Food 4 Less was licensed...are the Food 4 Less sites still independently operated?

thanks!
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Post by krogerclerk »

It appears a PAQ, Inc operates the Central California Food 4 Less locations including Stockton, Lodi, Atascadero, and San Luis Obispo.
Nugget Market operates Food 4 Less in the Sacramento area.

Also, an Oregon grocer operates Food 4 Less in the Medford area as noted in a thread in the Northwest forum.
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Ralphs subsidiaries - historic

Post by luckysaver »

Forgot that Hughes Supermarkets Inc was rolled into Ralphs Supermarkets Inc and dissolved with Alpha Beta/Boys/Viva/ABC. Somewhere out there is an old SEC 10K report with a full list of Hughes' subsidiaries.

Artesia Quality Products was a subsidiary business - it listed its address on Private Selection packages as 1100 Artesia Blvd in Compton, which is the same offices as Ralphs-Food4Less. PS products now come from Kroger's InterAmerican Products subsidiary.

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Post by storewanderer »

I think the FoodsCo NorCal Stores were actually branded Food4Less in the mid 1990's. Someone from San Francisco should be able to confirm this.

A few new FoodsCos opened in the mid to late 90s that did not last long at all in Concord and Marin City, CA.

Kroger recently opened a new FoodsCo in Sacramento, CA and remodeled the FoodsCo in Salinas, CA (former Monte Mart) and Redwood City, CA (former QFI).

But Kroger continues to operate two Bells and one Cala in San Francisco, too. I don't understand Kroger's NorCal strategy at all.
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Post by jamcool »

After the Kroger/Fred Meyer merger, Kroger then acquired Baker's in Omaha, NE from Fleming, a deal which included a couple of F4L's in the area. Kroger has since expanded the F4L banner to Chicago, a market which Kroger exited roughly 1971 by selling most locations to Dominick's, which was part of Fisher Foods at the time. Kroger owned Dillon's was(and is) the dominant grocer in Kansas, and Falley's/Food 4 Less locations in Kansas were sold by Fred Meyer prior to the merger to Kansas City based Associated Wholesale Grocers. I'm not sure who owns the actual rights to the Food 4 Less name since Fleming's bankruptcy, it could be Kroger, C&S, or still another entity. Oddly another Alpha Beta/Lucky spinoff was the victim of Fleming's demise, ABCO(Arizona Alpha Beta), created when American acquired Lucky, along with the Furr's chain in neighboring New Mexico and El Paso, TX.[/quote]

Actually ABCO was the spinoff of Alpha Beta's AZ stores to its local management in the mid 80s. ABCO bought Lucky's AZ stores at the time Lucky and American merged (non-competition clause?) The Lucky buy-out caused financial problems for ABCO which sold out to Fleming (who was ABCO's supplier).
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Post by Groceteria »

storewanderer wrote:I think the FoodsCo NorCal Stores were actually branded Food4Less in the mid 1990's. Someone from San Francisco should be able to confirm this.
Confirmed.
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Post by runchadrun »

The FoodsCo name originally came from a small 8-store chain that Boys bought in the 1980s. You can do the merger math to figure out how it became a Kroger brand...
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Covina (Citrus Ave) Ralphs as a previous Alpha Beta

Post by luckysaver »

The Covina (Citrus Ave) Ralphs posted their new state tobacco license on the door of their cigarette case. It is listed as:

RALPHS #625
ALPHA BETA COMPANY

This store was historically an Alpha Beta (the giveaway clues are the streetside H-sign and a 1990's labelscar under the Ralphs oval. I believe Ralphs stores that were former Alpha Betas are listed as being owned by this now phantom subsidiary of Ralphs Grocery Company. This location was listed in the Alpha Beta Story's list in 1973 but had a different Citrus Ave address. I believe the Millies Cafe in front was originally an Alphy's Coffee Shop. How old is this store site and was it originally built as an Alpha Beta?
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Post by J-Mac »

I think there is some advantage (tax or otherwise) to keeping the conventional Ralphs, former AB stores in the "phantom" company. Most Ralphs (and a handful of F4L stores) that are former AB stores use their original AB liquor license, and I'm guessing here that other business licensing is also set up that way (Alpha Beta Co. d/b/a Ralphs.) Alpha Beta Co. is probably no more than a "paper" subsidiary of Kroger these days, but that's enough to keep the old licensing in place.

PS: 425 S. Citrus has an Alpha Beta liquor license dating to 1978. See:
http://www.abc.ca.gov/datport/LQSPremLs ... ty='COVINA'
(you'll need to cut and paste this entire link, I can't get it to work sorry)
-- I won't say that 1978 was the opening date, but its been in that location at least as long.
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