Food & Wine magazine named H-E-B grocery stores the best in the United States in its annual assessment of food markets nationwide. Staff photo
H-E-B grocery stores were named the best in the United States by Food & Wine magazine in its July issue. A Texas-based grocer, H-E-B can only be found in Texas and a few places in Mexico yet has become the envy of the country for its affordable prices, wide range of quality products under its own brand, and excellent curbside pickup program, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Its early, quick, and sustained response to that crisis put it over the top.
Food & Wine spotlights the nation’s top grocers every year. The article noted that the 2019 assessment was very different from this year’s, which included response to the COVID-19 crisis. In this, H-E-B excelled, meriting notice by statewide and local publications.
H-E-B won out over competitors Trader Joe’s (8th), Costco (10th), and Whole Foods, which didn’t make the list. It was touted for how it handled panic shopping but also how it treated its employees, which the company has referred to as partners ever since making them part owners by handing out stock in 2015.
The grocery store chain started in 1905 with a small store in Kerrville opened by Florence Butt. It was called C.C. Butt Grocery Store and took up the ground floor of Butt’s family home. The chain grocer is now owned and operated by Charles Butt, who became president in 1971. Currently, the San Antonio-based company has 340 stores in Texas and northeast Mexico.
Here’s the list of top 10 grocers as published in the July issue of Food & Wine:
1. H-E-B (Texas)
2. Wegmans (Eastern Seaboard from New York to North Carolina)
3. Hy-Vee ( Midwest)
4. New Seasons (Northwest)
5. Market Basket (New England-based)
6. Lidl (Northern New Jersey into Georgia)
7. Winco Foods (Idaho-based, inland Northwest)
8. Trader Joe’s (California-based national chain)
9. Publix (Florida-based, Southeast)
10. Costco (national chain)
The magazine noted the stress put on all supermarkets when restaurants were forced to close and people had only the grocery stores to turn to for food. Panic buying cleared shelves of canned goods, beans and rice, frozen pizzas, and toilet paper along with cleansers and sanitizers.
H-E-B was one of the first to change its store hours to allow stockers more time to replenish supply. It also limited the number of items people could buy at one time. The stores were early in putting up shields at checkout counters, requiring staff to wear masks, and implementing sanitization routines. A partner wipes down carts with sanitizer at the entrances when they are brought off the parking lot.
As for its employees, they were given temporary raises of $2 an hour, which became permanent when people realized fighting COVID-19 was a long-term proposition. The store treated its partners as front-line workers and made sure essential supplies were available.
“There are those who think they are shopping at the best supermarkets in the country, and then there are the H-E-B shoppers who know this for a fact,” wrote David Landsel for Food & Wine.
