Mi Pueblo Food Center

Mi Pueblo Foods

Type	private
Industry	Retail
Founded	1991
Founder(s)	Juvenal Chavez
Headquarters	San Jose, California, U.S.
Number of locations	21
Area served	Northern California
Products	Meat, produce, seafood, flowers, baked goods
Employees	3000
Website	mipueblofoods.com

Mi Pueblo Foods is a family-owned grocery store chain headquartered in San Jose, California. Mi Pueblo has a total of 30 store locations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Central Valley and Monterey Bay Peninsula and wants to open more stores in the future. Mi Pueblo was established in 1991 and is known for providing authentic Latino shopping experience. They strive to create an ambiance reminiscent of the crowded, fresh-food markets of Mexico and Latin America while also carrying all the grocery items generally available in mainstream supermarkets.

As of 2008 it had over $200 million in annual sales.

History and founder

Juvenal Chavez is the chief executive officer of Mi Pueblo Food Center. Chavez emigrated from Mexico in 1984 and spoke no English at the time, taking odd jobs while attending night school to learn English. At one point he worked as a janitor at Stanford University. and in 1986, he went into business with his brother running Chavez Meat Market. In 1991, deciding to go off on his own, he purchased Country Time Meats in San Jose, California, starting his mercantile chain. Chavez opened his first business in the Bay Area because he found that the Hispanic population was very underserved and needed to purchase food easily without being impeded by their lack of knowledge in the English language. He started with the meat business because it was the most obvious opportunity. Over time he expanded into produce, bakery and deli, then grocery. Now Mi Pueblo is a $300 million business, with 19 stores opened and significant growth on the horizon.

Juvenal Chavez has become a player in the grocery retail business receiving numerous awards such as “Innovator of the Year.” In 2009, the National Grocers Association also named Mi Pueblo Foods “Outstanding Community Based Retailer.” The Mexican American Community Services Agency named him an influential Latino of the Silicon Valley in 2009. Then in March 2009 Mi Pueblo Foods opened in Pittsburg. As of February 14 2010 They added Mexican pictures in the back of Mi Pueblo Foods in the City of Pittsburg

Departments and products

Mi Pueblo has seven different departments within the store. The first department is the meat department offering over 100 different cuts of meat. There is a wide variety of Latin American styled marinated meats, entrails, poultry and seafood - along with a full-service butcher staff trained to engage with customers. Next is the produce department offering over 400 items from fresh produce, spices, ready-to-eat cut fruit, a wide variety of nuts, and cut flower bouquets. Another department is the bakery featuring items such as bolillos, tres leches cake and pan dulce all made from scratch daily from regionally trained master bakers.^{[citation needed]} The Tortilleria prepares warm, fresh tortillas on a daily basis. The Hot Deli department offers a diverse selection of dishes from Mexico and Latin America. The full-service grocery department features over 17,000 imported products as well as mainstream and national brand labels. Lastly, Mi Pueblo has a customer service department that offers services such as check cashing, utility payments, money transfers, and ticket sales for a slight fee.

Controversy over immigration checks

In September 2012, Mi Peublo was criticized by labor organisations for enrolling in E-verify, a Department of Homeland Security program which screens employees for irregularities in their immigration status. As owner, Juvenal Chavez was accused of hypocrisy, since he started out in business as an illegal immigrant. A spokesperson for the business said that Chavez supported fixing the "broken" immigration system.

External links

• Mi Pueblo Foods