Last updated on July 11th, 2016 at 08:09 am
Houston-based Fiesta Mart said today that it is acquiring all nine of the remaining Minyard Food Stores and two Sun Fresh Markets affiliated with Minyard in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex from RLS Supermarkets.
Fiesta is a specialty grocery retailer known for its international offerings that cater to the diverse communities served by their stores. With the Minyard Food Stores acquisition, Fiesta will now operate 70 stores across Texas.
“We are excited to welcome Minyard Food Stores to the Fiesta family. This action reinforces the strategic growth plan we put forth early last year,” said Michael Byars, Fiesta CEO. “Our entire Fiesta team has worked together to move the brand forward organically and now through acquisition we continue on our growth plan.”
Byars has personal ties to Minyard, as he worked for the company from January 2005 to January 2009, ultimately serving as CEO and president of Minyard for more than three years. He joined Fiesta in 2015 and has focused the company on reinvigoration of its core consumer promise, “To provide consumers the freshest quality products and extensive assortment, at the value they need to celebrate food and family every day.”
In early 2015, Fiesta was purchased by ACON, an international private equity investment firm.
“ACON is pleased to add Minyard Food Stores to the Fiesta team as part of our strategic vision to grow the Fiesta brand,” said Andre Bhatia, a managing partner of ACON. “Our prior supermarket investing experience and success will further strengthen Fiesta’s position in the markets we serve.”
The newly-acquired Minyard store locations will continue to be supplied by current supplier Associated Wholesale Grocers, along with Fiesta’s supplier, Grocery Supply. The Minyard stores will transition to Fiesta over the next several months.
Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Fiesta was co-founded by Donald Bonham and O.C. Mendenhall in Houston in 1972. Fiesta currently has 70 stores in the Houston, Austin, and Dallas-Fort Worth markets, serving customers from more than 100 countries of origin with a variety of dry grocery and perishable products.
