here everything s better type private industry grocery retail founded 1905 founder florence butt headquarters san antonio texas u.s. number of locations 370 2015 area served texas nuevo leon tamaulipas coahuila san luis potosi guanajuato and aguascalientes . key people charles butt chairman and ceo craig boyan 1 president and coo products bakery dairy deli frozen foods gasoline general grocery meat pharmacy produce seafood snacks services auto health fuel ticket sales utilities and licenses revenue 21 billion 2013 number of employees 86 000 2015 subsidiaries h e b mexico website www.heb.com h e b headquarters heb grocery company lp stylized as h e b also known as h e b grocery stores is an american privately held supermarket chain based in san antonio texas with more than 350 stores throughout the u.s. state of texas as well as in northeast mexico . 2 3 the company also operates central market an upscale organic and fine foods retailer . 4 as of 2013 the company has a total revenue surpassing 20 billion usd 2013 . 5 h e b ranked no. 15 on forbes 2014 list of america s largest private companies . 6 h e b was named retailer of the year in 2010 by progressive grocer . 7 supermarket news ranked h e b no. 13 in the 2008 top 75 north american food retailers . 8 based on 2014 revenues h e b is the twentieth largest retailer in the united states . 9 it donates 5 percent of pre tax profits to charity . 10 it has been labeled a religious company . until 1976 it was closed on sundays and did not sell alcohol . 11 contents 1 history 2 operations 2.1 central market 2.2 h e b plus 2.3 mi tienda 2.4 joe v s smart shop 3 mexico 4 litigation 5 charitable activity 6 gallery 7 references 8 external links history edit the company was founded on november 26 1905 when florence butt opened the c.c. butt grocery store on the ground floor of her family home in kerrville texas . 12 in 1919 howard edward butt florence s youngest son took over the store upon his return from world war i. shortly after becoming owner of his mother s small store howard tried four expansions into central texas including one in junction all of which failed . finally in 1927 howard launched a successful second store in del rio texas followed by the purchase of three grocery stores in the lower rio grande valley . the first initials of howard e. butt became the name of the store . 13 charles the younger son of howard e. butt became president of the h.e. butt grocery company in 1971 . as of 2016 charles butt is chairman and ceo of heb grocery company lp having grown the business from annual sales of 250 million in 1971 to 13 billion in 2006 . in 2010 craig boyan was named h e b s president and coo . 14 in 2011 the company was 12 15 on forbes list of largest privately held companies ; h e b was for many years until dell went private in 2013 the largest privately held company in texas . 16 operations edit houston s buffalo market h e b 51 headquartered in downtown san antonio h e b operates more than 300 stores in over 150 communities across texas . 17 18 as of late 2010 its operations serve approximately 55 plus percent of the texas market according to progressive grocer 19 20 with primary texas markets including the corpus christi san antonio austin laredo and houston metro areas . the company does business in 5 different retail formats general h e b stores central market h e b plus mi tienda and joe v s smart shop . in 2010 the company announced plans to build 19 new stores in texas . 21 h e b opened its first store outside of texas in 1996 a 24 000 square foot 2 200 m2 h e b pantry store in lake charles louisiana ; though the expansion was in comparison short lived and ultimately did not catch on with either planners or the community . the h e b pantry store format was discontinued in 2000 22 and the company closed its sole louisiana store in 2003 . recently h e b offered consumers the opportunity to vote on possible designs for new stores as they expand into new communities . 23 h e b brand margarine . the company operates several manufacturing facilities in texas including one of the largest milk and bread processing plants in the southwest . 24 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 h e b h e buddy hill country fare h e b creamy creations ice cream h e b mootopia milk and h e b fully cooked . several stores include multi tenant operations through third party lease arrangements . many stores include a bank operation and cellular kiosk . common nationally recognized tenants include sprint nextel ibc bank enterprise rent a car 25 panda express chase bank flexi compras auntie anne s pretzel at & t gold & silver buyers wells fargo and maui wowi . 26 27 28 the h e b corporate offices have more authority over decisionmaking at individual h e b outlets in san antonio than foodarama does over individual la fiesta chains in san antonio . because h e b is a regional chain elizabeth allen of the san antonio express news said that it is more nimble than national grocery companies such as albertsons . 29 central market edit central market store in central austin main article central market texas in 1994 h e b introduced its central market concept in austin . based in austin central market offers an organic and international food selection including a european style bakery and extensive wine and beer selections . the chain is now composed of eight stores two in austin and one each in dallas fort worth houston plano san antonio and southlake . 30 h e b operates four different formats of stores that introduce general merchandise and elements of the central market concept the woodlands market in the woodlands in montgomery county kingwood market in the kingwood section of houston and the austin escarpment store in south austin . a fourth store opened on march 22 2008 in west lake hills and in 2009 the h e b in bee caves was remodeled . h e b s alon market opened on october 17 2008 in san antonio . 31 in october 2007 h e b opened its cypress market store located at the intersection of highway 290 and barker cypress . in november 2007 the 112 000 sq ft 10 400 m2 vintage market store opened in northwest harris county in greater houston . 32 in november 2012 h e b opened its second cypress store fairfield market located at the intersection of highway 290 and mason road to serve the master planned community of fairfield and surrounding areas . 33 in july 2015 the market concept was expanded as a new spring creek market was opened in southern montgomery county in spring texas on rayford road adjacent to the new texas state highway 99 to serve the expanding suburb of houston . 34 h e b plus edit h e b plus store in laredo texas in 2004 the company launched three in austin corpus christi and waco h e b plus stores with an expanded focus on non food categories such as entertainment and other general merchandise . the company added three additional locations in 2005 corpus christi round rock and san antonio . the stores offered several new departments including do it yourself and texas backyard and greatly expanded product categories in baby card and party cosmetics entertainment housewares and toys . several other locations were later added including stores in flour bluff corpus christi beaumont belton boerne katy killeen cypress victoria kyle 35 laredo leander 36 mission rio grande city san juan san antonio 25 midland and pearland 37 38 39 and a new one being built and on schedule to be opened february 2013 in copperas cove . 40 mi tienda edit mi tienda in northern houston in 2006 h e b opened mi tienda in south houston adjacent to pasadena in greater houston a 63 000 square foot 5 900 m2 latino themed store . 41 42 h e b now has other mi tienda locations.there is another mi tienda off of little york and u.s. route 59 . mi tienda which means my store in spanish includes a panaderia that offers homestyle mexican baked goods ; a tortilleria where employees make fresh tortillas ; and a carniceria filled with marinated cuts of chicken beef and pork . in addition mi tienda also houses the cocina restaurant which serves tacos tortas carnitas tamales and chicharrones and an aguas frescas bar that offers freshly made drinks . citation needed joe v s smart shop edit joe v s smart shop in unincorporated northeast harris county texas in 2010 h e b opened joe v s smart shop a brand featuring discount items modeled after discount grocer aldi . 43 the first location opened was a 54 690 square foot 5 100 m2 store located in northwest unincorporated harris county texas 44 near northwest houston . the store format is smaller compared with a full service h e b store but double the size of an h e b pantry store . a larger second location with a 65 714 square foot 6 100 m2 space opened in december in northeast unincorporated harris county texas . as of 2016 there are seven joe v s stores . 45 the joe v name was based on the name of an executive of the company who was involved in the development of this store format . 46 mexico edit store in piedras negras h e b crossed the 1 billion mark annual sales mark in mexico in 2012 . 47 main article h e b mexico litigation edit in the mid 1980s local grocery chains handy andy and centeno joined a lawsuit against h e b citing unfair pricing practices . 48 h e b eventually settled the suit out of court with centeno in 1998 for 6.5 million and with handy andy for an undisclosed settlement amount . 49 50 h e b has paid 12 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the san antonio based grocery chain of medicaid fraud . since at least 2006 according to the suit h e b allegedly submitted to texas medicaid inflated prices on thousands of claims for prescriptions it filled so the company could obtain higher reimbursements than allowed . 51 charitable activity edit historically the company is known for its charitable donations with 5 percent of annual pretax earnings given to causes in the communities it operates in including education and food banks . 52 an annual charitable program maintained by h e b since 2000 is the excellence in education awards in which teachers administrators and schools in texas are recognized with awards totaling 500 000 in contributions in 2009 . 53 h e b coordinated donations to relief efforts in the wake of a fertilizer plant fire and explosion in west texas . the company donated 50 000 to the american red cross and launched a check stand campaign benefitting the organization to get the community involved in the relief effort . the company said in a news release 100 percent of the donations from the campaign will support the american red cross s disaster relief efforts . h e b also activated its