Houston based Fiesta Mart L.L.C. announced today it is acquiring 11 Minyard Food Stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from RLS Supermarkets L.L.C.
No price was given for the transaction.
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, with six currently in Fort Worth. The Minyard’s acquisition will give Fiesta two more Fort Worth-area locations.
“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 in a news release. “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, working for the company from January 2005 through January 2009, ultimately serving as CEO and president of Minyard for more than three years. He joined Fiesta in 2015.
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 AWG, along with Fiesta’s supplier, Grocery Supply. The Minyard stores will be transitioning to Fiesta over the next several months. Additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In 2008, the previous ownership group of Fiesta acquired Minyard’s Carnival stores in the Dallas Fort Worth area.
Started in 1932 by A.W. ‘Eck’ Minyard in East Dallas, the chain at one time had over 80 stores, three brands and saw sales top $1 billion in the late 1990s, according to several reports. 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