De Pere-based Festival Foods has been acquired by the same family that runs Schnuck Markets, a St. Louis-based grocery chain with more than 100 stores in the Midwest.
1939 Group, a holding company for the family that runs Schnuck Markets, announced Tuesday it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 100% of the shares of Skogen’s Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers.
The purchase includes shares held by Mark Skogen, CEO of Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers, as well as the shares in the trust held by associates in their Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
Skogen’s Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers have a combined 51 stores located throughout Wisconsin. Forty-two stores operate under the Skogen’s Festival Foods banner, while Hometown Grocers includes nine banners: Dave’s County Market, Denny’s Supervalu, Don’s Quality Market, Lake Mills Market, Lakewood Supervalu, Super Ron’s Food Center, Thompson’s County Market, Thorp Supervalu and Wittenberg Sentry Foods.
Festival Foods has 9 southeastern Wisconsin locations in Sheboygan, Hartford, Fort Atkinson, West Allis, Hales Corners, Mount Pleasant, Paddock Lake, Somers and Kenosha.
All Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers stores will continue to operate under their existing banners, according to a representative from Festival Foods.
“Our family is honored to be entrusted with the Skogen family legacy, one that began serving Wisconsin communities in 1946 and continued for decades under the leadership of Dave and Barb, and later, under Mark as CEO,” said Todd Schnuck, CEO of Schnuck Markets. “Schnucks, Skogen’s Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers share a strikingly similar set of core values, tracing our success to decades of consistently focusing on the communities we serve, the values we share and the ongoing quest for excellence in grocery retail. With this combination, we’re welcoming more than 8,000 associates to our family, unifying two family legacies and redefining what it means to be a regional grocer.”
Schnucks operates 113 stores in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana and employs more than 11,000 people. Schnucks is the 13th largest privately-owned grocer in the country, according to Forbes’ 2024 rankings.
Todd Schnuck will become chairman and CEO of the newly-formed 1939 Group and will also lead a workforce of more than 19,000 people as chairman and CEO for Schnuck Markets, Skogen’s Festival Foods, and Hometown Grocers.
Schnucks, Skogen’s Festival Foods and Hometown Grocers will maintain their existing corporate headquarters and operate as separate, sister companies. The acquisition is expected to close next month.
BizTimes Milwaukee reporter Sonia Spitz contributed to this report.
