Andronico's

Andronico's is a supermarket chain based primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its first store was founded in 1929 on Berkeley's Solano Avenue by Greek immigrant Frank Andronico.^[1]

Andronico's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy August 22, 2011.^[2] It was acquired out of bankruptcy by Renovo Capital. ^[3]

Market position

Andronico's stores are smaller than rival chain supermarkets and boast a good selection of premium specialty items along with natural and organic foods. The meat and seafood selection is a cornerstone at Andronico's and is supported by large full service meat, poultry and seafood cases in all eight stores.

The company is known for being a community market and is continuing their support of the bay area communities where they operate.

Bankruptcy and reorganization

During the mid 2000's, Andronico's lost market share to both conventional and premium national supermarket chains. The company began borrowing money to finance expansion into suburban areas, but these new locations failed to become profitable. After closing the Walnut Creek store in 2006 and selling the Danville store the same year to reduce company debt, the company focused on raising capital and remodeling the store located at 14th and Irving in the Inner Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco.

Andronico's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August of 2011, citing $10 to $50 million in debts amassed during its unsuccessful effort to expand into the suburbs and seeking a buyer for itself.^[4] In October of 2011, the company was purchased for $16 million by a private equity firm called Renwood Opportunities Fund, a partnership between Renovo Capital and Rosewood Private Investments^[5]. Shortly thereafter, the store on University Avenue in Berkeley was closed, followed by the Telegraph Avenue store.

Executive team

In the late summer of 2009 Bill Andronico hired then consultant Justin Jackson to evaluate the company's operations. As a seasoned veteran most recently VP of Purchasing with Whole Foods Pacific Northwest, Jackson analyzed the situation and put together a new executive leadership team in May 2010 beginning with John Clougher as President and COO and Steve Epidendio as VP of Operations.

Both Clougher and Epidendio were former Whole Foods Execs, Clougher, former President of Pacific Northwest Region and Epidendio, former VP of Ops Norcal Region. Epidendio had also spent nine years as an Andronico's store director during the late 80"s and early 90's.

A month later Jackson and Clougher reached out to former colleague and past Whole Foods Norcal President Anthony Gilmore to join the team as Chief Strategist and Administrative Officer. Gilmore also held the position with Safeway as VP of Corporate Lifestyle and New Concept Development and Corporate Perishables 2007 to 2010.

Fall 2010, together they are restructuring the corporate support team to begin building a operations focused and talented seasoned team.

Locations

• Berkeley (2)
  • 1550 Shattuck Avenue
  • 1850 Solano Avenue

• Los Altos
  • 690 Fremont Avenue

• San Francisco
  • 1200 Irving Street at 14th and Irving

• San Anselmo
  • 100 Center Blvd.

The Walnut Creek store closed December 22, 2006, and the Danville location closed on September 16, 2006, after eight years, and was sold to, Lunardi's Super Markets. The Palo Alto store closed July 24, 2011. ^[6]

Two locations in Berkeley closed in 2011, one on University Avenue and the other on Telegraph Avenue.

References

External links

• Andronico's Home Page