Smart and Final, Inc

Overview:

129 YEARS OF SUPERIOR SERVICE, GROWTH AND SUCCESS As Smart & Final approaches the millennium and looks forward to the challenges of the 21st century, it is important to revisit from time-to-time its historical roots. Smart & Final is a truly unique company, for it combines the modernism of today's management with the historical perspective of one of the West's pioneer companies.The year was 1871, and Los Angeles was a small, dusty, ranching town. Streets were unpaved, buildings were modestly wood or adobe and the enclave's 6,000 residents--many of Mexican and Indian descent--probably were outnumbered by local sheep and cattle. Los Angeles mainly produced hides, wool and tallow. Indeed Los Angeles couldn't begin to compare with its northern neighbor, bustling, cosmopolitan San Francisco.But Los Angeles' rural ambiance didn't deter Abraham Haas, a young grocer who'd journeyed to the United States from his native Bavaria by ship and railroad at age 16. He launched a new grocery business with his brother, Jacob, and partners, Bernard Cohn and Herman Hellman. Housed in a two-story brick building on Los Angeles Street, Hellman-Haas Grocery Co. sold necessities of the day including flour, brown sugar, salt, patent medicines, rope, sheepherding supplies, chewing tobacco and gunpowder.Packaged goods were unknown: Hellman, Haas' food staples arrived in bulk and typically were sold by weight. There were prunes in huge casks, barrels of currants from Greece and rice for the town's burgeoning Chinese population. So vital was the store that Hellman, Haas was one of seven names in the first Los Angeles phone directory!Indeed the entrepreneurs behind Hellman, Haas were a distinguished group. Herman Hellman, a fellow Bavarian, later succeeded his brother, Isias, as head of the then-esteemed Farmers and Merchants Bank, was among the group of community leaders who donated the land upon which was built the University of Southern California.Abraham Haas meanwhile launched the first flour milling and cold storage businesses in Los Angeles, along with several electricity and gas companies -- the forerunners of current Southern California power companies.By the turn of the century, Hellman, Haas had changed hands: The sole owners now were Abraham Haas and Jacob Baruch, who bought out Herman Hellman. The company name was changed to Haas, Baruch & Co. in 1889.Meantime, Haas, Baruch introduced its private Iris label on canned tomatoes and launched a tradition of artistically designed labels to emphasize the cans' high quality contents. By 1895, the grocer's sales reached $2 million--a huge sum at the time.By 1900, Haas Baruch was the burgeoning city's preeminent wholesale grocer. Over the next two decades, a chain of events--including construction of the L.A. Aqueduct, the discovery of oil in Long Beach and the opening of the Panama Canal--pushed the local population to nearly one million.Abraham Haas left Southern California at this time and moved to San Francisco to found Haas Wholesale Grocers which became the leading wholesaler in the Bay Area. His son, Walter, who worked with his father in the food business, left to join a struggling clothing manufacturer, Levi Straus. Under his direction, the company flourished and Walter served as president for three decades, bringing Levi Straus to international fame. The Haas mansion in San Francisco, the original home of Abraham Haas, is now open to private tours as a San Francisco Historical Home.On a parallel basis, the Santa Ana Grocery Company, which was founded in 1912 and mainly supplied feed and grain to local farmers, was sold in 1914 to J.S. "Jim" Smart, a banker from Saginaw, Michigan. Jim was then joined by partner H.D. "Hildane" Final, and the company name changed to Smart & Final Wholesale Grocers. The business relocated near the docks in San Pedro and immediately prospered. By 1919, sales surged to $10 million.The grocery industry was also changing. As retail grocers gained strength, many were negotiating discounts directly with manufacturers, avoiding wholesalers altogether. Competition turned brutal: Of the city's 16 wholesale grocers in 1920, only 7 were left a decade later. Smart & Final survived by offering better service and by pioneering the "cash-and-carry" concept in Los Angeles. Previously, grocery stores--even at wholesale--required a clerk to collect goods for the customer.Smart & Final rightly figured the chain could reduce overhead by introducing self-service but still retain high-quality selection and service. Its novel cash-and-carry debuted in Long Beach in 1923. Another innovation was locating stores near customers' businesses, recognizing the importance of their time and sparing them the trek to a remote warehouse.In 1953, Smart & Final merged with Haas, Baruch, with Smart & Final the surviving company. The company shifted its headquarters to Haas Baruch's new warehouse in Vernon, California, which was quickly becoming the preferred distribution location for a number of wholesale and retail companies. Shortly thereafter, the company was acquired by a leading supermarket chain, Thriftimart, and grew to 83 units by 1984. Later that year, Thriftimart stores were liquidated and the Company's resources focused on an aggressive Smart & Final store modernization and expansion program.The last 10 years have seen the total renewal of Smart & Final, becoming a company that is "129-year's old, but whose store base is a decade young."The changes during this period have been truly monumental, the best example of which is to look at our store aging. With over 170 stores in the chain, 136 stores are less than 12 years old! Over the past decade, Smart & Final has grown from a relatively modest $240 million in sales to over $1.8 billion, an increase of more than 600%. Smart & Final stores have also entered exciting new markets in Mexico and Florida. The Company's business has expanded to include broadline foodservice distribution through the acquisition of the Port Stockton Food Distributors (now called Smart & Final Foodservice) in Northern California and the Henry Lee Company in Miami, Florida.Still headquartered in Los Angeles, Smart & Final stock is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading under the symbol SMF. Annual sales for fiscal year ended 1999 totaled $1.8 billion.

Environment:

Smart & Final Inc. employs more than 5,300 associates in our corporate offices, warehouses and stores.

Benefits:

EXCELLENT BENEFITS! FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES available upon meeting eligibility requirements Insurance (associate and family) Medical Dental Life personal Accident Paid Leave 9 Holidays; 6 Scheduled and 3 Floating Vacation: 10 to 25 days, based on years of service Sick Leave: 5 days per year Retirement Pension Plan 401(K) Plan Stock Purchase Plan Store Performance Commission Bonus Employee Assistance Program Lawphone (legal assistance) Educational Reimbursement PART-TIME EMPLOYEES eligibility determined after 1 year of service Insurance (associate only) Medical Life Personal Accident Paid Leave Paid time off: 20 hours per year Retirement Pension Plan 401(k) Plan Stock Purchase Plan Employee Assistance Program Lawphone (legal assistance)