The father-son team who acquired Birmingham-based Southern Family Markets said Monday they plan to rebrand the 57 stores as Belle Foods and restore the kind of family ownership the business had under the Bruno family.
Bill White, chief executive of Belle Foods LLC, the company he and his son, Jeff White, formed this spring to buy the chain, said in a talk to 90 employees at its corporate headquarters that they considered returning the Bruno name to the stores in tribute to the founders. In the end, Bill White said, they opted to start fresh with the new name, Belle Foods.
The stores they acquired from Southern Family Markets operate in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi under such names as Bruno's, Food World, and Piggly Wiggly.
"We want all of the stores under one banner, and feel Belle Foods is a great name to focus on growing," he said. "Five to six banners are difficult to operate. It costs us money."
