Texas Schools Reap Rewards of H-E-B Grocery War Dominance With $100M Donation
The love affair between H-E-B and Texas just got deeper with the announcement of a $100M donation to Texas education from the grocery store chain's CEO, Charles Butt. The money will be used to create the Holdsworth Center for Texas public school administrators. Potential sites for the center named after Butt's mother are being scouted around Austin. The center’s organizers estimate that more than 3,000 education leaders will go through the program in its first 10 years at no cost to the districts.
“With our size comes a tremendous responsibility to provide the highest quality education to all students,” Butt said in a prepared statement. “The Holdsworth Center will help to ensure we have inspired and enlightened leaders at every level within the education system making daily decisions that positively impact the future of our students and the state.”
H-E-B has been wildly successful in Texas, standing toe-to-toe against retail giants like Walmart in the nation's most competitive grocery markets. In most cases, H-E-B is winning — it has the top market share in San Antonio with 48%, in Austin with 46% and in Houston with 21%. H-E-B's deep Texas roots have been key in combating national retail titans. Texas-specific products like Whataburger-branded condiments and Blue Bell Ice Cream abound.
Founded in 1905, H-E-B is one of the largest private companies in the U.S. with 86,000 employees across 370 stores, combining for $23B in revenue in 2015.
