Aug 26, 2004 12:17 PM, from staff and wire reports

The Grocers Supply Co Inc, a Houston TX-based wholesale grocery distributor, plans to acquire Houston-based Fiesta Mart Inc. Fiesta has more than 50 stores in Texas, with 34 in Houston and 16 in other Texas cities.

A privately owned operation, Grocers Supply Co distributes food and other products to more than 650 grocery stores, 1,200 stores, and 200 schools in Houston and surrounding areas. The firm has 2,000 employees. In 2003, it had $1.5 billion in sales.

In 1972, Donald Bonham and O C Mendenhall founded Fiesta in the Houston area. They later expanded into Austin and the Dallas-Fort Worth TX area. Fiesta, which mainly serves the Hispanic community with an ethnic food format, also owns 16 Beverage Mart liquor stores.

The grocer tallied $1 billion in annual sales in 2003, $900 million in 2002 ,and $770 million in 2001, according to the Internet business information service Hoover’s.