There’s a scent that greets customers the moment they walk through the door at Fresco Supermarkets: freshly baked bread. That seemingly small detail encapsulates a decade of decisions that turned this Florida Hispanic supermarket into a place where the community truly feels at home.
Abasto magazine spoke with Sergio Benítez, chief operating officer of Fresco Supermarkets, who has been with the chain since day one. Ten years after that opening, Benítez still gets emotional when he recalls the moment he knew the project would succeed.
A Start No One Expected
In 2016, the store closed its doors as a Winn-Dixie one day and reopened the following week as Fresco y Más. No one at the company imagined what was to come: sales jumped nearly 500% almost immediately.
“Nothing like this had ever happened to us as a company, as an organization,” says Benítez, still surprised by that public response. The store was located in Hialeah, a city in South Florida where more than 90% of the residents are Hispanic. The rebranding struck a chord that no one had tapped into before, proving there was a real appetite for a Hispanic supermarket rooted in the community’s culture.
To understand how to build that connection, the team traveled to California to study Northgate González Markets, a well-established Hispanic chain in the market. From that learning experience, Fresco’s formula was born: Caribbean, Mexican, and South American products under one roof, with the warmth of a neighborhood market.
What This Hispanic Supermarket Offers That Customers Can’t Find Anywhere Else
Benítez describes those early years as “a journey into the unexpected.” Each store opening brought a new surprise about what customers were really looking for.
The answers came quickly. Seventy-eight percent of customers began frequenting Fresco for its fresh produce, including rare fruits such as pitahaya and Cuban loquat. The fish, purchased directly at the docks, reaches the counters the same day it’s unloaded from the boat.
But what moved Benítez the most was something else. “At the end of the day, your language is the most beautiful song you can ever hear in your life,” he says, recalling what customers told him over and over again: that they wanted to be spoken to in their own language, that they wanted their name to be known, and that their butcher should be a real person—not just an anonymous counter clerk.
That idea—the customer first, always—became the guiding principle behind every decision. Fresco doesn’t sign fixed contracts with suppliers: it buys the freshest produce available and offers, according to Benítez, the best price—not necessarily the lowest.
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From Corporate Ownership to Family-Run Operation
In 2024, Southeastern Grocers, then the chain’s parent company, sold Fresco to the private investment group Fresco Retail Group, based in Coral Gables. Benítez believes that decision still weighs on the former owners: they never imagined the growth that would follow.
The new company arrived with renewed energy. It invests in the stores, refreshes the brand, and, according to Benítez, genuinely cares about the customer and the team. The private ownership structure also simplified day-to-day operations: there’s no longer a need to wade through endless bureaucracy to get an idea approved. All it takes is presenting it to a small, close-knit board of directors.
Customers Finally Understood the Name
The change from Fresco y Más to Fresco Supermarket wasn’t a whim. Many customers didn’t know what kind of business Fresco y Más was because the name—though nice—didn’t convey anything: it didn’t suggest a supermarket, a store, or a market.
Market research confirmed what the team suspected. The solution came from the same source as always: the customer. The word “supermarket” cleared up the confusion and, for Benítez, improved the way people understand Fresco.
What’s Next: More Technology, the Same Passion
With 26 stores and a decade of learning under its belt, Fresco is looking ahead. Benítez hints at a major investment in loyalty programs, social media, e-commerce, and a revamped mobile app. He prefers to keep the details a surprise, but promises new features always designed to make customers’ lives easier.
Even so, he insists that technology isn’t the real driving force behind Fresco. It’s the people: from the CEO down to the person who collects shopping carts in the parking lot. “When you have associates who are passionate about what they do, there’s no limit,” he says.
Ten years after that first closing as Winn-Dixie, Fresco Supermarkets is no longer just a Hispanic supermarket: for many of its customers, it’s a little piece of home. And if there’s one thing Sergio Benítez is certain of, it’s that the best part of this story is yet to be written.