LTH Home

Tony's Fresh Market

Tony's Fresh Market
  • Forum HomePost Reply BackTop
  • Tony's Fresh Market

    Post #1 - April 20th, 2022, 11:39 am
    Post #1 - April 20th, 2022, 11:39 am Post #1 - April 20th, 2022, 11:39 am
    Tony's Fresh Market bought by private-equity firm reported by Crain's Chicago Business. Story is also reported by Chicago Tribune.

    I don't see a dedicated thread about Tony's either with its current name or previously as Tony's Finer Foods, so I am starting a new one.

    There are detail differences between the two stories, which are both behind pay walls. The headlines may be slightly misleading as some of the current ownership will be stockholders in the new entity. Whether this is good or bad will remain to be seen; probably some of both.

    Quote from Crain's:
    For Tony’s, the sale means a transition away from decades of family ownership. Italian immigrants Tony Ingraffia and Domenico Gambino started the company in 1979, opening the first location on Fullerton Avenue and Central Park avenues.

    The founding family will continue to partner with Apollo in management roles and as shareholders, said Partner Andrew Jhawar. Founder Tony Ingraffia will step back from day-to-day operations and serve on the board. His son will continue as CEO.


    Further expansion seems likely. Now there are 18 stores with three more under development.

    Quote from Tribune:
    Ingraffia said three new stores were in the pipeline, including one in Chicago and one store each in Joliet and Schaumburg.
  • Post #2 - April 20th, 2022, 12:01 pm
    Post #2 - April 20th, 2022, 12:01 pm Post #2 - April 20th, 2022, 12:01 pm
    It will be interesting to see how it evolves with new ownership.
    Tony's has been a great source for international ingredients (esp. Mexican at the Arlington Heights store), reasonable meat prices, and chile arbol salsa now that there's no Garden Fresh stores within reasonable distance from me. Ever since Mariano's got Krogerized, they've been our #2 store.

    I'd hate to see it get more generic and corporatized.
    What is patriotism, but the love of good things we ate in our childhood?
    -- Lin Yutang
  • Post #3 - April 20th, 2022, 1:28 pm
    Post #3 - April 20th, 2022, 1:28 pm Post #3 - April 20th, 2022, 1:28 pm
    Here is the contents of the entire article from Crains:
    Tony’s Fresh Market has been acquired by New York private-equity company Apollo Global Management.

    The purchase digs Apollo deeper into Chicago’s grocery world. The firm invested $1.75 billion into Jewel-Osco parent Albertsons in 2020. Outside of Chicago, it invests in Sprouts Farmers Market and other grocery stores.

    For Tony’s, the sale means a transition away from decades of family ownership. Italian immigrants Tony Ingraffia and Domenico Gambino started the company in 1979, opening the first location on Fullerton Avenue and Central Park avenues. The two worked 12 hours a day for their first decade in business, according to the store’s website.

    Tony’s now has 18 Chicago-area locations, with several more in development, according to the news release.

    “My family has been feeding our communities for generations and are incredibly excited to partner with Apollo to build upon that legacy of fresh and healthy food, at an affordable price and delivered with respect to the many cultures of our customers,” CEO Frank Ingraffia said in the news release.
    The founding family will continue to partner with Apollo, according to the news release. Apollo Partner Andrew Jhawar said in a statement that Tony’s has “built an incredible reputation in Chicago,” and is known for high-quality and international food options.

    “Having spent more than 20 years leading Apollo’s private-equity investments in grocery and retail, I firmly believe the business is poised for strong organic growth,” he said. “Together we see additional opportunities to support Tony’s through go-to-market execution, customer loyalty programs, e-commerce and more.”
    Representatives from Tony’s and Apollo were not immediately available for comment.
  • Post #4 - April 20th, 2022, 5:33 pm
    Post #4 - April 20th, 2022, 5:33 pm Post #4 - April 20th, 2022, 5:33 pm
    Well, I'm sure it's good for the sellers. But huge conglomerates always worry me.
    "All great change in America begins at the dinner table." Ronald Reagan

    http://midwestmaize.wordpress.com
  • Post #5 - April 20th, 2022, 8:22 pm
    Post #5 - April 20th, 2022, 8:22 pm Post #5 - April 20th, 2022, 8:22 pm
    No paywall = https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... esh-market
    Never order barbecue in a place that also serves quiche - Lewis Grizzard
  • Post #6 - April 21st, 2022, 7:42 am
    Post #6 - April 21st, 2022, 7:42 am Post #6 - April 21st, 2022, 7:42 am
    The two recent Tony's around here (Round Lake Beach, long-shuttered Garden Fresh, and Waukegan, former SuperFresh) already seem a little more corporatized than Tony's did 5 years ago. They're not bad, but selection seems not great - especially at the Waukegan store - and prices kinda high. With the exception of the big selection of local tortillas.
  • Post #7 - April 21st, 2022, 1:52 pm
    Post #7 - April 21st, 2022, 1:52 pm Post #7 - April 21st, 2022, 1:52 pm
    tjr, your report seems consistent with my admittedly limited experience. I recently started getting weekly flyers for Tony's in Round Lake Beach--about 10 miles away, vs about 12 miles to the one in Arlington Heights and 14 miles to the one in Waukegan, both of which I didn't know existed, so thanks to you and JoelF for that info. I have very little reason to go to Round Lake Beach and struggle to find someplace to stop for lunch or other shopping or errands when I do.

    From what I see in the weekly flyers, meat on sale at Tony's in RLB is often just "Inspected" grade, and the other sale prices aren't sales. I will check out the Waukegan and Arlington Heights Tony's if I'm nearby sometime--I am always on the lookout for Italian grocery items and didn't know Tony's was founded by an Italian family---but unless they offer better-quality meat and more competitive prices on other things, it's not going to be a draw for me.
    "Your swimming suit matches your eyes, you hold your nose before diving, loving you has made me bananas!"
  • Post #8 - December 8th, 2022, 10:35 am
    Post #8 - December 8th, 2022, 10:35 am Post #8 - December 8th, 2022, 10:35 am
    As discussed in the Jewelry thread, some specials at Tony's are specific to certain stores. For example, this week's ad has a pretty good deal on split bone-in chicken breast, .99/lb Dec 9-11 only. A careful look at the ad, though, shows that there are at least 2 editions: one for stores in Berwyn, Prospect Heights (I think this is the one people refer to as Arlington Heights; understandable given where it's located), Melrose Park, Niles, Bridgeview, Countryside, Hanover Park, Burbank and Waukegan; and another slightly different for the city stores, both Joliet stores, Glendale Heights, Bolingbrook and Round Lake Beach. The second flyer has the 3 day meat/poultry sale. Given that Tony's staff gets testy about sale prices, they're unlikely to honor the other location's flyer. Testy probably because complaints are frequent. Nextdoor in my area is full of stories about pricing problems at Tony's.

    Also, both ads show "Bee the Greek Queen" 5# Greek honey for $10.99. This seems like a good deal for a lot of honey - opinions? experiences?
  • Post #9 - December 14th, 2022, 8:44 am
    Post #9 - December 14th, 2022, 8:44 am Post #9 - December 14th, 2022, 8:44 am
    Check your local Tony's for my cherry pick of the week:
    $4.99/lb Choice skirt steak. As stated above, different stores have pretty drastically different sale items, so YMMV. Sadly, I also conceded to the new "good" price of Lacroix at $3 for an 8 pack, and loaded up. Based on these new prices across the board, I'm ok with stocking up on those since a few of their flavors are worth the premium to me: Cherry Blossom, Beach Plum, Key Lime, and Limoncello.

    There's some other decent sale stuff, but I loaded up on the skirt and Lacroix.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.
  • Post #10 - December 14th, 2022, 11:28 am
    Post #10 - December 14th, 2022, 11:28 am Post #10 - December 14th, 2022, 11:28 am
    seebee wrote:Check your local Tony's for my cherry pick of the week:
    $4.99/lb Choice skirt steak.


    At that price are we sure it's sourced from cattle, or is it more like the Simpson's Ribwich (does it come from pigs? "Think smaller, and with more legs").
  • Post #11 - December 14th, 2022, 11:43 am
    Post #11 - December 14th, 2022, 11:43 am Post #11 - December 14th, 2022, 11:43 am
    spinynorman99 wrote:
    seebee wrote:Check your local Tony's for my cherry pick of the week:
    $4.99/lb Choice skirt steak.


    At that price are we sure it's sourced from cattle, or is it more like the Simpson's Ribwich (does it come from pigs? "Think smaller, and with more legs").


    It's the former
  • Post #12 - December 14th, 2022, 12:19 pm
    Post #12 - December 14th, 2022, 12:19 pm Post #12 - December 14th, 2022, 12:19 pm
    My Tony's ad is good for 20 stores. Note that the skirt steak deal noted by seebee is a 4-day sale running from today through Saturday, 12/17.
  • Post #13 - December 28th, 2022, 8:05 pm
    Post #13 - December 28th, 2022, 8:05 pm Post #13 - December 28th, 2022, 8:05 pm
    O.K., so today I went to Tony's Finer Foods on the #77 Belmont bus. :arrow:
    I have selected the store at 5630 W. Belmont Ave. as my 'home' store, although I am actually closer to the store at 4608 W. Belmont Ave. This Tony's used to be A & G Fruit Market. A & G did not possess a licensed beverage permit for it when it was sold to Tony's. Tony's has received such. The reason I select this store is because it is at Belmont & Central, and I can couple up a take-away food venue nearby here, as opposed to what is in the plaza at 4608 W. When the weather is better, I could genuinely walk to that store.
    But, since I was on the bus, the tie-in for food went to a Wendy's at 4140 W. Belmont. I have coupons from Wendy's [c.v. "The Weekly Flyer"] which will expire with the calendar year. I opted for a "buy 1, get 1 free" single cheeseburger deal. With a small soft drink (Coca-Cola® Vanilla ~ $1.99 :shock:; the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines are stocked and they work here; as opposed to the machine at the Burger King at 3167 N. Milwaukee) (However, at this Wendy's, three of the four credit card ordering kiosks, and one of the main menu display monitors, are out of order.:P), this cost $7.95.
    There were no snags with the buses running today. However, only some of the new Nova buses running on the route had been washed (Mine had not been.), so visions outside the vehicle were mostly occluded.
    I have registered for Tony's frequent-saver plan, whatever it is titled. I used the 1GB Fiber Internet connection from the abode here to set up my shopping cart for what I intended to buy. :idea:
    Here is a hardcopy of that shopping list. :wink: Image
    This Tony's does not have a vast variety of the Smart Ones entrees. I espied seven. (Its W-WW site shows sixteen.) I would have preferred more meat-based selections. The roughest part of shopping these was having to step up on the door bracket bottom to reach the back part of the upper shelf. I had to step down three times because my hands were freezing when reaching for boxes. {Consider wearing gloves when shopping a freezer case.}
    Nonetheless, I got all my items. The "best by" dates on several of the potato chip bags are approaching, but I think they will be O.K. for a while.
    Here is my register receipt. I did very well. I estimated I would expend $81.89 on these. But when including all the digital deals and sale pricing, the final cost was $50.63. :!: :mrgreen: Image Image
    I did not know that Jay's is owned by Campbell's Foods, and Vitner's is owned by Utz.
    The roughest part of this trip was bagging the items. The Smart Ones entrees and Cheez-It crackers, being rectangular, were easier. Although figuring out how much could go into each bag necessitated experimentation. I did use self check-out because I certainly did not want to snag a regular check-out line trying to move items in-and-out of my cart. The potato chip bags are lightweight. But they are bulky. Getting them into a shopping bag is what takes time. My reuseable fiber bag {from an old AHA NHC} had the bags with the boxy items and two potato chip bags. It went over my left shoulder. In my right hand was two reused plastic bags {including one from Jewel-Osco :lol: } with the other bags of potato chips. Having to walk a longer distance with these would have been tiring. But I needed merely to get these to and from a bus stop.
    So go on out there and shop at Tony's. Clearly, I did something correctly to save $44.98. You more-experienced shoppers might make a killing on your savings. :lol:
    Last edited by pudgym29 on May 18th, 2023, 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
    Valuable links for survival, without the monetization attempt: https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html
  • Post #14 - December 29th, 2022, 12:48 pm
    Post #14 - December 29th, 2022, 12:48 pm Post #14 - December 29th, 2022, 12:48 pm
    pudgym29 wrote:[color=#976638]
    By now, you should know that both Jay's and Vitner's are under the same corporate umbrella. I can envision Jay's getting more midwestern distribution, but not Vitner's.


    FWIW, Vitner's is owned by Utz and Jay's is owned by Campbell Soup...
    "Goldie, how many times have I told you guys that I don't want no horsin' around on the airplane?"
  • Post #15 - December 30th, 2022, 1:34 pm
    Post #15 - December 30th, 2022, 1:34 pm Post #15 - December 30th, 2022, 1:34 pm
    More detail: Jays is owned by Snyder-Lance, in turn owned by Campbell. So Jays and Vitners are part of rival Pennsylvania pretzel makers. Jays are the usual alternative to Lays in southeastern Wisconsin. Moving westward, the superior Old Dutch chips take over.
  • Post #16 - January 8th, 2023, 2:16 pm
    Post #16 - January 8th, 2023, 2:16 pm Post #16 - January 8th, 2023, 2:16 pm
    tjr wrote: More detail: Jays is owned by Snyder-Lance, in turn owned by Campbell. So Jays and Vitners are part of rival Pennsylvania pretzel makers. Jays are the usual alternative to Lays in southeastern Wisconsin. Moving westward, the superior Old Dutch chips take over.
    Thank you. I'll scribe this in my notes for future references. :|
    Valuable links for survival, without the monetization attempt: https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html
  • Post #17 - January 8th, 2023, 6:29 pm
    Post #17 - January 8th, 2023, 6:29 pm Post #17 - January 8th, 2023, 6:29 pm
    My Tony's had $2.99/lb choice big, fat, thick, chuck shoulder roasts on a Fri/Sat Sun sale. I loaded up on the ones that looked well marbled. I'll be making a big ol' mess of Poor Man's Burnt Ends on the smoker tomorrow.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.
  • Post #18 - October 29th, 2023, 9:38 pm
    Post #18 - October 29th, 2023, 9:38 pm Post #18 - October 29th, 2023, 9:38 pm
    The next shop was Tony's Fresh Market at 2099 N. Mannheim Rd. in Melrose Park. [US 12 & 45]

    This strip mall has existed for thirty years. I remember shopping this strip in the Sprint with mom and dad [R.I.P.] around that time. It is huge. I cannot call to mind what grocer was here. It may have been a small local one. The Tony's flyer for here is limited to it and one other store in Bolingbrook. Glancing at the differences: Most of the ads are similar, but they have been moved around. It is in the "International" part of the flyer where there are different products.
    No soda bought here. Nearly everything was digital. But I must alert you that the packs of Little Debbie breakfast snack cakes, advertised at $2.50 scanned for me as $2.79. :x This required a visit to customer service to correct. Items were two 12-oz. packs of Vienna Beef franks (being tolerant and egalitarian :wink:), Nabisco Triscuit 8½-oz. crackers and Chicken In A Biskit 7½-oz. crackers [approaching its sixtieth anniversary] $3.00 each, and the freebie item Chobani yogurt dairy drink 7-oz. bottle. Cost here = $17.37. [credit card]

    The third grocer was Jewel-Osco on W. Grand Ave. in Franklin Park.
    Valuable links for survival, without the monetization attempt: https://pqrs-ltd.xyz/bookmark4.html
  • Post #19 - November 15th, 2023, 11:36 am
    Post #19 - November 15th, 2023, 11:36 am Post #19 - November 15th, 2023, 11:36 am
    Here's a gripe for me this week.
    Tony's sale ad this week:
    Planters Peanut 16 oz, buy 2 get 2 free. Mix and Match!

    Tony's website: Planter's Peanut 16 oz $2.99 until Dec 5th.
    Tony's in store shelf price: Planter's Peanut 16 oz $2.99 until Dec 5th.

    Tony's Register Price: $4.29 buy 2 get 2 free.

    Tony's customer service desk: "This the new sale price, it comes out to less than $2.99 each, so that's better."

    Me: The shelf price is $2.99 until Dec 5th. The sale flyer shows no change in price. The other Mix/Match items I bought (Pringles) rang up at their shelf price of $2.99, buy 2 get 2 free.

    Tony's Customer Service Desk: But $4.29x 2 / 4 is like $2.15 each. That's better than $2.99.

    Me: The price on your shelf would make them $1.50 each, like the other items in your mix/match sale price that rang up correctly.

    Tony's desk: "But it's a new week"

    Me: Your price on the shelf shows $2.99 until Dec 5th.

    I returned them. Not mad or anything, but their math wasn't mathing. And their sale dates on the shelf pointed to them being $2.99 from earlier Nov, until Dec 5th, as did their website. They net lowered the price to 2.15, which isn't bad at all - cheaper by few cents than my Aldi brand peanuts, even. But $1.50 was what I was there for.
    We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.
    Pronoun: That fool over there
    Identifies as: A human that doesn't need to "identify as" something to try to somehow be interesting.

Contact

About

Team

Advertize

Close

Chat

Articles

Guide

Events

more