Sedano’s Supermarkets is the United States’ largest Hispanic retailer and largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain. Founded in 1962 in Hialeah, Florida, by the Guerra and Herrán families as a neighborhood store catering to immigrant communities, the chain has grown to serve diverse Hispanic populations across South Florida and Central Florida with a sharp focus on authentic Latin American products, fresh offerings, and cultural authenticity. The chain has since grown to include stores spanning Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, and Osceola counties. The stores are known for their emphasis on tropical produce, specialty meats prepared on site, fresh-baked Cuban bread and pastries, and prepared Latin foods, alongside comprehensive selections of ingredients and staples that reflect the tastes of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Central American customers.
As the largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain in the United States, as of 2025 it operates 32 stores across Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, and Osceola counties, employing over 3,000 associates and emphasizing fresh produce, authentic flavors, and cultural staples like cafecito and homemade prepared foods. Sedano’s is also the largest member of Associated Grocers of Florida, a wholesale grocery food cooperative. The chain remains family-owned and has built its reputation on understanding and serving the specific culinary preferences of Hispanic immigrant communities—a niche that larger mainstream grocers have historically underserved.
History
In 1961, Cuban exile René Sedano opened the original Sedano’s store, a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) bodega, in Hialeah, Florida. In 1962, a fellow Cuban exile, Armando Guerra Sr., acquired the store from Sedano and kept the name. After the Castro revolution, which culminated in 1959, Guerra, a successful banker and grocer in Cuba, exiled to Miami in 1961.
In 1971, Guerra brought Manuel Herrán on board to help out with the daily operations of his small business. By 1967, Herrán and his family made their way to Miami where he worked as a salesman before beginning his career with Sedano’s. Mr. Guerra passed away in 1979, and Herrán took over the reigns of the company. He subsequently lured his brothers José, Ezequiel, and Antolín to join him in running the operation. Under Herrán’s leadership, the chain began systematic expansion beyond its single Hialeah location.
In 1994, Sedano’s began expanding beyond Miami-Dade County when it opened its first store in Hollywood in Broward County. In January 2010, three Sedano’s were opened in Central Florida after acquiring stores from Albertsons LLC. On November 6, 2019, the 35th location opened in Hialeah, making this the 10th store in Sedano’s Supermarkets founding city of Hialeah, the sixth-largest city in the state.
In 1977, Sedano’s Pharmacy was launched; Armando Guerra Jr., son of Armando Guerra Sr., was named president of Sedano’s Pharmacy, having earned his degree in pharmacy at the University of Florida. In 2007, Navarro Discount Pharmacies, today part of CVS Health, acquired Sedano’s Pharmacy for an undisclosed amount. The deal only included their 11 freestanding pharmacy locations, not the supermarkets. This acquisition allowed Sedano’s to focus solely on its core grocery business.
In 2007, Sedano’s Supermarkets launched its private label of products, which spans over 1,000 items as of 2021.
In 2005, Manuel Herrán’s son, Agustin Herrán, became president and CEO of Sedano’s, and Manuel served as chairman of the board until his death on October 15, 2020.
Operations & Footprint
Sedano’s operates as a privately held, family-owned enterprise headquartered in Miami-Dade County. The company is the largest independent member of Associated Grocers of Florida, a wholesale cooperative that supports its supply chain, procurement, and distribution needs while preserving its autonomy. The chain has concentrated its footprint in South and Central Florida, with the bulk of stores in Miami-Dade County and expanding presence in Broward, Orange, and Osceola counties. This geographic focus reflects both the company’s origins and the high concentration of Hispanic populations in these areas.
José Herrán Jr., another family member, holds the position of chief operating officer, managing day-to-day supply chain and store operations. Javier Herrán serves as chief marketing officer, focusing on branding, customer engagement, and promotional strategies tailored to multicultural markets.
Products, Services & Merchandising
Sedano’s has onsite bakeries and kitchens that produce Hispanic baked goods such as Cuban bread, empanadas, croquetas, and pastelitos. Its custom-cuts meat department with an onsite butcher or “carnicero,” fish and seafood selection, prepared Latin meals, and onsite café specializing in cafeticos, attract Hispanic and non-Hispanic shoppers alike. Besides packaged Hispanic foods and culturally common fresh fruits and vegetables, shoppers can also find typical American fare and products.
The chain’s produce section emphasizes tropical and Latin American staples that mainstream grocers stock minimally or not at all, including yuca, plantains, malanga, boniato, and tropical fruits such as guava and tamarind. The company does not lump the Hispanic market together in a single group; instead, it micro-markets, offering food from home to immigrants from Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, South America, Central America, Mexico and Cuba.
Shoppers who don’t have the time or ability to shop in person can shop for groceries online at sedanos.com. Employees then bag the robotically retrieved groceries and load them into Sedano’s trucks, and the groceries are delivered to select stores for pickup. Customers call upon arrival, and their groceries are carried out and placed in their vehicle. To further expand its online ordering and delivery options, Sedano’s announced its partnership with Shipt in May 2020. Sedano’s customers can order groceries, including fresh produce, meats, deli items, and daily essentials, as well as beer and wine, choose a delivery window time, and have the items delivered to their door.
In June 2025, Sedano’s enhanced affordability for essential health items by beginning to accept OTC and Flex Benefit Cards in all Florida stores, enabling customers to use health plan benefits for approved OTC products and related wellness items. This move particularly benefits seniors and low-income families in Hispanic communities by covering costs for medications, vitamins, and health supplies without additional out-of-pocket expenses.
Technology and E-Commerce Innovation
In 2018, Sedano’s Supermarkets announced a partnership with Takeoff Technologies, a grocery software startup, to debut the first-ever automated, hyperlocal fulfillment center in Miami. This first-of-its-kind automated storage and retrieval system, built by Austrian logistics company KNAPP and designed by Takeoff, allowed Sedano’s to expand into the grocery automation space. The robotic store can prepare over 1,500 items per hour, completing a 60-item order in 5 minutes. This technological investment positioned Sedano’s as an early adopter of grocery automation at a regional scale, enabling rapid order fulfillment for online shoppers across the chain’s footprint.
Community Engagement and COVID-19 Response
To address job losses in the hospitality sector, Sedano’s formed a partnership in March 2020 with Miami-area restaurants Versailles and La Carreta, offering temporary full-time and part-time positions to up to 400 laid-off workers from these establishments. This initiative helped staff Sedano’s stores amid a surge in grocery demand while providing income stability to affected employees during closures.
Sedano’s works with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) and the Community Coalition, Inc., to voluntarily pack hurricane food kits for homebound senior citizens in Miami-Dade County. These hurricane food kits include non-perishable food items and water, along with a hurricane preparedness guide. In the aftermath of a hurricane, each store is equipped with emergency generators to accelerate reopening.
Market Position and Competitive Landscape
In 2020, Sedano’s Supermarkets was named Food and Wine’s 20 Best Regional Supermarket Chains of All Time. The chain occupies a distinct niche within Florida’s competitive grocery market, serving as the dominant specialized retailer for Hispanic and Latin American products in its operating regions. While larger regional and national players such as Publix and Winn-Dixie have greater overall market share, Sedano’s has built a sustainable competitive advantage through deep cultural understanding, community roots, product specialization, and consistent execution in a market segment where mainstream competitors have historically invested less.
The company’s success has demonstrated the commercial viability of catering specifically to immigrant and multicultural communities rather than treating the Hispanic market as a secondary demographic within a general-merchandise model. Sedano’s strategy of micro-marketing to distinct Hispanic subgroups—offering products tailored to Cuban, Puerto Rican, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Central American customers—has proven effective at building loyalty and differentiation in a consolidating grocery industry.
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