One of the biggest players in the Latino supermarket scene, Northgate González BB #:166959 boasts humble beginnings.
In the early 1960s, founder Don Miguel González emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico to California to earn a living and send money home to his wife and growing family, which would eventually grow to include 13 children.
By 1976, the entire González clan had joined him in the United States, and four years later, on January 2, 1980, he opened his first store in Anaheim. This year, 2020, marks the chain’s 40th anniversary.
Today, Northgate González is a burgeoning empire, headquartered in Anaheim, of 41 stores across Southern California and, most recently, inland in Riverside. It boasts a workforce of nearly 6,000, including three dozen third-generation Gonzalez family members who work at the family business.
The Northgate stores are famous for their bakeries, tortillerías, salsa bars, cocinas, agua fresca stands, and diversity of hard-to-find products, like hoja santa or chayote, that make Latino shoppers feel right at home.
Most stores also feature riotous bright colors, balloon displays, big signs, and big lettering, as if grocery shopping at a Northgate Gonzalez store is meant to be more of a celebration than a chore. And this isn’t far from the truth, as the company has plenty to celebrate.
In 2019, Northgate reported more than $1 billion in revenue, placing it in rarefied company as one of the top three Latino supermarket chains in the United States. Of additional note: the company is still family owned and, unlike some of its competitors, has no outside investors.
Most recently, Northgate teamed up with Instacart to expand its online ordering and delivery capabilities for dozens of stores in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties.
This is a multi-part feature adapted from a supplement to the September/October issue of Produce Blueprints magazine.
