What You Should Know About Raley's Supermarket

The only bad thing you can seemingly say about Raley's corporation is that they're not everywhere. The third-generation-owned family business is located in Northern California and Nevada, with its headquarters in Sacramento. Once known for being the nation's first meat market at its sole location in Placerville, California, Raley's has grown to include many different umbrella markets, like Nob Hill and Slater Bros. Market, among others.

It might be considered a smaller chain when compared to corporate supermarket giants like Safeway or Walmart, but Raley's makes a big impact on its surrounding communities, with its plethora of altruistic endeavors and the millions of dollars it gives back every year. From classroom programs to educational grants to food hunger relief efforts, the company is relentless in giving back to local communities.

The only dirt we were able to dig up on the grocer was perhaps a few disgruntled employees letting off some steam on Indeed, but that's not to say there weren't happy ones there too. All in all, we found pretty cool reasons to shop at Raley's if you find yourself in the Northern California or Nevada region.

Raley's has been around for nearly a century, having opened its first store in February 1935 in Placerville, California, just outside of Sacramento. With only $121 of investment money to put towards the new grocery store, Tom P. Raley was able to hire a contractor to build a 2,500-square-foot building. When construction was finished, Raley had run out of money and wasn't able to stock the shelves, and had to rely on credit to get his new grocery business up and running.

In the midst of the Great Depression, the company still managed to turn a profit of $4,500 during its inaugural year, which was a considerable sum given the hard times. Marketed as "the nation's first drive-in market," the new grocery retailer gained a fast following of shoppers thanks to the high-quality meat and produce available at the new Raley's. However, the start of World War II caused a major rift in the supply and demand of meat, produce, and dairy products, and Raley's profit margin, as well as supermarkets across the country, took a dip in sales. The company came back stronger than ever post-war with the introduction of packaged foods.

Fresh off the Great Depression and World War II, Raley's remained open, and even made a comeback post-war with the introduction of packaged and processed foods. In spite of the convenience packaged items brought to supermarkets and home cooking, Tom P. Raley was determined to stock his shelves with healthier options like fresh produce in meat.

In 1947, Raley decided to combine convenience with freshness by opening the nation's first self-service pre-packaged meat counter. Prior to 1947, customers would order their meat through the grocery store butcher, and orders would be butchered based on specific sizes and cuts. Around that same time, plastic wrap was invented, creating a boom in the pre-packaged food and meat industry, with Raley's paving the way. Raley's became known as the first supermarket to introduce the concept, and the trend of self-service meat counters quickly spread across the United States, revolutionizing the meat industry and the way it was sold.

Starting with just one grocery store in Placerville, California in 1935, Raley's has now expanded to 126 grocery stores regionally in Northern California and Nevada. The total number of stores includes 78 Raley's, 20 Nob Hill Foods, five Food Source stores, and one Sak N' Save. Of those stores, there are approximately 11,500 employees working for the family-owned company, which equates to about 100 employees per location. The company still boasts private ownership, and is one of the largest family-owned businesses in Northern California, with headquarters in West Sacramento.

Over the last few years, the company has continued to grow and expand, with the announcement of a new Raley's O-N-E Market opening in Truckee, California in 2020. The store takes Raley's commitment to health and nutrition to the next level with locally sourced produce, meats, and health-food items, with a layout and style that mimics Whole Foods. In 2021, Raley's signed an acquisition to take over Bashas' Family of Stores, which is regionally based in Arizona. There's no telling how far this company will grow and expand, but with a strong family-owned foundation and unstoppable acquisitions of other regional grocers, the sky's the limit for Raley's.

Raley's is on a mission to help end hunger for local families in need in the greater Sacramento area, as well as other cities and towns in Northern California, and Nevada through its nonprofit organization, Food for Families. The charity has been around for almost 40 years, and in that time, it has raised over $59 million dollars equating to about 44 million meals.

Founded by former Raley's president Chuck Collings and former owner Joyce Teel Raley, the 501(c)(3) organization is partnered with Feeding America, which is the leading charity in ending food hunger in the U.S. The partnership enables Raley's to reach as many communities and families as possible through food banks, hunger relief programs, and year-round food drives.

Raley's collects donations through Facebook marketing campaigns, at store checkouts, and through the company's holiday drive, which generates the largest amount of donations every year. During the 2020 holiday donation season, it raised a staggering $3 million, which was the largest number of donations raised during the annual holiday fundraiser to date. Raley's offsets the administration costs associated with running the nonprofit to ensure all proceeds reach those in need.

As part of the company's ongoing efforts to educate their surrounding communities, as well as give back to those in need, Raley's offers extra credit grants to K-12 schools to help support nutrition, exercise, and food insecurity programs.

The extra credit grants program accepts applications twice per year, once during fall and once during spring, and the amounts awarded are based on the size of the school, the needs assessed in the grant application, and the anticipated capacity of the proposed program or project. Submissions may be made through Raley's online portal during the open enrollment periods.

Past projects that grand funds have supported include health and safety curriculums, personal protective equipment, student-run gardens, improving school lunch programs, physical activity programs, increased access to fresh drinking water on school campuses, and distance learning supplies. Other programs that have been funded, but are outside the norm for the grants program include individual scholarships, food hunger relief efforts, school field trips that are focused on nutritional education and physical fitness, and other types of fundraisers or events that benefit local school communities.

For all that Raley's has given back over the years in nonprofit donations, it seems only fair the company receives an award every now and then. More recently, Raley's was the proud recipient of the Produce Business Retail Sustainability Award in 2022 based on their holistic approach to green business practices.

The award comes two years after Raley's opened its bougie, upscale Raley's O-N-E Market just outside of Lake Tahoe, California. The evolutionary commitment to healthy, nutritious food, educational outreach, and general layout and offerings in the store, caught the attention of Produce Business Magazine, who later named Raley's the award recipient.

Some aspects of Raley's business model that were noteworthy included its commitment to labeling certain sugars, fats, and processed ingredients on every price tag in the store using its system of colorful icons. Produce Business also gave a nod to its non-GMO efforts and the support of sustainable seafood and meats.