How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024) • Hacker News Board

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#21

Post by infecto » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:09 PM UTC

bell-cot wrote: post #2

> Perhaps the real question isn’t: Why does H-E-B do so many nice things for the state? But: Why aren’t more companies like H-E-B? > ... in this company’s nearly 120-year history, it’s remained family-owned and operated. It has been more than a century since the American legal system told publicly-owned companies "Don't Be Good" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co .

There are plenty of crappy family owned business that pay too little and expect too much. I don’t know if this is a public vs private company issue.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#22

Post by RhysU » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

I want someone to start a monthly subscription service that mails HEB tortillas within the continental US using UT Austin students as the smurfs. The ad copy writes itself.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#23

Post by doodlebugging » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:11 PM UTC

The Butts are some good people. When I was a kid in Central Texas my family shopped at their stores. It was a real drag to move to a part of Texas outside their operating range and spend so many years there so their recent expansion across the state is the one welcome thing about Texas.

HEB and their upscale Central Market are the only grocery stores that we visit. We do drop by World Market occasionally for oddball things but if we don't grow it and HEB/CM doesn't sell it we probably aren't eating it.

I think one of the best things about the new HEBs is the attached BBQ store. Dependably good BBQ options with a Central Texas BBQ flavor that beat all of the fast food options locally. We have a wide selection of fast foods since this region is in a massive growth stage absorbing all the FtW refugees. HEB BBQ and the other fresh meals available inside that take little or no prep are dependable, flavorful, options for quick meals and picnics.

Locally we have Walmart, Target, Albertsons, Brookshires, Winn Dixie(?), Aldi, and maybe a couple other smaller ones including some Dollar (G/T) stores for groceries. Walmart is the only one that offers similar options but the quality of their fresh stuff can't measure up. Albertsons was the go-to for years if we had to swing into town for groceries and didn't feel like adding the extra commute to FtW Central Market. We stopped going there after we took a rafting trip down the Salmon in Idaho and rounded a curve in the river and found a large vacation home built right up on the bank complete with a concrete boat ramp. The river guide told us the house was a vacation home owned by the Albertsons grocery store family and that it was vacant most of the year. The concrete ramp is not allowed on any stretch of the river since it is in a Wild and Scenic area but it was built anyway because the sanction for building the ramp was a simple annual fine, easily affordable for billionaire grocers. We had rafted that river several times over the years and the encroachment of second homes and vacation homes on all the high spots up there really degrades the wilderness feel.

I'm not going too far down that trail today since that is too far OT.

If you're in Texas, HEB is the grocery store. The others suck balls.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#24

Post by owlninja » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:12 PM UTC

RhysU wrote: post #22

I want someone to start a monthly subscription service that mails HEB tortillas within the continental US using UT Austin students as the smurfs. The ad copy writes itself.

I'll avoid going during super busy times (which is always) but if the meal calls for tortillas I am going to HEB.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#25

Post by jmalicki » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:15 PM UTC

doodlebugging wrote: post #23

The Butts are some good people. When I was a kid in Central Texas my family shopped at their stores. It was a real drag to move to a part of Texas outside their operating range and spend so many years there so their recent expansion across the state is the one welcome thing about Texas. HEB and their upscale Central Market are the only grocery stores that we visit. We do drop by World Market occasionally for oddball…

> I think one of the best things about the new HEBs is the attached BBQ store.

Not a Texan, just visited occasionally.

This sentence more than anything has just made me want to become a Texan. I did not know this was a thing, but that sounds amazing.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#26

Post by steve-atx-7600 » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC

As soon as Covid was viewed as a serious threat in the US, they immediately put up plexiglass barriers to protect their cashiers. Immediately and not just half assed barriers. They did as good of a job as I would have done if I were the cashier. Then they transformed their stores to have more warehouse space and ran a free curbside pickup service. All of this and they are still the best grocery store in TX if you care about prices and wide selection of products.

The history of HEB is something I want to learn about. I know from reading Robert Caros LBJ volumes that Howard Butt was funneling a lot of money to LBJ staring in the 30s or 40s. Not to judge that, I’m just curious how they dominated Texas.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#27

Post by steve-atx-7600 » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

asciimov wrote: post #17

My dad worked for HEB for 35 years. He never planned to stay there when he started in the late eighties, but they had better hours than his prior work as a photojournalist and treated him a whole lot better. HEB believes that if you treat your employees right, that they will in turn treat their customers well. As someone that has spent years living away from HEB they are just a great store to have access to. Better p…

Same here. After 7 years out of state, I moved back to TX and was at HEB almost every day to marvel at the selection of products and ready to eat foods (was also single).

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#28

Post by drivingmenuts » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

jmalicki wrote: post #25

doodlebugging wrote: post #23

The Butts are some good people. When I was a kid in Central Texas my family shopped at their stores. It was a real drag to move to a part of Texas outside their operating range and spend so many years there so their recent expansion across the state is the one welcome thing about Texas. HEB and their upscale Central Market are the only grocery stores that we visit. We do drop by World Market occasionally for oddball…

> I think one of the best things about the new HEBs is the attached BBQ store. Not a Texan, just visited occasionally. This sentence more than anything has just made me want to become a Texan. I did not know this was a thing, but that sounds amazing.

I would rate their BBQ equal to anything else you'll find in Austin, except maybe Franklin BBQ, which I don't have the patience for, so I haven't tried it nor will I bother.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#29

Post by viccis » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:26 PM UTC

jmalicki wrote: post #25

doodlebugging wrote: post #23

The Butts are some good people. When I was a kid in Central Texas my family shopped at their stores. It was a real drag to move to a part of Texas outside their operating range and spend so many years there so their recent expansion across the state is the one welcome thing about Texas. HEB and their upscale Central Market are the only grocery stores that we visit. We do drop by World Market occasionally for oddball…

> I think one of the best things about the new HEBs is the attached BBQ store. Not a Texan, just visited occasionally. This sentence more than anything has just made me want to become a Texan. I did not know this was a thing, but that sounds amazing.

In Houston they also sell boiled crawfish by the pound during crawfish season so you can have a big crawfish dinner with you and your friends without the whole process of making them yourself.

The catch is that, like the crawfish, their BBQ is pretty mid. So if you want great BBQ, you gotta drive a mile or two to a real BBQ place. But if you want some brisket before you do your grocery shopping, it hits the spot.

Re: How H-E-B became Texas' most beloved brand (2024)

#30

Post by steve-atx-7600 » Sat, Jun 27, 2026, 3:26 PM UTC

doodlebugging wrote: post #23

The Butts are some good people. When I was a kid in Central Texas my family shopped at their stores. It was a real drag to move to a part of Texas outside their operating range and spend so many years there so their recent expansion across the state is the one welcome thing about Texas. HEB and their upscale Central Market are the only grocery stores that we visit. We do drop by World Market occasionally for oddball…

My favorite thing was when the largest HEBs had garden centers. They had a selection of native plants that you would only find at local specialty $$$ nurseries at fair prices. I wish they would bring these back. I would start in the garden center and they by the time I found all kinds of new things I didn’t know that I needed in the rest of the store, I’d get a where the f are you call from my wife because it was 2 hours later.