Belle Foods

Belle Foods LLC is a partnership of Bill White and his son, Jeff, created in 2012 to purchase and operate 57 grocery store locations formerly owned by Southern Family Markets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi. The sale included stores operating as Food World, Piggly Wiggly, Bruno's and Southern Family Markets. The Whites moved from New England to Birmingham, where the company is headquartered.

After the purchase, the Whites rebranded all the stores as Belle Foods. This move also included store renovations, with stores going with the green and purple color scheme of the company's logo, wider aisles, salad bars, expanded meat and seafood departments, and a "Belle Jr" childcare space. In 2013, the company announced it would cut several full-time positions and create new part-time positions in an effort to "right-size" the chain to meet industry standards. In July of that year, the company filed for bankruptcy protection and closed 13 of its 57 stores, only one of which was in the Birmingham area.

References

• Kent, Dawn (February 7, 2012) "Birmingham-based grocery operator Southern Family Markets to sell its stores." The Birmingham News
• Kent, Dawn (February 8, 2012) "Father-son duo realize dream with purchase of Southern Family Markets stores." The Birmingham News
• Kent, Dawn (August 8, 2012) "Belle Foods begins renaming grocery stores as Bruno name disappears from Birmingham market." The Birmingham News
• Kent, Dawn (April 10, 2013) "Birmingham-based Belle Foods to hire 300 part-time employees and reduce its full-time workforce." The Birmingham News
• Poe, Ryan (July 5, 2013) "Belle Foods to close 13 stores in reorganization." Birmingham Business Journal