God knows, most of the time, one has to hang one’s head and apologize for being a Texan. But locally-based H-E-B Grocery company did us proud with its early response to COVID.
…San Antonio-based H-E-B has been a steady presence amid the crisis. The company began limiting the amounts of certain products customers were able to purchase in early March; extended its sick leave policy and implemented social distancing measures quickly; limited its hours to keep up with the needs of its stockers; added a coronavirus hotline for employees in need of assistance or information; and gave employees a $2 an hour raise on March 16, as those workers, many of whom are interacting with the public daily during this pandemic, began agitating for hazard pay.
This isn’t the first time H-E-B has done a good job of managing a disaster—it played an important role in helping the Gulf Coast recover from Hurricane Harvey in the immediate aftermath of the storm—which led us to ask: How did a regional supermarket chain develop systems that allow it to stay ahead of a crisis as big as this one? We spoke with nearly a dozen employees, executives, and customers to better understand—in their words—how H-E-B has taken on its unique role in shaping its business around the needs of Texans in the midst of trying circumstances.
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LONG article from Texas Monthly, not paywalled.
I love my local H-E-B! (Name is from the founder, Howard E. Butt.)
My liberal Yankee son had the - uh - pleasure of working down McAllen way a couple years ago. Didn’t have much in common w/ many folk the met.
And last summer when we visited Austin, I was stricken by the number of state flags and references to “Texas Pride” I saw. I think it encouraged me to start a thread asking if any other geographical location so overtly proclaimed their pride of place. Whereas, to an outsider, it was hard to see what there was to be proud of.
Austin is a whole 'nother planet. Not the gummint part-- THAT is like the rest of Texas. But the rock-hipster-alternative-nouveau-riche-Whole-Foods-tree-hugging-chicken-fried-steak-music scene part is a culture unto itself. I love that part. Might miss it in a short visit.
Only if you live in DFW. HEB has only gotten as far north in the Fort Worth area as Burleson, which is about the southernmost suburb of FW. My personal theory is they’ll never move any farther north do to Hurst-Euless-Bedford
Yeah, walked about downtown early Sun a.m. - saw the hipster/music influence, the marvelous river scene (as well as homeless as high as I’ve seen anywhere, and businesses hosing away human excrement as I’ve never personally seen in another large city.
But spending most of our time in the ill country, expressions of Texas Pride were pretty darned prevalent. Sure can’t imagine why they would be proud of their roads system…
Texas is to the U.S. as the U.S. is to the rest of the world. If you thought it was weird that you saw so many Texas flags around, that’s how foreigners feel when they see so many U.S. flags
Also remember that Texas was a country before it was a state (because we remember it!)
Hey, at least it reduces the number of confederate flags being waved around
Also remember that Texas was a Mexican state before it (briefly) became a country and that Texas practically begged to join the union because it was $10,000,000 dollars in debt, the equivalent of $337,460,526 today.
HEB has only gotten as far north in the Fort Worth area as Burleson, which is about the southernmost suburb of FW. My personal theory is they’ll never move any farther north do to Hurst-Euless-Bedford