Sprouts Farmers Market 2013 Annual Report Download - page 11

Table of Contents
continue to expand our innovative marketing and promotional strategy through print, digital and social media platforms, all of which
promote our mission of “Healthy Living for Less.”
Our Heritage
We were founded by members of a family with a long history of selling fresh and natural foods to a broad demographic of
customers. In 1969, Stan Boney and his brothers opened Boney’s Marketplace in Southern California, which would later become
Henry’s Farmers Market, a farmers market style natural and organic specialty retailer. After selling Henry’
s Farmers Market in 1999,
Stan and his son, Shon, and two family friends began plans for what would become Sprouts Farmers Market with the goal of
making affordable healthy foods, vitamins and other products available to everyone. In 2002, we opened the first Sprouts Farmers
Market store in Chandler, Arizona. In 2010, we had 54 stores and reached over $620 million in net sales and approximately 3,700
team members. In April 2011, we partnered with the investment funds affiliated with, and co-investment vehicles managed by,
Apollo Management VI, L.P. (referred to as the “Apollo Funds”), and added 43 stores by combining with Henry’s and its Sun
Harvest-brand stores (referred to as the “Henry’s Transaction”). The Henry’s Transaction brought us to 103 total stores located in
Arizona, California, Colorado and Texas as of the end of 2011. In May 2012, we added another 37 stores through our acquisition of
Sunflower (referred to as the “Sunflower Transaction” and together with the Henry’s Transaction are collectively referred to as the
“Transactions”) and extended our footprint into New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma and Utah. These three businesses all trace their
lineage back to Henry’s Farmers Market and were built with similar store formats and operations including a strong emphasis on
value, produce and service in smaller, convenient locations. The consistency of these formats and operations was an important
factor that allowed us to rapidly and successfully rebrand and integrate each of these businesses under the Sprouts banner and on
a common platform.
During 2011, 2012 and 2013, we continued to open new stores and, as of December 29, 2013, had 167 stores in eight states.
We are one of the largest specialty retailers of natural and organic food in the United States.
In connection with our initial public offering (referred to as our “IPO”), on July 29, 2013, Sprouts Farmers Markets, LLC, a
Delaware limited liability company, converted into Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., a Delaware corporation. As part of the corporate
conversion, holders of membership interests of Sprouts Farmers Markets, LLC in the form of Class A and Class B units received 11
shares of our common stock for each unit held immediately prior to the corporate conversion, and options to purchase units
became options to purchase 11 shares of our common stock for each unit underlying options outstanding immediately prior to the
corporate conversion, at the same aggregate exercise price in effect prior to the corporate conversion.
On August 1, 2013, our common stock began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and on August 6, 2013, we
closed our IPO.
Our Stores and Operations
We believe our stores represent a blend of conventional supermarkets, farmers markets, natural foods stores, and smaller
specialty markets, differentiating us from other food retailers, while also providing a complete offering for our customers.
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• Store Design. Our stores are organized in a “flipped” conventional food retail store model, positioning our produce at the
center of the store surrounded by a complete grocery offering.