Who Owns Sprouts Farmers Market?

Sprouts Farmers Market is a leading American supermarket chain of stores based in Phoenix, Arizona. The grocer was founded in Jul 2002 by Stan Boney, Shon Boney, and Kevin Easler. However, its story began in 1943 when Henry Boney opened his fruit stand.

The chain offers natural and organic foods. In 2023, Sprouts opened 30 new stores, acquired 2, and closed 11. The chain had over 32,000 employees and 407 stores in 23 states as of Jan 2024. [1]

Sprouts is one of America’s largest and fastest-growing retailers specializing in fresh, natural, and organic food. The grocer was founded by Henry Boney’s son and grandson and remained true to its farm-stand heritage.

In 2019, Sprouts redefined its target audience to refocus on health enthusiasts and innovation seekers. The pivot paid off in Q3 2023, with the health and wellness segment contributing $200 billion to the chain’s quarterly revenue. [2]

Sprouts Farmers Market has stayed ahead of competitors by refining and improving its business strategy. In Q4 2024, the retailer added 400 new products, introduced DoorDash delivery, and opened six stores and a new California distribution center opened.

These efforts paid off. Sprouts’ private label brand sales increased 13%, and its e-commerce expanded 12.2% year over year. The chain plans to launch its customer loyalty program by mid-2024. But who owns Sprouts Farmers Market? [3]

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Who is Sprouts’ Parent Company?

Sprouts Farmers Market is a standalone grocery chain without a parent organization. It was earlier owned by private equity firm Apollo Management. In 2013, Sprouts went public via IPO. Institutions, insiders, and individual investors can buy Sprouts shares to own a stake in the company.

Sprouts Farmers Market has been building new small-format stores closer to its warehouses since 2019 to boost efficiency. The brand adopted a new identity as a specialty grocer for health-conscious consumers to differentiate itself from competitors. [4]

Sprouts Farmers Market is strengthening and expanding its retail network. In 2023, the chain met its goal of opening 30 new stores. The grocer launched new locations across the US, from the West Coast to the East Coast.

Sprouts Farmers Market added 12 stores on the East Coast in 2023, including nine in Florida. New Jersey, North Carolina, and Virginia got one new store each. The retailer has no intention of losing momentum in 2024, with about 100 new-format stores in the pipeline. [5]

Most retail chains rely on the franchise model. However, Sprouts Farmer Market owns and manages all its stores. The company had licensed the Sprouts Farmers Market trademark to a third-party operator for two Chula Vista, California, locations. In Mar 2023, Sprouts Farmer Market acquired the two independently owned stores using its name. The company now has complete control of the Sprouts brand. [6]

Sprouts’ seasonal products were popular with shoppers during the 2023 holiday season. The specialty grocer seeks to capitalize on this trend by expanding its Sprouts Brand. In 2023, Sprouts introduced new products like sweet treats, herb tea, and peppermint-infused body care products.

These items accounted for about 15% of its assortment and 21% of Q4 2023 sales. Sprouts will continue expanding its private label assortment and seasonal in-and-out programs in 2024. The retailer opened four stores in Q1 2024, with plans to launch 35 new locations within a year. [7]

Image Credit Thomas Le — Image Credit: Thomas Le

Sprouts’ Ownership History

Sprouts Farmers Market has a unique ownership history. The company existed before it was founded. Sprouts’ history started in 1943 in San Diego, California, with Henry Boney. Boney opened a street-corner fruit stand and borrowed $600 to buy a truck to transport fruits. This investment helped the fruit vendor expand his business into a leading grocer. [8]

Boney and his wife Jessie grew their business from one to five fruit stands. The stalls grew into open-air farmers markets. In 1969, Boney’s sons established Boney’s Market and expanded it into a community grocery store.

The family’s grocers and farmers markets were integrated in 1997 and renamed Henry’s Farmers Market. The new chain store offered groceries and natural foods. The Boney family sold Henry’s to Wild Oats Markets in 1999 for $46 million. [9]

Boney’s family members, Stan Boney, Shon Boney, and Kevin Easler, founded Sprouts in Jul 2002. They opened the first Sprouts store in Chandler, Arizona, with farm-fresh produce and affordable natural and organic foods. In Feb 2011, Apollo Management acquired majority ownership in Sprouts Farmers Market.

Henry’s, Sun Harvest, and Sprouts were reunited under Apollo. In May 2011, Sprouts bought 43 Henry’s Farmers Markets and Sun Harvest stores from Apollo-owned Smart & Final. This deal increased Sprout stores from 56 to 99. Apollo became the majority owner.

In 2012, Sprouts acquired and merged with Sunflower grocery chain. The new company went public via IPO in 2013 and started trading on NASDAQ. The IPO transferred Sprouts’ ownership to public investors. [10]

Image Credit Kenny Eliason — Image Credit: Kenny Eliason

Sprouts’ Shareholder Structure

Sprouts Farmers Market is a public company. Its shareholder structure has institutions, insiders, and individual investors. As of Dec 2023, Sprouts had 100,477,263 Stock A shares with one vote. This figure includes 100,872,211 free-float shares. [11]

Fidelity Management & Research (FMR) was Sprouts’ largest shareholder as of Feb 2023. FMR owns 12.83% of the company, representing 13,026,747 shares. BlackRock Advisors is Sprouts’ second-largest shareholder with 11.87%, followed by The Vanguard Group at 10.56% and Renaissance Technologies at 3.84%.

Other top institutional shareholders include Eaton Vance at 3.7%, State Street Corp at 3.7%, Nordea Investment at 3.29%, Dimensional Fund at 2.76%, and UBS Asset at 2.321%. [12]

Sprouts Farmers Market has 37 insiders who own company shares. The list includes David McGlinchey, Lombardi Brandon, Hamilton Dustin, Rauch Douglas Gregory, Hurley Joseph, Lawrence Molloy, and Sinclair Jack.

In Feb 2024, Chief Legal Officer Brandon Lombardi sold 26,664 shares. Lombardi reduced his stake by 104,007 shares within a year. CFO and Treasurer Lawrence Molloy sold 41% of his stake in 2023 for $2.9 million. [13]

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