Heritage Grocers COO: Regional Grocery Consolidation, Fresh Theater & From-Scratch Tortillas

Prabash Coswatte,, COO of Heritage Grocers Group, reveals the operational secrets behind running four regional grocery banners and why consolidation is the future for mid-tier retailers.

In this exclusive interview recorded live from the VusionGroup Podcast Studio at Groceryshop 2025, Prabash shares:

✅ Operating Cardenas, Los Altos, Tony's, and El Rancho as distinct regional banners

✅ The "groceraunt" concept—stores as part grocery, part restaurant, full theater

✅ Making tortillas from corn kernel to masa to chips in a single day in-store

✅ Weekly sales recap emails that drive fierce store-level competition

✅ Fresh item management technology delivering shrink savings AND sales lifts

✅ Pricing agility strategies in uncertain economic times

✅ Why regional grocery consolidation is inevitable and necessary

✅ Balancing technology investment with customer-first operations

From his 18-year retail journey starting at 99 Cents Only Stores to becoming COO overseeing operations, manufacturing, and logistics at a $3 billion regional grocer, Prabash brings hard-won insights into what it takes to compete against giants like Walmart and Kroger.

Discover how Heritage maintains what makes each banner special while achieving back-office efficiency, and why fresh-forward merchandising with full butcher shops and in-store kitchens creates the differentiation regional grocers need.

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