BBB Foods, founded by K. Anthony Hatoum, opened a new 3B store every 22 hours in 2023, reflecting its rapid expansion.

What does its business model look like? The name 3B refers to “Bueno, Bonito y Barato” (Good, Nice and Cheap) and each store offers a limited assortment of products that cover the daily food needs of its customers in Mexico. 

In addition to being a decentralized organization, it has a culture that values efficiency and simplicity.

Its operating network includes 2,288 stores, 21,924 employees and 14 distribution centers.

And its revenues totaled 44,078 million pesos in 2023.

How much did BBB Foods grow in the last four years? In 2019, the company had 1,096 stores and its revenues were P13.994 billion.

Consequently, the number of stores registered a compound annual growth rate of 20.2 percent and the same rate corresponding to its revenues was 33.2 percent.

BBB Foods

The company’s growth as measured by its number of stores in 2023 was faster than any other grocery retailer in Mexico. 

To this end, the company seeks to secure the most attractive locations for new stores, which require relatively low capital expenditures.

The company also attributes its success to the cash-flow generating capacity of its stores, which allows it to achieve attractive payback periods on average. 

Now, who is K. Anthony Hatoum? Anthony Hatoum is the founder, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the company. 

After starting his career in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan in New York and later as Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Co. in New York, he joined Merrill Lynch’s global private equity group as a Managing Director.

In the latter role he covered BIM, the Turkish deep discount food retailer.

K. Anthony Hatoum

With that experience, he started the first of a series of entrepreneurial ventures in 1998, and also co-founded Advantage Card, a leading loyalty, consumer finance and credit card program in Turkey.

He then co-founded E-bebek, a leading baby products retailer in Turkey and one of the first online retailers in Turkey. 

Hatoum holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Columbia University, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.