Following is a chart of the largest global food retailers. Sales figures are for the latest financial year unless otherwise stated. Companies included on the list must have a significant portion of their sales in food. The foreign currency results were translated into dollars at current exchange rates. The information came from company documents unless otherwise stated.
f stores: 8,926
Countries of operation: France, Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Turkey, Italy, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Thailand, South Korea
Top executive: Daniel Bernard
3. Kroger Co., United States
Sales: $49 billion
Number of stores: 2,354
Countries of operation: United States
Top executive: Joseph A. Pichler
4. Ahold, The Netherlands
Sales: $44.8 billion (52.47 billion Euro)
Number of stores: 8,062
Countries of operation: United States, The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic, Poland, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Thailand, Malaysia
Top executive: Cees van der Hoeven
5. Metro, Germany
Sales: $40.09 billion (46.93 billion Euro)
Number of stores: 2,169
Countries of operation: Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Morocco, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey
Top executive: Jan von Haeften
6. Albertson's, United States
Sales: $36.8 billion
Number of stores: 2,533
Countries of operation: United States
Top executive: Peter Lynch
7. Tesco, United Kingdom
Sales: $32.38 billion (22.8 billion pounds)
Number of stores: 907
Countries of operation: United Kingdom, Ireland, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan
Top executive: Terry Leahy
8. Safeway, United States
Sales: $31.98 billion
Number of stores: 1,688
Countries of operation: United States, Canada
Top executive: Steven A. Burd
9. Rewe Zentrale, Germany
Sales: $31.88 billion (73.65 billion Deutschmarks)
Number of stores: 11,788
Countries of operation: Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria
Top executive: Hans Reischl
10. Aldi, Germany
Sales: $26.48 billion (31 billion Euro; M+M Eurodata estimate)
Number of stores: 4,388
Countries of operation: Germany, France, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, Australia, Austria, Luxembourg, Denmark, The Netherlands
Top executive: Theo Albrecht
11. Edeka/AVA, Germany
Sales: $26.45 billion (61.1 billion deutschmarks)
Number of stores: 12,000
Countries of operation: Germany, Denmark, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, France
Top executive: Hermann J. Ruetz
12. ITM Enterprises, France
Sales: $26.14 billion (30.6 billion Euro, M+M Eurodata estimate)
Number of stores: 8,545
Countries of operation: France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Canada
Top executive: Pierre Gourgeon
13. J. Sainsbury, United Kingdom
Sales: $26.13 billion (18.4 billion pounds)
Number of stores: 626
Countries of operation: United Kingdom, United States
Top executive: Sir Peter Davis
14. Ito-Yokado, Japan
Sales: $25.85 billion (3.1 trillion yen)
Number of stores: 35,600
Countries of operation: Japan, Taiwan, United States, Thailand, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, Canada, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, China, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Puerto Rico, Guam, Turkey
Top executive: Toshifumi Suzuki
15. Groupe Casino, France
Sales: $24.94 billion (29.2 billion Euros)
Number of stores: 6,650
Countries of operation: France, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Poland, Thailand, Taiwan
Top executive: Christian Couvreux
16. Daiei, Japan
Sales: $23.74 billion
Number of stores: 7,800
Countries of operation: Japan, China, United States
Top executive: Isao Nakaouchi
17. Supervalu, United States
Sales: $23.2 billion
Number of stores: 1,194
Countries of operation: United States
Top executive: Mike Wright
18. Tengelmann, Germany
Sales: $23.12 billion
Number of stores: 6,689
Countries of operation: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, United States, Canada, China
Top executive: Karl-Erivan W. Haub
19. Jusco, Japan
Sales: $21.02 billion (2.525 trillion yen; year ended Feb. 20, 2000)
Number of stores: 1,780
Countries of operation: Japan
Top executive: Toshiji Tokiwa
20. Auchan, France
Sales: $20.13 billion (154 billion French francs)
Number of stores: 243
Countries of operation: United States, Mexico, Argentina, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Poland, Hungary, Italy, China, Taiwan
Top executive: Christophe Dubrulle
21. E. Leclerc, France
Sales: $17.94 billion (21 billion Euro; M+M Eurodata estimate)
Number of stores: 555
Countries of operation: France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Slovenia
Top executive: Michel and Edouard Leclerc
22. Delhaize "Le Lion" Group, Belgium
Sales: $15.55 billion
Number of stores: 2,310
Countries of operation: United States, Belgium, Luxembourg, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore
