Houchens Industries

Holding Companies

Miscellaneous

Houchens Industries, Inc. is a 100% employee-owned holding company headquartered in Bowling Green, KY with divisions across retail and food services, industrial, consumer products, insurance, and construction. Houchens Industries has been in business since 1917 when it began as a small grocery store operated by founder Ervin Houchens in rural Barren County, Kentucky. Today, the company operates more than 325 retail grocery, convenience, and neighborhood market stores across 14 states.

Houchens Industries became employee-owned in 1988 when it implemented an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). This allowed employees to buy back the company after it had been briefly sold to another parent company. As the company expanded and acquired new businesses, the ESOP aligned the interests of employees with those of the company, fostering a sense of ownership, commitment, and pride among the workforce. Today, Houchens Industries is listed by Forbes as one of the largest 100% employee-owned companies in the world.

Houchens Industries is an employee-owned company headquartered in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Houchens Industries is an employee-owned company.

While they are not certified, based on Department of Labor 5500 fillings and other third-party data sources, we believe their ESOP meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.

While they are not certified, based third-party data sources, we believe their Worker Cooperative meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.

While they are not certified, based third-party data sources, we believe their Employee Ownership Trust meets our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.

While they are not certified, we believe they meet our standards of significant and broad-based employee ownership.