Content provided in partnership with

Business Services Industry

Out of the aisle: a second generation Herran uses his golden touch with start-ups on the family's supermarket empire

South Florida CEO, July, 2005 by Jaime Hernandez

Agustin "Tino" Herran's father and elder cousin gave him a tough act to follow. After all, how do you top building the nation's largest Hispanic-owned supermarket chain from scratch?

Simple. You take over as president of the chain, Miami-based Sedano's Management Inc. and, on the side, build your own multi-million dollar enterprises.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Sedano's is on the path to book approximately $400 million in revenue this year, according to Tino Herran, whose other company, General Real Estate Corp., is a $400 million firm specializing in condominium conversions. He launched the Miami-based real estate development firm in 1994 with business partner and cousin Emiliano Herran and longtime business associate James Dorsy.

More Articles of Interest: Top private companies: the big get bigger; High stakes on the high Seas: bigger ships mean higher profit margins for...; Driving a fast car: Oscar Barbara passes his lifelong love of performance...; Don Soffer: the developer; Miguel "Mike" Fernandez: Chairman, MBF Healthcare Partners

"My father obviously trusts the second generation," Tino Herran says.

Entrepreneurship is practically a requirement in the Herran clan. Armando Guerra Sr. bought the first Sedano's store in east Hialeah in 1962 after arriving from Cuba. Manuel Herran, Tino's father, was a savvy 28-year-old cutlery salesman before he joined Guerra to expand Sedano's. Cousin Armando Guerra Jr., recently launched Nueva Tierra LLC, a Coral Gables-based land acquisition company.

No doubt, the 36-year old Tino grew up privileged. The Miami native and scion of a wealthy family, was groomed by his father and Guerra Sr. to become a shrewd entrepreneur. Tino graduated with a bachelor's degree in marketing and finance from Florida International University in 1992 and quickly set about leveraging his family fortune and connections.

"Tino's a workaholic. He is relentless," says Angel Medina, Regions Bank's president of Miami-Dade operations, who has known Tino Herran since 1999 and in May nominated him for induction into the FIU business school's Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. "It's not about advantages, but rather being able to take those opportunities and make things happen. When you look at Tino and his background, he's really made a name for himself."

At age 21, Herran launched his first real estate company, Arca Developments Inc. In 1992, he formed Tire Group International Inc., a wholesaler in Miami that today exports more than 20 brands of tires to 70 different countries and generates nearly $40 million in annual sales.

But Herran's business career did not really take off until he launched General Real Estate. The company has invested in various projects, including high-rise condominiums in Miami, shopping centers in southwest Miami-Dade's Kendall area, and about a dozen upscale single-family homes just south of Surfside near Miami Beach. The mansions, which are in the planning stages, are expected to cost between $3 million and $12 million. Herran, General Real Estate's president, says the firm earned about $257 million in revenue in 2004 and should generate about $400 million this year.

In late 2002, Tino joined his father, Guerra Jr., Miami developer Sergio Pino and several others to form Miami-based US Century Bank, one of South Florida's more successful new bank launches. Regions Bank's Medina credits US Century's directors, which include Tino, as a major reason why, in less than three years, it has grown into a $500 million financial institution. Each director, Medina says, has "tentacles throughout the community" and keeps the bank's interests in mind while operating their own businesses.

"Tino is a true entrepreneur in that he finds opportunities in many areas and not just in a single trade," Medina says. "He's able to accomplish things in many diverse areas of business."

[The Bag Boy]

Tino got his first taste of business at age 14 working as a bagger and stock boy in the Hialeah Sedano's store. Dozens more stores, including Sedano's brand pharmacies, opened throughout Miami-Dade and Broward counties during the late 1980s and 1990s and Tino eventually became a manager to help with the company's expansion.

Today, Sedano's has approximately 40 supermarkets and pharmacies combined--an expansion funded by Sedano's profits instead of bank loans, Herran says.

"We're not crazy out there opening up 20 stores a year," he says. "We don't like to have a lot of debt in the company. That flows into the [consumer] pricing, so that's important."

Herran's father remains chairman of the family-owned supermarket chain but has scaled back his involvement with the business. "My main objective with Sedano's is to grow it," Tino says. "On a daily basis, I'm looking for new locations for us, negotiating new locations for us." Though Herran is president, his cousin, Jose Herran, runs the day-to-day operations as vice president of Sedano's.

Tino's General Real Estate gives him a competitive edge, he says, because he can spot a promising Sedano's site while looking for other kinds of property. Sedano's executives study complicated charts and US Census figures to track Hispanic population trends in the region, all to figure out where to put the next store and what products to sell there. For example, Herran says the Sedano's Doral store sells many products native to Venezuela to cater to the area's heavy Venezuelan population. The chain's Homestead store, its largest at 63,000 square feet, is heavy on Mexican products because of the large Mexican community in that area.

Business Services Industry

Out of the aisle: a second generation Herran uses his golden touch with start-ups on the family's supermarket empire

South Florida CEO, July, 2005 by Jaime Hernandez

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Autos

Most Popular Articles in Business

Most Popular Publications in Business