He created an Empire in Panama, but Failed to Expand to Florida and Sold it: Who is the Owner of The Rey Supermarkets?

Supermercados Rey is a successful chain in Panama and the largest food retail platform in our country. Its former president, Nicholas Psychoyos, who played a key role in its astonishing expansion, dreamed of landing in the state of Florida, United States, but did not succeed. Now, the company is owned by a giant Ecuadorian conglomerate and its CEO is Argentine.  In 2018, the Corporación Favorita group bought the majority stake in Grupo Rey, a company founded in 1958 that controls the supermarkets of the same name.  A year later, it completed the acquisition of 73% of its shares.  Nicholas Psychoyos, former president of Grupo Rey, was the key figure behind the growth of the retail giant in Panama.  According to Forbes, from an early age, he worked in the family business, doing basic tasks such as cleaning stores and organizing shelves. 

Years later, after graduating in Marketing from Southern Methodist University in Texas, he decided to return in 1982 to contribute with a renewed vision. His arrival marked a change in the company’s internal culture.  The marketer faced major challenges from the start. There was a need to establish clear rules, implement corporate ethics and define roles in an organization that suffered from nepotism and other structural problems. But over time, he managed to professionalize the family business.  One of the group’s most important moves was the purchase of Supermercados Romero in 2007.  This allowed the company to increase its reach beyond the Panamanian capital. 

Despite being owners, Psychoyos chose to keep the original name: “Romero is a very important brand.  It is 100 years old… if Coca-Cola were to buy Pepsi, I doubt very much that it would change the name,” he considered at the time. The next step occurred in 2011 with the acquisition of Farmacias Metro.  Psychoyos was not satisfied with the local market. For years, it analyzed growth opportunities in new territories. Among its main aspirations was the possibility of expanding to Cuba and South Florida.  However, despite the studies and plans, the dream of entering the US market did not come to fruition. Psychoyos recognized that the conditions had to be right: “We have to see what niche we can fit into and with what.” 

In 2018, the Panamanian giant was acquired by the Ecuadorian group Corporación Favorita, which also has self-service stores, real estate investments, electricity generation, food and basic necessities production, commerce, and hardware stores in Ecuador and other countries such as Costa Rica, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru.  The Ecuadorian group was founded in 1952 by Guillermo Wright Vallarino, who, according to the America Retail website, seven years earlier had created a small soap and candle store called “La Favorita”, the seed of what would become one of the most important conglomerates in his native country.  Now, the president and CEO of Corporación Favorita is a descendant of the founder, Ronald Wright Durán Ballén, according to Bloomberg.

Under his leadership, the company maintained its position as one of the companies with the highest sales in Ecuador. According to the latest data, it employs almost 24,000 people and generates annual revenues of $3.65 billion.  Part of this is due to Grupo Rey, which currently, according to its official website, has close to 150 branches nationwide, the newest just built in Boquete pictured below.   Its president and CEO for several years was Hernán Muntaner, an Argentine who previously held various senior positions at another successful international chain that you may have heard of…………Walmart.  Muntaner was later succeeded by Andrew Wright as CEO.