Groceries On Demand

H-E-B teams up with service that delivers hand-picked supermarket items to your home in an hour

Texas grocery giant H-E-B has announced a formal agreement with San Francisco-based Instacart — a grocery delivery service whose personal shoppers hand pick and deliver items from local stores — in Houston and Austin, as well as expanding the service to stores in The Woodlands and Katy.

Instacart already provides service from H-E-B under an informal partnership, but the new agreement solidifies the arrangement and gives users the ability to shop for virtually any product offered at the store, according to the Houston Business Journal.

"Don't have time to come to H-E-B? No problem. We'll bring H-E-B to you with Instacart," said Scott McClelland, president of H-E-B Houston Division, in a press release. "Instacart's ability to deliver on-demand clearly matches our focus of making our customers' lives better. We are excited to offer a larger assortment of H-E-B items to customers in Austin and Houston."

Instacart initially launched in Houston last August and Austin last May. In Houston, customers currently have access to items from Whole Foods Market, Costco — no membership is required — and Petco, in addition to H-E-B. Customers who utilize the service can expect items to be delivered in as little as an hour.

The service, which can be accessed through a phone app or online, is currently available in areas including River Oaks, Bellaire, West University and Memorial, with Katy and The Woodlands as the newest destinations.

New customers can open an account online and receive free delivery and $10 off their first order using promo code HEBLOVE through September 30. Instacart also offers Instacart Express — an annual membership that eliminates delivery fees for all orders of $35 or more — for a fee of $99 per year.

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big business

Houston food giant Sysco will acquire Restaurant Depot for $29 billion

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

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Sysco, the nation's largest food distributor, will acquire supplier Restaurant Depot in a deal worth more than $29 billion.

The acquisition would create a closer link between Sysco and its customers that right now turn to Restaurant Depot for supplies needed quickly in an industry segment known as “cash-and-carry wholesale.”

Sysco, based in Houston, serves more than 700,000 restaurants, hospitals, schools and hotels, supplying them with everything from butter and eggs to napkins. Those goods are typically acquired ahead of time based on how much traffic that restaurants typically see.

Restaurant Depot offers memberships to mom-and-pop restaurants and other businesses, giving them access to warehouses stocked with supplies for when they run short of what they've purchased from suppliers like Sysco.

It is a fast growing and high-margin segment that will likely mean thousands of restaurants will rely increasingly on Sysco for day-to-day needs.

Restaurant Depot shareholders will receive $21.6 billion in cash and 91.5 million Sysco shares. Based on Sysco’s closing share price of $81.80 as of March 27, 2026, the deal has an enterprise value of about $29.1 billion.

Restaurant Depot was founded in Brooklyn in 1976. The family run business then known as Jetro Restaurant Depot, has become the nation's largest cash-and-carry wholesaler.

The boards of both companies have approved the acquisition, but it would still need regulatory approval.

Shares of Sysco Corp. tumbled 13% Monday to $71.26, an initial decline some industry analysts expected given the cost of the deal.