TYLER, Texas – Brookshire Grocery Co. (BGC) said Wednesday that it had raised wages for almost 13,500 hourly employee-partners. This $33 investment in salaries includes making the extra $1 per hour in COVID appreciation pay permanent for the retailer’s hourly retail and logistics employee-partners and raising the minimum pay for several positions in retail.

Most hourly retail jobs will now have a minimum rate of $11 per hour, the company said. More than 30 other targeted retail positions have additional increased new minimum hiring rates. Among these targeted positions are bakery, deli, and market employee-partners moving to the new minimums, which equal a $2.2 million investment in these positions to be more competitive with the market. BGC also recently raised the minimum wages for more than 1,000 logistics employee-partners.

“We are so incredibly grateful for everything our partners do to serve our customers and communities. Investing in our people is the best thing we can do as a company,” said company chairman and CEO Brad Brookshire. “This is the largest investment in wage increases in BGC’s history and is a result of everything our incredible team of employee-partners has accomplished in the last 15 months. We are proud to be able to make the appreciation pay permanent and make further adjustments in wages for our employee-partners in the future.”

BGC said strives to be an employer of choice by offering professional development and comprehensive health benefit plans along with paid time off, stock ownership, a 401K retirement plan, incentives, educational scholarships, and an emergency relief fund.

Before this most recent investment in wages, the company had given employee-partners more than $30 million since March 2020 through a comprehensive gift and incentive package that includes bonus checks, gift cards, wage increases for retail and logistics, and compensation plan for those directly affected by COVID-19.

Based in Tyler, Texas, BGC is a regional family-owned grocery business that employs close to 16,000 individuals throughout Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. The company operates more than 180 stores under the Brookshire’s, Super 1 Foods, FRESH by Brookshire’s, and Spring Market banners.