Supermarket chain El Tigre opens a Fallbrook store

By: ANNE RILEY-KATZ - Staff Writer | Thursday, April 15, 2004 9:12 PM PDT ∞

FALLBROOK ---- Making 30,000 corn tortillas a day may sound like overkill, but for Tony Choi, it's just a start.

Choi is general manager of El Tigre Market, a supermarket chain specializing in Latino foods and catering to Latino families or anyone wanting to prepare always-popular Mexican dishes.

The company opened a new 18,000-square-foot store in Fallbrook on Saturday, one of six El Tigre markets in Southern California. Other stores are in Escondido, Vista, San Diego, San Bernardino and Pacoima.

"If you want to cook any kind of Latino or Hispanic dish, you name it and we carry it," Choi said Wednesday. "We are a large store and we carry everything from hot sauce to homemade tres leches cake."

El Tigre stores are not your typical niche-market operations. Each store carries more than 25,000 items and boasts a full-service meat counter, a deli featuring hot and cold prepared foods from salsas to carne asada, bulk foods, a large produce section, a bakery, and, of course, El Tigre's signature item ---- fresh-made corn tortillas. The six stores produce more than 30,000 of the flat corn wraps each day.

"We make them two to three times a day, with no preservatives at all," Choi said. "We make them authentic, like in Mexico. We get whole corn, cook it and grind it. We don't use a powder mix."

The Fallbrook market opening drew about 2,000 shoppers Saturday, Choi said. They joined thousands of others that gathered in the parking lot to watch a taping of "Idolo del Pueblo," the Univision television network's Spanish language version of Fox's runaway hit TV series "American Idol."

"It was great, we had a very big opening," Choi said. "We sponsored (Idolo del Pueblo), which is a first-time San Diego pilot, out in the parking lot and it was packed."

El Tigre's Fallbrook location was home to a Vons supermarket more than 10 years ago, and has hosted a number of smaller discount stores in the years since that store closed.

"We're very happy about the new store," Choi said. "The location has been vacant for some time, but we were very lucky to be able to pick it up."

El Tigre's San Diego store employs 145 people, and the Vista and Escondido locations employ 125 workers each. The new Fallbrook store already has 70 employees, a number that will grow as business picks up.

"It's a very competitive market," Choi said. "I just pray to God to look out for us, provided we do a good customer service ---- it's the key to any good business."

So far, things are looking good for El Tigre's newest location.

"Last weekend it was so busy. There were lots of people," said cashier Erika Mota. "I know it will be the same thing this weekend."

Some first-time El Tigre shoppers in Fallbrook said specialty items, such as bakery goods, drew them to the store over other local markets, such as El Toro or M&M.

"The sweet bread ---- I love that bread," said Jessica Ciprian, who was shopping with her 7-month-old son, Johnny. "This is better than most Mexican markets, it's bigger and the prices are good."

Choi, along with brothers Ken, Kevin and friend Bob Jung, opened the first El Tigre store in Pacoima, in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, in 1987. The chain expanded to San Diego in 1994, and when El Tigre opened an Escondido branch in 2000, the corporate offices moved to the North County city as well.

"We're looking to grow in San Diego and anywhere there's opportunity for our store," Choi said.

So far, so good. A seventh El Tigre store is scheduled to open in Logan Heights sometime this year.

Choi said his goal is for the Fallbrook store to reach 15,000 customers or more each week.

"I think we'll do well in Fallbrook," he said. "There are some smaller specialty stores there, but nothing like us to cater to people out there."

Contact staff writer Anne Riley-Katz at (760) 731-5799 or ariley-katz@nctimes.com.

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