99 Ranch is much more than just a grocery store. It is a mecca, an oasis where members of the Chinese-speaking diaspora have reveled in the flavors of their heritage for four decades and a convenient place to catch live fish and purchase specifically Asian products, such as the wispy tendrils of chayote shoots and the fat stems of celtuce nut.
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Like many Asian Americans in Southern California, Alice and Jonson Chen grew up frequenting the grocery chain. The difference was the front row seats that had everything. Her father, Roger, an immigrant from Taiwan, opened the supermarket in 1984, keeping an extraordinarily low profile as the business grew from an independent ethnic grocery store in Westminster to an affordable Asian-American icon. After years of breaking into corporate America, the Chen brothers, both Ivy League business school graduates, took the reins.
While Roger began by specifically serving a Chinese-speaking clientele in Southern California and importing products from his native Taiwan, his children have their eyes set on broader horizons. Under his leadership, 99 Ranch has become much more pan-Asian in its offerings and global in its sourcing.
Alice, 46, CEO, oversees the supermarket's daily coast-to-coast operations. Jonson, 50, president of the company, is in charge of its expansion; He maintains a database of where Chinese-speaking communities are growing most rapidly in the United States. With 58 stores in 11 states, 99 Ranch is now one of the largest Asian supermarket chains in the country.
Like their father, Alice and Jonson actively avoid the spotlight. But on the rare occasions when they do come out to talk about themselves, the conversation always turns to the family business. They say that the 99 in 99 Ranch is a homophone in Mandarin for longevity and that ranch represents freshness. “Like they came straight from a ranch,” Alice said. “The double meaning is 99%. It's almost perfect, but not quite. We are always trying to be better. It's very Asian. Nobody is 100%.”
