Theo Albrecht the United States. Aldi and Trader Joe's, while owned by the brothers, have separate and distinct ownership and operations. Theo Albrecht and his brother Karl revolutionized the German grocery market with a low-cost business model. They had developed the supermarket as an outgrowth of their mother's small grocery store, which she had opened in 1913, in Essen, after Theo’s father had developed emphysema as a miner. Theodor learned the grocery business from his mother, in order to escape the fate of his father in the mines. He and his brother Karl developed Albrecht Diskont, one of Europe’s largest chains of
QFI (supermarket) QFI (supermarket) QFI was a San Francisco supermarket chain founded in the late 1940s by John Musso. Originally, some QFI locations were leased, resulting in some stores being co-named with others (such as Lick Super Market). By the 1970s, when Musso's son Leo took over, all QFI stores were wholly owned and operated. QFI peaked as the number three grocery chain in the region, behind Safeway and Lucky, and had about 14 locations ranging from San Francisco south to Redwood City. In 1973, QFI was acquired by Cala Foods, which itself was acquired by Ralphs (a subsidiary of Kroger) in