If you live in Texas you have definitely heard of the grocery chain H-E-B who also owns Central Market. H-E-B is known as the grocer with the largest footprint in Texas.  The San Antonio-based chain said Thursday that it is buying Austin-based Favor Delivery, an app-based delivery service with a network of more than 50,000 runners statewide delivering meals from restaurants and groceries.

Favor which serves 50 cities statewide will become a wholly owned H-E-B subsidiary as part of the deal. “We’re super proud to be joining forces with H-E-B,” Bath said. “We are two Texas-born and -based companies. Everybody in Texas knows H-E-B. H-E-B is a fantastic brand.”

H-E-B chief operating officer Martin Otto told the American-Statesman all of Favor’s employees will be retained and that more workers will likely be added in the coming months.

It’s a rare acquisition for H-E-B, which boasts $25 billion in annual sales and has traditionally grown organically. No immediate changes are planned to the Favor service but as the infamous Banklady points out there are changes needed to the delivery fee structure.

H-E-B has recently added curbside pickup to a quarter of its stores and used Favor and other services such as SHIPT for home delivery.

Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market last week rolled out delivery for Prime members. Randalls, a subsidiary of Albertsons, has its own fleet of delivery trucks zipping across the city, while Sprouts uses Instacart to get groceries to customers’ homes.

H-E-B:

• 400 H-E-B stores in more than 300 communities across Texas and northern Mexico
• More than 106,000 H-E-B employees
• More than 100 curbside pickup locations across Texas
• Home delivery available in 73 stores
• $25 billion in annual sales
• Serving 8.6 million Texans each week

Favor:

• Founded in 2013
• Currently operates in 50 cities across Texas
• 50,000 delivery drivers
• 140 employees
• 8 million deliveries to date