Younger Penas ready to lead Compare Foods

The next generation of the Pena family is ready to take over its part of the supermarket business in Freeport.

In the next few months, 28- year-old Jenny Jorge, a niece of Dominican immigrant Eligio Pena, who opened the family's first supermarket in Woodside, Queens, in the late 1970s, will assume the reins at the Compare Foods store on West Merrick Road.

At 15,000 square feet, it's one of the largest in the family's chain. She will be taking over from her father, Francisco Jorge, 57, who is retiring. Francisco Jorge opened a supermarket, also in Woodside, in 1983.

The other family-owned Compare Foods market in Freeport, on North Main Street, will soon be run by Jenny Jorge's cousin, Jose Gutierrez Jr., 32, who is taking over from his father, Jose Gutierrez Sr., 56.

The Penas may not be as well-known on Long Island as the Cullens, owners of King Kullen supermarkets. (There are 45 King Kullens on Long Island and in New York City.) But the Pena family has eight stores in the tri-state area, including six on Long Island -- two in Freeport, two in Brentwood, one in Central Islip and another in Bay Shore. Together, the Long Island stores employ about 500 people.

In North Carolina there are about 15 franchise operations, also called Compare Foods. The stores stock a full range of regular grocery items, but about a quarter of the stock is made up of ethnic items, such as Dominican sweet potatoes and plantains.

The West Merrick Road store has recently been refurbished with wider aisles and a more modern look.

Jenny Jorge, who will receive a master's degree in business administration from Fordham University in the spring, has been working in her family's supermarkets since she was 15. She will be at the helm of a store with about 90 employees and multimillion-dollar sales.

"She's prepared," said her father. "She's ready."

Jenny Jorge says her feelings are mixed. "It's kind of scary because you have so much to live up to," she said. "You're learning every day. You can never say you've reached the top."

The family is not done opening stores. One is to open in Clifton, N.J., in a week or so.

"We're looking around at other spaces," possibly including some more on Long Island, Jenny Jorge said.