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A wholesale grocery store with locations in San Francisco, Sonoma County and Santa Cruz County settled civil complaints brought by all three counties’ district attorneys alleging false advertising and unfair competition.
Chef’Store is a wholesaler food supplier serving grocery stores, restaurants and professional kitchens and has 17 locations in the state. The chain was accused of marking up prices above what was listed on the shelf and charging more than the lowest advertised price in the store. It was also accused of charging California Redemption Value recycling fees, known as CRVs, for products that did not actually carry them.
The company, owned by Smart Foodservice Stores LLC, a subsidiary of U.S. Foods Holding Co., cooperated with the investigation, according to press releases from the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office and the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.
The $251,293 settlement also included Shasta County. The settlement includes a $215,000 penalty, along with $20,000 to support future investigations into violations of the state’s consumer protection laws, and more than $16,000 to reimburse the four counties that brought the civil action. The company did not admit any liability in agreeing to the penalty.
The company did not respond to a request Friday for comment.
The company implemented a “Price Accuracy Program” that will include increased auditing controls and price transparency for the next three years, prosecutors said.
“California customers should never be charged more than the lowest amount listed on the advertisement, price tag, or shelf,” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a press release.
The San Francisco store is in the western South of Market neighborhood at 170 S. Van Ness Ave.
The suit was filed in Sonoma County Superior Court. The Sonoma County store is at the intersection of Barham Avenue and Santa Rosa Avenue in Santa Rosa.
Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez credited the investigation to the county’s Department of Agriculture Weights and Measurements Division.
The Santa Cruz location is at 1600 Commercial Way.
Other Bay Area locations of the interstate chain are located in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara, but those jurisdictions did not participate in the civil suit.
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