Patel Brothers
Patel Brothers, Inc. (doing business as Patel Brothers) is an Asian-American supermarket chain  based in Hanover Park, Illinois. Patel Brothers is the largest Indian-American supermarket chain in the United States with 57 locations in 19 states, primarily in New Jersey, due to its large Indian population. Patel Brothers offers online shopping for the contiguous US through its website, which is fulfilled by its Hanover Park, Illinois location. The chain was founded by brothers Mafat and Tulsi Patel and is operated by Mafat's sons, Swetal and Rakesh Patel.

History
Mafat lived in Bhandu, a small village in Gujarat, India, along with his brother, Tulsi before coming to Indiana University for advanced education in engineering in 1968. After finishing his business degree, he moved to Chicago in 1 year to work as an engineer at Jefferson Electrical Co. He starved of hunger because of the lack of Indian food and realized that the Indian cuisine in America had not advanced and that the food wasn't appetizing. Mafat wanted to create his own grocery store to show the appetizing tastes of true Indian food. In 1971, businessman, Ramesh Trivedi, came to Mafat to sell him a shanty edifice on Devon Avenue. That same year, Mafat called his brother, Tulsi, who came along with his wife, Aruna, from India because Mafat knew the hardships of starting a grocery store alone. In 1974, the two brothers opened a store naming it after themselves: Patel Brothers, they were both brothers with the last name Patel.

As of 2017, Patel Brothers has broken into a $140 million store. On Devon Avenue in Chicago, the street that the first restaurant was opened on, there are many different shops that are part of the Patel Brothers chain: Air Tours Inc., a travel agency; Sahil, a clothing boutique meant for Indian weddings (another location in Iselin, NJ); Patel Bros. Handicrafts and Utensils, which sells religious memorabilia and trinkets; and Patel's Café, an eatery; and Mysore Woodlands, a restaurant.

Patel Brothers maintains its trademarks under PB Brands LLC, which include Dakshin, an Indian restaurant with locations in the Chicago suburbs of Schaumburg and Naperville, Illinois.

Patel Brothers is a family business. The retail chain's day-to-day operations are handled by Mafat's sons Swetal and Rakesh Patel, who also operate the Chicago warehouse in Skokie, Illinois. Mafat and Tulsi Patel still own the original store in Chicago and various trademarks. Tulsi Patel's daughter, Susan Patel owns Patel Bros. Handicrafts and Utensils in Chicago. Mafat's sister's sons Mahedra and Harshad operate the two New York warehouses in Queens. They have strongly built the company in the East Coast. Mafat's nephews Bharat and Jayesh  manage the stores in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas.

Locations

Current locations

After being started in Chicago, Patel Brothers was a major success with shoppers coming from all over the United States: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, and Kansas. The retail chain has spread throughout the United States, mainly the Eastern United States. As of April 2018, the chain had 55 locations, 8 in New Jersey (notably along Oak Tree Road in Edison and Iselin, which has three locations), 6 in Texas, 4 in New York, Florida, and Illinois each, and the rest are spread throughout the eastern United States with one location in Santa Clara near San Jose, California. Patel Brothers are generally located in retail parks along with other stores and restaurants. The largest store is located in Naperville, Illinois, which includes a restaurant called Patel's Fresh Kitchen. The Naperville and Parlin, New Jersey are built using modern architecture. 

The Patel Brothers locations that are farmers markets include:  
Charlotte, North Carolina
Decatur, Georgia
Indianapolis, Indiana
Irving, Texas (the location adjacent to Valley Ranch)
Jersey City, New Jersey
Hicksville, New York
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
North Attleboro, Massachusetts
Shrewsbury, Massachusetts
Troy, Michigan
The locations in Iselin, New Jersey east of the Garden State Parkway, Jersey City, New Jersey, North Brunswick, New Jersey and Ridgeland, Mississippi operate under the cash and carry concept. Several Patel Brothers locations including the McKinney, Texas; Naperville, Illinois; and Monroeville, Pennsylvania stores have green and yellow auto rickshaws near the store to maintain India's cultural identity in America.  Some locations go by names other than Patel Brothers: the Ridgeland, Mississippi store operates under the name Patel Grocery and the Manchester, Connecticut store operates under the name Patel Foods. Patel Brothers is not affiliated with the gas station called Patel's Grocery in Homer, Georgia, Shah and Patel Indian Burmese grocery store in Rockville, Maryland, or Patel Foods Indo-Pak grocery store in Overland Park, Kansas. The reason why many Indian grocery stores have similar names to Patel Brothers is that PB Brands, LLC only has trademarks for the names Patel Brothers, Patel's, and Patel's Cash and Carry.

There are Patel Brothers locations on Devon Avenue's Desi Street in Chicago, 
Mahatma Gandhi District in Houston, India Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Patel Plaza (retail park leased by Patel Brothers) in Decatur, Georgia, where they are located in ethnic enclaves known as Little India, next to many other Indian restaurants and stores.

Former locations
Previously in Canada, Patel Brothers used to operate 3 stores in the Greater Toronto Area in Scarborough, Etobicoke, and Mississauga, which are now operated by Canada-based Panchvati Supermarket, and a store in Sugar Land in Greater Houston.

Brands and products

After Mafat and Tulsi Patel started their career as grocers they changed gears toward prepackaged ethnic foods. In 1991, they introduced a variety of authentic foods under the umbrella of Raja Foods LLC, which supplies for 60% of Patel Brothers products. Raja Foods LLC operates under seven brands, three of which are Patel Brothers original brands:

SWAD (Best Taste in Town) is an original Patel Brothers brand and is the main brand for Patel Brothers products. SWAD is the largest selling Indian food brand in the USA. Swad (स्वाद) is a Hindi word meaning taste. The main products of the SWAD brand are ghee, oil, lentils, beans, nuts, and spices.
Patel's Celebrating India is also a Patel Brothers original brand.
Anarkali is also a Patel Brothers original brand. 
Ching's Secret (Real Chinese...Tasty Chinese)
Parle Products
Milhaas
Noorjehan
Raja Foods LLC has 5 warehouses:

Skokie, Illinois, the 60,000 square foot warehouse located in the Chicago metropolitan area, receives food products such as rice, spices, and mango juices from around the world including China, Australia, England, Spain, India, and Pakistan, which are then to distributed to local carriers such as Kmart, Whole Foods Market, Dominick's in Chicago (former),  Michael's Fresh Market in Naperville, Illinois (former), Indian ethnic stores, and various smaller carriers. The warehouse serves the Midwest and also has additional office space for Patel Brothers.
Queens, New York (2 warehouses: Flushing and Maspeth), (the latter is a vegetable warehouse) located in the New York metropolitan area, serves the Northeastern United States
Stone Mountain, Georgia located in the Atlanta metropolitan area, serves the Southeastern United States
Houston, Texas, serves the Southwestern United States
Patel Brothers sells South Asian cuisine including Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi food products. Their products include beverages, canned and packaged goods, condiments, ghee and oil, grains, health and beauty products, instant mix, kitchen products, lentils and beans, ready to eat food, Indian snacks, South Asian sweets, spices, spice blends, and spiritual items.

Popular culture
In December 2017, Patel Brothers co-founder Mafat Patel was featured in Zee TV's Those Who Made It Season Finale.