Business phone system for supermarkets and grocery stores

Supermarkets and grocery stores in the United States

County Business Patterns counted 62,947 supermarkets and grocery stores in the U.S. in 2023 (NAICS 445110, Supermarkets and Other Grocery (except Convenience) Stores). They employed 2,808,118 people in mid-March and paid $83.7 billion in annual payroll. The average establishment has 44.6 employees. That is 18.5 establishments for every 100,000 residents.

New York has the most (8,320), followed by California (8,044), Florida (3,850), and Texas (3,739). Relative to population, New York leads with 41.9 per 100,000 residents, and Arizona has the fewest at 10.6.

Why the phone matters for supermarkets and grocery stores

Independent grocers take calls about stock, deli and bakery orders, and departments need calls routed to them. Holiday orders bring call peaks.

Calls supermarkets and grocery stores commonly handle:

• A customer calls to order a holiday platter from the deli.
• A customer calls about a product in stock.
• A supplier calls about a delivery.
• The store calls a customer when an order is ready.
• A customer calls about hours.

Texting and after-hours calls

Grocers text order-ready notices.

After-hours calls are mostly hours questions.

How big supermarkets and grocery stores are

32.9% of U.S. supermarkets and grocery stores with employees had fewer than five people in March 2023. 43.2% had fewer than ten. Most phone decisions in this industry are made for small teams, where one shared number and sensible routing matter more than a desk phone per person.

Supermarkets and grocery stores by state

Establishment counts for the 51 states (and DC) where Census published a figure, with the rate per 100,000 residents.

Largest metro areas for supermarkets and grocery stores

Census published grocery store counts for 892 metro and micropolitan areas. The 25 largest:

Phone system pricing for a 45-person grocery store

The average U.S. grocery store has 44.6 employees, so the comparison uses a 45-person team. Priced per seat, 45 users would run $1,350.00 a month on RingCentral RingEX Core and $1,122.75 on Ooma Office Pro (month-to-month list prices, checked September 28, 2026). On Callata the same 45 people cost $899.00 a month, less than either per-seat plan.

The annual difference against RingCentral's monthly list price comes to $5,412. Some vendors discount annual contracts; the table shows month-to-month prices.

How Callata works for supermarkets and grocery stores

For $99 a month, Callata puts a team of up to 5 on one plan ($20 for each person after that): up to 3 local numbers, unlimited inbound calls, a pooled allowance of 1,500 outbound US and Canada minutes per user, browser and cell calling, voicemail transcription with urgency triage, recorded calls with AI summaries and business-hours routing, with E911 on every number.

Existing numbers can be ported at no charge, and team texting turns on after the one-time $49 carrier registration (10DLC) is approved.

Optional AI agents (receptionist, sales, support or scheduler) can answer calls after hours or when nobody picks up, take messages, text, email and transfer to your team. They are billed from prepaid AI minutes at $0.25 per minute, identify themselves as AI, and may only place outbound calls to people who consented, between 8am and 9pm.