Our Story
Our story begins in the early 70’s with Alex Hugo graduating at Boise State College with a degree in business. He went to work for a local grocery chain as an Assistant manager in the Deli department. Within the first 4 months he was promoted to Manager and became one of the top producers of his department in the nation.
Within the first year, he was moved into the general office, in charge of the Utah and Idaho divisions. With this change, a lot of travel was involved. Alex decided traveling was not for him and decided to pursue his dream as an entrepreneur.
Alex Hugo opened his first deli in 1980, "The Original Hugo's Deli" at Overland and 5-Mile in Boise, Id. This location has been in operation for 40 years. Two of Alex's brothers, Jim and Richard Hugo joined him in the business. And over the years as many as 10 locations have operated in the Treasure Valley.
Richard Hugo, who joined Alex and Jim in the early 80’s while going to school at ISU would work at the stores on summer breaks to earn extra money. What started as a summer job, turned into a career. He then opened his first location on Broadway Ave. in Boise, ID on April 22, 1991 and ran this location for over 16 years. He then sold this store in October 2006 to work in AutoCAD, in which he had a college degree. After 2 years in AutoCAD, he determined he needed to go back to what he loved and had a passion for. He opened two additional locations in Meridian, ID, the first at 950 E. Fairview. The second, a new concept as an “Express Location” at 6233 N. Linder Rd., along with brother Alex. 2 of Richards’s sons, Todd and Corey have since joined the business hoping to contribute and grow as the 2nd generation of Hugo’s.
The Deli's have become a source of pride and achievement. The goal has always been to succeed within our means and to set and achieve goals for our family, business and the community. We have been very thankful for the support of the community and the many great employees over the years. We strive to continue maintaining a good quality product and service for our customers. We began as a "mom and pop" small town business. Over the years we have been fortunate enough to grow and continue to provide a menu consisting of a variety of sandwiches, chicken and our famous "Deli Fries" to our customers.
As technology changes we have found we've needed to evolve as a business. With our newest location on Linder Rd., we have made a few changes and modifications. Not always being accepted so easily by people who have shopped us over the years. We hope to learn and grow with the changes. We are looking forward to the coming years with optimism and pride and hope to continue to be a part of the Treasure Valley community for decades to come.