QUALITY FOOD BEGINS 7 MILLION SHARE OFFER

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Quality Food Centers here said it has begun a tender offer to purchase up to 7 million shares of its common stock at a cash price of $25 per share.

that will make Zell/Chilmark, a Chicago-based investment partnership, the chain's largest equity shareholder.

Although the company said it will not release final annual financial results until tomorrow, it reported preliminary unaudited results for 1994, with sales of $575.9 million and net earnings of $26.4 million, or $1.34 per share.

QFC, which operates 45 stores in the Seattle area, also announced plans earlier this month to add 16 more units, including 12 in a merger with Olson's Food Stores, Lynnwood, Wash.; three in an acquisition from Puget Sound Marketing, Puyallup, Wash., and a single-store acquisition in the Rainier Valley.