Wegmans Food Markets

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Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.

Type	Private
Founded	1916
Headquarters	Rochester, New York, USA
Key people	Danny Wegman, CEO Colleen Wegman, President
Industry	Retail (Grocery)
Revenue	▲$4.5 billion (2007)^[1]
Employees	37,000 (2007)
Website	www.wegmans.com

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 71-store U.S. regional supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. In 2008 and 2007 Fortune ranked Wegmans the third best company to work for in the United States. Wegmans has appeared on Fortune’s annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list since its inception in 1998, and has ranked among the top 10 for six consecutive years.^[2] Food Network recognized it with its award for Best Grocery Store in 2007.^[3]

1 History
2 Operations
3 Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden Centers
4 Wegmans brand
5 Company facts
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Wegmans is a privately owned company, founded in 1916 by John and Walter Wegman. The original name was the Rochester Fruit and Vegetable Company. Wegmans is headquartered in Rochester, New York. Danny Wegman is CEO; his daughter Colleen Wegman is president, and his other daughter Nicole Wegman is vice-president of restaurant operations. His late father Robert Wegman, who died on April 20, 2006, was chairman. Robert was the son of co-founder Walter Wegman. During his life Robert Wegman distinguished himself as a pioneer in the retail food business, as well as a generous donor to educational institutions and other charities.^[4]^[5]

In 1968 the chain expanded outside the Rochester area for the first time with a store in Syracuse, and again in 1978 with its first Buffalo store. They expanded outside New York state in the 1990s with stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and in the 2000s with stores in Virginia and Maryland.^[6]

[edit] Operations

Exterior of a typical Wegmans (Alberta Drive location in Amherst, NY)

Many of Wegmans' newer stores are of the "superstore" or "megamarket" type, with very large area, a large variety of foods aimed at an upscale market, and in many stores, Market Cafe in-store dining areas. The company also owns and operates Tastings, a restaurant at its Pittsford, New York, store that offers diners three distinct eating areas, helping to make the Pittsford Wegmans the second largest of all, trailing only Dewitt, New York in total square footage.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2007, Wegmans announced two new business ventures: (1) plans to open a 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m²) liquor store in Pittsford (adding to its two existing wine centers in Virginia and New Jersey); and (2) the creation of a US$28 million "culinary innovation center" (in Chili, New York), a corporate research and development facility that will house a new central kitchen (replacing some of the current operations at its meat center).^[7] The liquor store was opened in April 2008, under the name of Century Pittsford Wines, is not owned by the company, independently owned by Nicole Wegman, due to New York State liquor laws. The store is 45,000 sq ft (4,200 m²) ^[8]^[9]

Wegmans has been criticized regarding the treatment of hens on its egg farm in Wolcott, New York by the Rochester-based animal-advocacy organization Compassionate Consumers.^[10] Wegmans responded that their facility meets or exceeds the standards suggested by the United Egg Producers’ independent committee of animal science experts.^[11] The egg farm has since been sold to Kreher's Family Fresh Eggs Farms.^[12]

[edit] Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden Centers

Wegmans was the parent company of Chase-Pitkin, a regional home improvement retailer. On October 4, 2005, it announced that it would close all Chase-Pitkin stores by early 2006 and focus instead on Wegmans' highly successful supermarket operations. The decision to exit the home improvement business was reportedly due to the increasing dominance of national chains such as The Home Depot and Lowe's. Chase-Pitkin stores closed individually over the course of the month of March 2006.

[edit] Wegmans brand

Wegmans began branding their own products in 1979 offering basic commodities with a lower price than the national brands and a quailty that was equal to, or better than the national brands. This price/value relationship for the customer was the humble beginning of a brand that has evolved to offering unique, chef-developed products unavailable anywhere else.

As the brand continued to be successful, it soon branched out; in 1992, it started offering a line of better-for-you products called "Food You Feel Good About". The next sub-brand to be launched was "Italian Classics" . It was in 1995 when Wegmans first came out with the imported pastas, canned tomatoes, olive oils etc. This product line offers classically Italian products used in Italian recipes. Many of the products are sourced from Italy. In 2002, Wegmans launched their own line of Organic products.

The Wegmans House Brand has been used extensively in the American sitcom The Office which is set in the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania which does in fact have a Wegmans store. The show has been noted for its use of local color including product placement and use of regional landmarks as part of its humor.^[13]^[14]

[edit] Company facts

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In 2007 Wegmans opened a Tea Bar in its Pittsford NY store, featuring brewed tea by the pot as well as bulk sales of several dozen varieties of loose tea.
In 2007, a Seafood Bar and Grill were opened in the Pittsford NY store, each featuring its respective types of food, seafood and grilled food. In 2008, these two separate areas were combined into the Food Bar. The experience of being seated in a grocery store, eating lunch between two grocery aisles, surrounded by shoppers retrieving bakery goods or meat and seafood products, is one that few grocery stores, if any, provide for the common shopper.
Effective February 2008, Wegmans no longer sells tobacco products.^[15]
In March 2007, Wegmans was ranked No. 5 in the BusinessWeek Top 25 list of "Customer Service Champs".^[16]
Wegmans has been named one of the "100 Best Places to Work in America" by Fortune magazine every year since the inception of the list in 1998, ranking No. 1 in 2005 and No. 2 in 2006.^[17]^[18]^[19]^[20] The 2007 list brought Wegmans down to No. 3.^[21] In 2008, Wegmans was named No. 3 again.^[22]
Consumer Reports magazine ranked the chain as number one in its survey of the top 54 supermarkets in the United States for 2006.^[23]
In 2006, it was the 66th largest privately held company, as determined by Forbes [1]. On Forbes's 2005 list, Wegmans ranked 54th.^[24]
No. 32 on the 2007 Supermarket News list of the Top 75 North American Food Retailers based on 2006 sales volume;^[1] ranked 7th among privately held U.S. supermarkets.^{[citation needed]}
Based on 2005 revenue, Wegman's is the 70^th largest retailer in the United States.^[25]
Donated over 14 million lb (6,000 t) of food (350 tractor trailers) to local food banks and food pantries in 2004.^[26]
Wegmans is the marquee sponsor of the Rochester Wegmans LPGA tournament.}}^{[citation needed]}
On May 15, 2007 Wegmans was named one of the most ethical companies in the United States by Ethisphere Magazine.^[27]
Mr. Robert B. Wegman was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2004.