Case 32:

Founding Family Still Provides Strategic Direction

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Produce peddler John Wegman took his business indoors in 1916, swapping his pushcart for a fixed address in upstate New York doing business as the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Co. His brother Walter joined him within a few months. A century later, the business remains a family affair, still run by Wegmans.

In the intervening years, Wegmans Food Markets Inc., as the company came to be called, has grown considerably in scope and stature. Wegmans had $7.9 billion in sales in 2015. It now encompasses 88 stores in six states (with plans to enter a seventh, North Carolina), employs 45,000 people, owns its own organic farm and is consistently ranked byFortunemagazine as one of the nation's "100 Best Companies to Work For"Wegmans was No. 1 in 2005 and No. 4 this year. About 30 percent of Wegmans' employees have at least one family member who also works at the company.

The business is led by Danny Wegman, grandson of Walter and son of Robert Wegman. Robert joined the enterprise in 1937 and took it over in 1950, building the company into a chain of supermarkets based on the idea that success comes from treating your employees and customers right. Robert guided the company until his death in 2006. His portrait hangs in all of its stores.

Danny Wegman went to work for the company in 1964 and was named president in 1976 and chief executive officer in 2005. His daughters, Colleen and Nicole, joined in 1991, keeping the family involvement in the business going forward into a fourth generation.

Colleen Wegman subsequently served as a store manager and director of e-commerce. She was responsible for the development of the company's Nature's Marketplace departments. In 2002, Colleen Wegman became senior vice president of merchandising. She also served as a director of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI). She received a master's degree in business administration from the Simon School at the University of Rochester in 2000, and in 2005 she succeeded her father as president of the company. Nicole Wegman is now senior vice president, perishable food and wine.

Under Danny Wegman, the company has burnished its reputation as a great place to shop for groceries. In 2015, for the second consecutive year, readers ofConsumer Reportsrated Wegmans as the best supermarket in the country.

FMI in 2004 recognized Danny Wegman's lifetime of service to the community and the retail food industry by bestowing on him the institute's Sidney R. Robb Award, an honor that went to his father in 1981. FMI also lauded Danny Wegman as a longtime leader on food safety and for helping to focus the industry on technology issues. "Again and again he has emphasized that technology must be shared if we are to fully realize the enormous benefits that it can grant each and every member of our industry," Liz Minyard, FMI's then-chairwoman, said of Wegman at the time. "In these brutally competitive times, Danny has built a business model that presents a compelling force in today's value-driven marketplace. He has made the model an open book for any retailer to emulate, which, in the end, may be Danny's greatest gift to the industry and our customers."

In 2012, Danny Wegman received FMI's inaugural Robert B. Wegman Award, named after his father and bestowed on the son in honor of his "entrepreneurial leadership in the design of retail strategies and imaginative merchandising."

In naming its award for entrepreneurial excellence after Robert Wegman, FMI lauded his "creative retail savvy that grew [the] family grocery business into one of the largest privately held companies in the United States."

According to Wegmans company lore, Robert Wegman decided upon taking the helm of the business that quality would trump quantity as he set about building the finest supermarket chain in the United States. "I have never pursued growth for growth's sake," he once remarked. "All we really want from our efforts are the finest food stores anywhere, operated profitably."

Wegmans' current executives say that they don't take customers' loyalty for granted and pledge to continuously improve by honoring the company's long-standing commitment: "Every day you get our best." By adhering to this approach, Wegmans has won the loyalty of its customers and a reputation that has spread far beyond its current footprint. Last year, more than 4,000 people from 48 states contacted Wegmans asking for a store in their community.

Question

In a 300 minimum summary indicate the Summary of the Key Players, Analysis of the Situation and tell mewhat the company is doing in order to succeed and why do you feel they have done this?