Guess the Largest Employee-Owned Company in America

This post was reported and written by Patch Senior Field Editor Linda Hersey.

Do you know the name of the largest employee-owned company in America? Palm Harbor residents may know this business much better than they ever realized.

That's because the company is Florida-based Publix, which has just been profiled by Forbes magazine for its unusual approach to do business in an era of impersonal chain stores.

Forbes also notes that family-run Publix is "the most profitable grocer in America." 

The story notes Publix for its hands-on approach to customer service, where staff asks shoppers – without prompting – if they need assistance and clerks will find a store item or walk customers to the aisle where it is located.

Publix makes no secret that "shopping is a pleasure" at its stores, where old-fashioned common courtesy is a proven money maker.

The story also notes other approaches to customer service that seem to benefit the business:

• A two-customer-per-line goal to keep waits down in the checkout lane.
• The custom of carrying a shopper's packages to the parking lot and helping to unload them.
• Promoting staff from within the company to management positions, as was done with president, Todd Jones, who started out as a bag boy three decades ago.

According to the profile:
"For 83 years Publix has thrived by delivering top-rated service to its shoppers by turning thousands of its cashiers, baggers, butchers and bakers into the company’s largest collective shareholders. All staffers who have put in 1,000 work hours and a year of employment receive an additional 8.5% of their total pay in the form of Publix stock." 

For the full article on "How Publix's People-First Culture Is Winning the Grocery Wars," click here.

Do you shop at Publix? What do you like best about the grocery store? Let us know in the comments below.

Publix stores in Palm Harbor include-

• Publix at Crystal Beach

• Publix Super Market At Coral Landings Shopping Center

• Publix Super Market At Seabreeze Plaza Shopping Center

• Publix Super Market At Riviere Plaza