2015 SEROY-Publix

The

Shelby Report

2015 Celebration

Southeast Retailer of the Year _________

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DECEMBER 2015 • A Shelby Publishing Special Section

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2015 Celebration

2015 Celebration

Retailer of the Year _________

DOING THE RIGHT THING PAYS OFF FOR PUBLIX People told Publix Super Markets founder George W. Jenkins that there was no way he could extend the Publix culture into a chain of supermarkets. Even 50 or 100 would be too many, they believed. What made the stores special—the friendly customer service, the community connection, the promote-from-within preference, the product selection and high store operations standards—could not be routinely duplicated in so many stores, they thought.

But they were wrong.

From that first store that opened in Winter Haven, Florida, in 1930 with a handful of employees has grown a chain of supermarkets that has exceeded every expectation. Consider that in 2014, sales reached $30.6 billion across the chain’s more than 1,100 stores operating in six Southeast states, and there are more than 177,000 Publix associates across its operations.

Despite the naysayers, the Publix culture has thrived, even across the Florida state line, which initially was a question mark for Mr. George.

Make no mistake; it has taken a concerted effort to communicate the Publix culture down through the chain’s 85-year history, but it has been achieved. And this year, these “Lessons of Mr. George” were reinforced with associates and company executives as part of the chain’s anniversary celebration (see stories starting on page 33).

There is no question that part of Publix’s success in keeping top-notch associates is linked to its employee stock ownership plan (it is the largest employee-owned grocery chain in the U.S.).

It’s not uncommon to find employees who have been with Publix for 20, 30 or more years. And many of them have a family member or two—or more—who also works for Publix. As CEO Ed Crenshaw says, that means Publix must be a pretty good place to work; we don’t steer our families toward things that aren’t good for them.

And Publix can claim something that not many companies can—it’s never had a layoff.

Even in the aftermath of the economic downturn of 2008, Publix was one of the few companies that was hiring. In fact, Publix gained some highly talented people in the years following 2008, according to Maria Brous, director of media and community relations.

“The economy didn’t pick right back up, so we got an opportunity to keep a lot of that talent,” she says, adding that Publix also is an employer of choice for those seeking secondary careers. They may be looking for health insurance or personal interaction or even physical activity, and Publix can give them what they’re looking for.

Ed Crenshaw, CEO, and Todd Jones, president, receive Publix’s Southeast Retailer of the Year Award from Lorrie Griffith, editor of The Shelby Report.

Publix also does not shy away from developing young talent, hiring associates as young as 14. While there are challenges with work hours with younger associates, it also gives Publix an opportunity to instill its culture early. Brous, who started her career at Publix at 14, says company president Todd Jones, who joined Publix at 15, is passionate about hiring teenagers because “you have the most opportunity to ingrain the culture and to develop raw talent.”

Jennifer Bush, director of special projects for Publix and a 35-year company veteran, says, “What you find when you have these different age groups and such a diversity within each store, it does become like a family.”

On a personal visit to Publix’s headquarters, its bakery and dairy manufacturing facilities, the flagship Lake Miriam store and the original offices in Lakeland on a single day in October, I was witness to why Publix has seen such enormous success: the people love their company and are devoted to it and their customers, with an underlying mission to always do the right thing, like Mr. George taught.

Throw in some stellar holiday commercials, delicious sub sandwiches, fried chicken, bread, cakes, etc., BOGOs and genuine friendliness, and it’s no wonder Publix continues to grow.

Congratulations to our 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year, Publix Super Markets Inc. —Lorrie Griffith, editor

Contents Q&A with Ed Crenshaw, CEO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Publix People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-14 Store Tour with Todd Jones, President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 The Publix Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-30 85th Anniversary Celebration: Lessons of Mr. George. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33-44 Stories about Mr. George. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration

CRENSHAW CARRIES PUBLIX CULTURE FORWARD WITH PRIDE

Ed Crenshaw

Ed Crenshaw, CEO of Publix Super Markets, started his career with Publix 41 years ago. Though he is the grandson of Publix founder George Jenkins, that didn’t matter; he started out like many other Publix employees—working at a store.

Also like so many other Publix employees, he is not the only member of his family to work for the company. His son, Brad, is a real estate manager for the chain, and he says he has so many nieces and nephews working at the company that he’s lost count.

Crenshaw and his wife of 37 years, Denise, also have a daughter, Michelle, who lives with her family in Atlanta.

In an interview with The Shelby Report from his office at Publix headquarters on Airport Road in Lakeland, Crenshaw graciously shared some details of his Publix career, his enthusiasm for the company and its associates today and his bright hopes for the future of the supermarket chain that continues to grow in spite of competition from every side. According to some, his leadership style closely mirrors his grandfather’s, exuding genuine warmth and sincerity. He also embraces and carries forward the Publix company culture created by Mr. George, in which proper care and respect is afforded to customers, communities and associates.

Q: I know you don’t want to focus on yourself in this piece, but please tell me a little about your early years and maybe some highlights of your years at Publix.

I was born in Mineral Wells, Texas, and grew up in central Texas with three siblings. I went to high school in Fort Worth and graduated from Baylor University with a degree in business.

When I joined Publix in 1974, my intention was to work for one year to gain retail experience and then join my father in his food brokerage business (Nova Sales). He suddenly passed away later the same year. It wasn’t long before I made the decision to start a career at Publix. I’ll never forget my grandfather, George Jenkins, telling me that I was welcome to stay with Publix, but it was hard work and the only thing he could do is give me the opportunity—the rest was up to me.

Like everyone, I wanted to be a part of a winning team. In 1974 Publix had just celebrated their first $1 billion sales year. They had just opened the Jacksonville Division and were poised for growth in North Florida. Publix had a wonderful reputation for quality and service, and the vendor community was very supportive of George Jenkins and (his brother) Charlie Jenkins Sr. and all they were doing in the industry. It was an easy decision for me.

I worked for six years in our Jacksonville Division as a grocery buyer before returning to Lakeland to get back into retail. Howard Jenkins, who was VP of research and development (George’s son), was a guy who had tremendous vision for the company, and he said, “You know, if you’re going to stay with Publix you need to go back in the store and really learn that; become

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a store manager and learn retail operations.” So I went George Jenkins’ objective was “to have a back into the stores and worked through the store satisfying career, to support his family and positions and became a to help others do the same thing.” store manager. I then began —Ed Crenshaw working through various retail operations positions before becoming president in 1996. I was named CEO in 2008. I wouldn’t be here doing this job today if I hadn’t done that; our company is built around retail operations.

At Publix it’s all about learning the business from the ground up; it’s all about promotion from within. This culture that we have that allows people to kind of learn at their own pace, but provided they learn, they will have the opportunities to assume greater responsibility.

All the people in our key positions that have anything to do with operations have operations experience. And when we talk about a vice president of manufacturing, believe me, they came up through manufacturing; they know manufacturing. When you talk to a vice president of distribution, those guys were selectors, they were truck drivers; they came up through that, and that’s great for other people to see because they see that if I work hard, I can do it.

Obviously, there have been many highlights over the years. I’ve had the opportunity to be a small part of the growth and witness firsthand the power of Publix people. It’s been a joy to meet so many of our associates and follow their careers—to see how they have embraced our culture of service and quality, and support their efforts in giving back to the community.

To this day, my best days are the ones that allow me to visit our stores and meet our associates. I enjoy thanking them for their work and sharing my thoughts on Publix and the bright future they have with a company that recognizes and values their contributions. I remind them of their ownership or the opportunity for ownership and what it means to be an owner. I start out thinking I’m going to lift their spirits, but exactly the opposite happens—they lift mine!

Q: Investing in your people is a Publix tenet, and it has been effective, as your company has a widespread reputation as an employer of choice. Take me through some of the ways you invest in your people.

The most valuable way we invest in our associates is by providing them with opportunities for growth and advancement. We have very clear career paths with specific training for each job.

We track their training and they can learn at their own pace.

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration From page 4

To this day, my best days are the ones that allow me to visit our stores and meet our associates. I enjoy thanking them for their work and sharing my thoughts on Publix and the bright future they have with a company that recognizes and values their contributions. I remind them of their ownership or the opportunity for ownership and what it means to be an owner. I start out thinking I’m going to lift their spirits, but exactly the opposite happens—they lift mine!

In addition, we offer opportunities to retail associates to cross-train in other areas to expose them to new products and services. For qualified full- and part-time associates, we invest in their well being with outstanding, affordable health benefits for themselves and their family. We created an associate wellness program to inspire associates to take charge of our health in order to live well and thrive. For qualified associates, we invest in their future by providing ownership in the company through our Employee Stock Ownership Plan.

George Jenkins invested in employees from day one, in the very first store. It wasn’t something that came along later; he was doing it before he could afford to do it.

That’s what’s amazing to me. He was borrowing money to pay people; he was borrowing money to give bonuses at the end of the year—that’s how important people were to him. He understood that his success was going to be as dependent upon the people that were working with him as it was on what he did.

Last night (at the Cullman, Alabama, store opening, Oct. 13), most of the associates there had been with Publix 90 days or less. We had to hire a lot of new people (because it was a new market for Publix), and I just seized on that opportunity to let them know that they joined a very unique, special company, and we are going to do everything we can to make them successful. I tell them we want them to be a part of this company because we need them. And we need them to be successful because I understand that our success is dependent on them. I tell them, “I am at this store tonight, but I won’t be at this store tomorrow. And I won’t be at this store six months from now and maybe not even a year from now.” That store is only going to be successful because of what they do, certainly not because of what I do.

I try to impress upon them that we’re all important, whether it’s the CEO or the newest hired associate 90 days ago or even yesterday, because we don’t hire anyone that we don’t need.

If we start hiring people we don’t need, we go broke. And because we need them, we are going to invest in them. Because we need you, we are going to train you and help you learn not only for what you can do for Publix but for the opportunities you can have with Publix. And we will train you every step of the way because the only way you can have confidence in the job that you’re doing is if you’re well trained to do that job.

We don’t want people to be fearful of going out and approaching a customer because they don’t have the confidence of knowing what to do or knowing what the answers are; we’re going to help them be successful. And then, over time, we’re going to make them owners of the company.

And I explain to them why we don’t make owners right off the bat; they have to learn and grow and develop and then they get the ownership. We’re not just going to give ownership away to people off the street that aren’t able to add value to the company. But once you’re trained and able to add value, we want you to be an owner. Because when you’re an owner, you

behave differently; you take better care of something when you own it…I want it to be more than just a job; I want it to be a career. That’s what George Jenkins was all about, that’s what he wanted for people. He was not out trying to build personal wealth; that was not his objective. The personal wealth came much, much later. His objective was to have a satisfying career, to support his family and to help others do the same thing.

We just got an award last week from Florida Southern College; it was called the Prize for Economic Freedom. It was special because that really was what George Jenkins was all about—allowing others to have economic freedom.

Q: Ownership makes a lot of difference in the way people perform their jobs?

Being an employee-owned company certainly helps drive our customer service reputation, one of the best in the industry.

Because our associates own the company, they are willing to take the extra steps necessary to satisfy their customer.

A less obvious advantage of being employee-owned, a private company, is that we are able to take a longer term view of our business and do things because they’re good for our business and our owners vs. trying to meet the expectations of Wall Street.

Being employee owned is one of the things that gives me so much confidence in the future for our company. Even with all the so-called competitive threats that we might have, sure there will be bumps in the road going forward, but we can all be very confident because we have this ownership in the company. When you get 177,000 people all headed in the same direction, understanding what the goals are and the strategy to meet those objectives, that’s a pretty powerful combination and pretty hard to beat, and it should give people a lot of confidence in the future.

You have a lot of hard-work days, but people don’t mind hard work if they’re being treated fairly and rewarded for the work they do and they’re trained and developed to do that work. In fact, they love it. They love the opportunities that come along as a result of hard work.

But as good as I think this company is, I remind people that it’s not perfect. At the end of the day, it’s 177,000 people that have flaws. We’ve all got them. Every day is not going to be perfect, and we are going to make mistakes. It’s what we do when we do make a mistake that’s really important, and that we admit that we’ve made a mistake. But I like to remind people that if you look at your work with this company over a long period of time, you don’t have too many bad days.

Q: Was fresh food a differentiator for Publix early on as it is now?

I believe George Jenkins had that in mind from the beginning. He opened his first store next door to his former employer who had far more resources available. He knew he had to run a better store in every way…associates and product. He traveled extensively looking for innovation in product and services. Our 1940 store, the food palace, had electric-eye doors, air conditioning, a water fountain—all things that weren’t customary for the time in a food store.

As new products and categories emerged, he would bring them back to Publix but improve upon them with his vision of service and quality.

Q: What are some of the keys to success in the perishable departments?

We have an old saying, “take care of the customer and they will come back; take care of the product and it won’t come back.” We buy high-quality products from our suppliers and we ship to our stores frequently. It’s what happens after it gets to the store that differentiates Publix. Because our associates care, they make sure it is properly stored and merchandised to maintain quality. If it’s cut or produced in store, it’s done under strict guidelines, always striving to maintain proper temperature while following proper food handling practices.

Food safety is our top priority. Our sell-by dates and times are closely monitored so the customer gets the very best quality, and we are constantly working to improve our methods. Most importantly, our associates are well trained and understand they should not sell anything they would not buy for themselves.

Behind the scenes, we have a corporate quality assurance team who consistently strives to provide the best science and testing of products available. We often lead and participate in industry group discussions around the issue of food safety as we believe this is a nocompete area of our business. It’s in everyone’s best interest to protect our food chain and share in best practices.

Publix was one of the early people in the industry to have hot delis.

Certainly, the hot delis we had in 1974 when I was working in a store were not the hot delis we have today, but we have a history of being in this business. Now, I guess if you look at where we are today in the majority of our stores vs. what maybe some other competitors are doing, you’d say maybe we’re not doing as much. We take a very disciplined view of it. We’re very concerned about the quality of the product that we sell; we’re very concerned about how the product is Please see page 8

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration AS EASY AS 1-3-5 Unlike a lot of companies, the better associates get to know Publix, Today, we work extremely close with our vendor partners on everything from innovation to packaging.

We have a vendor scorecard, which provides insights to our vendor community based on their overall performance. The better they perform, the more intel we provide that helps their business grow as well.

From page 6

handled, the food safety associated with it, the sanitation in these departments.

I like to think we are evolving as the customer needs have evolved. Today the customer is certainly looking for more convenience; they’re looking for quality prepared foods, and we’re definitely moving in that direction.

We have built a wonderful business with sub sandwiches. It’s just amazing.

(There is a Facebook page devoted to Publix subs, as well as ones dedicated to its sweet tea and bakery cakes.) But we recognize that our customers want more than sub sandwiches and fried chicken. We’re doing more grab-and-go items, and healthier product is very important, we recognize that.

Q: Grocers are increasingly being assigned some responsibility for the health and wellness of their customers.

What is Publix doing in this realm?

I’m very proud of our efforts in this area. Of course, we have operated pharmacies in our stores for years, and we offer some of the most common antibiotics and diabetes drugs for free (Amlodipine, Lisinopril, Metform, Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim (SMZ-TMP), Ciprofloxacin (excluding Ciprofloxacin XR) and Penicillin VK). Our website is full of information about health and wellness and how we can help them.

More recently, we have begun piloting dietitian services to help our customers buy and shop for healthier products. We introduced “Better Choice” shelf tags that provide essential nutritional information and note whether a product is organic and natural or even gluten free. We also support community events that emphasize health. I feel we are only scratching the surface in this area. Lots of exciting things are yet to come.

But I am just as pleased about some of the things we’re beginning to do for our associates in terms of health and wellness. For our associates we have a website for them called

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“Life Inspired” so that they can track their own progress to reach some goals they’ve set for themselves, whether it’s blood pressure or cholesterol; we help them know their numbers.

It’s important to our associates and to us to help them lead a healthier lifestyle.

the more likely they’ll stay.

“I like to tell new associates if they’ll stay here one year, I believe they’ll be here three years, and if they’re here three years, I think they’ll be here five years,” says Crenshaw. “And if they stay at this company five years, we’ve got them…for a long, long time.

“In the first year, it’s a new job, a new environment, new people, lots to learn; it takes a year to kind of get comfortable. But time flies, and the next thing you know, they’ve been here three years. And at three years, I believe they start looking at their job and where they are, and they say, ‘you know, I kind of like the reputation this company has; I go somewhere and people ask me what I do and I say I work for Publix and they go, Ah, I hear that’s a great company. Or they’ll say, I love my Publix!’ And that makes people feel good about where they work. They like working for a Top 100 company to work for. They like working for a ‘most admired’ company and a company that gets all these nice awards and stuff. It makes them proud.

“The next thing they know, they’ve been here five years, and at the end of five years they begin to see that they have ownership in it.

They’ve been getting ownership since after year one, but we give them a benefits statement that shows them every year what was contributed to them in the previous year, and at the end of five years they’re saying, ‘golly, I’ve got something here.’ And the thing that I remind them of is they like what they see, they like what they’ve got, the only way they can get more is to stay. Because once you leave the company, that’s it. I call it the secret sauce.”

Q: How are you meeting consumers’ need for value?

Customers have never wanted to overpay for groceries. We define value as more than just price. Value includes a pleasant shopping experience in a clean, well-stocked store. It also includes friendly, knowledgeable associates well trained to provide outstanding service. For price-sensitive customers, we offer weekly specials on the items they buy most often. The specials include an average of over 50 Buy One/Get One Free items, and our private brand items also offer great value for quality products. In addition, we have a very generous coupon policy and encourage our customers to take advantage of the most savings possible. We even developed a marketing campaign to assist our customers in understanding the overall savings at Publix.

The thing we want our customers to know is that you can find the value you’re looking for and still have friendly people that are available to help you. We like to talk about in-stock conditions as being part of that value. You are not very happy when you go to one of those stores, whether it’s ours or anybody else’s, if you can’t get what you go there to buy. So many of these places that are touting the lowest price, that’s great, but do they have it? I never try to tell customers, when they’re talking to me about price, I never try to convince them that we have the lowest price on something. What I try to help them understand is that there is more to it than just the lowest price. And I don’t try to hide the fact that having enough people in the store, having stores well staffed, people well trained to

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help them, in-stock conditions, cleanliness…all of that stuff, guess what? It costs money. And you can’t do all of these things plus have the lowest price. There’s a balance, and what we want our customers to know is that we’re going to have tremendous attention to food safety and sanitation and we’re going to have great service and great quality and we’re going to give you the very best price that we can and still do that other stuff. It’s a balance. And I’ll tell you, it’s hard to do that.

Q: Sustainability is a big word in the grocery industry today.

Talk about some ways Publix is addressing its environmental impact across its vast operations.

Publix is committed to being sustainable. In fact, we began our efforts long before many companies. We were recycling at our stores in the mid-’70s.

Our efforts are focused on the people that work at Publix, the communities in which we serve, the planet we all live on and the product you see in our stores every day.

We nurture our associates by offering very competitive pay and benefits that includes health insurance, vacation, profit sharing and tuition reimbursement, and, most importantly, company ownership.

We care for our communities by donating food through our partnership with Feeding America AT (perishable recovery program) and offering free prescriptions on many widely prescribed medications. In addition, we are recognized for our support of Special Olympics, Children’s Miracle Network, Food for All and March of Dimes. Most notable, in 2014 Publix associates and Publix Charities donated over $54 million to United Way. We care for our planet with efforts around reducing waste going to landfills, recycling cardboard and plastic and emphasizing reusable bags.

Our overall company recycling rate is more than 51 percent. Our Green Routine started in 2001 to conserve electricity. We’ve made modifications in our manufacturing facilities to conserve water, and our distribution area reduces fuel consumption with efficient engines used in our tractors and the way they route deliveries. And our purchasing teams work with our suppliers to reduce packaging waste.

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration BAKING UP SUCCESS FOR PUBLIX STORES Gaye Pate, GM of Publix’s bakery manufacturing plant in Lakeland, is a shining example of the promote-from-within culture at Publix as well as the tradition of multiple family members working for the company. She started her career at Publix at 17, as temporary part-time help in the bakery for the holidays. Her uncle worked for Publix, and she was determined to join the company, too, so Pate kept calling until she was hired.

Her first day on the job she worked 14 hours and could hardly walk to her car when her shift was over, she says, but she soon realized she loved the job. That was 1984; in September she celebrated 31 years with Publix.

“I started here and I haven’t left,” says Pate, whose husband and son both work for Publix as well.

Her husband is a truck driver; her son works in the information systems and technology systems (ISTS) department.

Pate learned how to operate equipment and then was a production floor supervisor before moving into leadership roles. She became bakery director about two years ago; today she is GM of the bakery facility.

“I was a temporary associate and now I’m a general manager; that’s to encourage everybody,” Pate says. “It didn’t fall in my lap, but…I love being able to have done it that way.”

She has worked night shift and afternoon shift and in all of the production departments in the bakery facility, which opened in 1972 with 25,000 s.f. and 27 associates; today, the facility is 225,000 s.f.—and growing—and employs nearly 500 associates.

The bakery plant turns out a wide range of products in three categories: frozen; ready to sell (RTS); and dry mixes and desserts. The breading for Publix’s signature fried chicken comes under the dry mixes umbrella. Frozen items include rolls for Publix’s popular sub sandwich program as well as cookie dough, which are both baked off in-store. RTS items are things like muffins and sweet breads that can be put on the shelf to sell as soon as they arrive at the store.

The plant also turns out snacks for the produce department, like trail mixes and dried fruits.

“It says bakery on the sign, but we’re very diverse in our offerings,” Pate says.

The plant is open around the clock in 11-day blocks; it is closed for three days every two weeks so that an expert outside company can come in and clean the facility from top to bottom to ensure product safety. The facility also recently separated its cake production process into three rooms. Now, • The Lakeland bakery supplies five Publix distribution centers.

• The bakery uses eight to 10 50,000-lb. loads of flour each production day.

• When cakes are trimmed to create the right shape, the trimmings are not wasted; they go into pig feed.

Gaye Pate

• The bakery grinds its own sugar now to control the consistency and keep out the lumps.

• The bakery can turn out 2,200 sugar cookies per minute.

• The carrot on top of each Carrot Cake Bar is piped on by hand, so each one is unique.

cakes are removed from their corrugated cardboard boxes before they go into the icing room so no cardboard particles are floating around; the third room room is where the final packaging takes place.

While keeping the machinery up to its high standards is important, Publix doesn’t lose sight of the role people play in the successful running of the bakery.

“Though there is a lot of automation, the human touch is very important,” Pate says, pointing out the people stationed beside the production lines that pull product off the line for testing and visually check the product to make sure it’s consistent.

“Samples of every batch of cookies, every batch of rolls, etc., will go to our labs. They bake it off and make sure it’s performing for the store.”

A log is kept of all the cases that go out “so we can backtrack if there is ever an issue,” says Maria Brous, director of media and community relations for Publix. “That’s what all of these measures are intended to avoid, but if there is ever an issue, we have good systems where they have traceability back into our production facility.”

Publix has long been known for its stellar bakery offerings, but it can’t rest on its laurels; it knows customers are always looking for a new treat.

Publix associates are encouraged to submit ideas for new items, and there Retailer of the Year! is monetary incentive for doing so. If their idea makes it to stores, they are rewarded. The jumbo cupcakes found in Publix stores? That was an associate’s idea.

There also is a formal product development process; there is a research and development (R&D) team in place that develops new items. A new R&D/retail kitchen opened at the bakery in October to test new products in the retail setting.

Congratulations

CCoonngrgatrulaatitounslations Kroger Atlanta

Southeast

Kroger Atlanta

Southeast Retailer of the Year!

Kroger Atlanta

2015 Southeast Retailer Of The Year!

And Southeast On Your 85th Anniversary

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Retailer of the Year!

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration

‘WE NEED EVERY ASSOCIATE’

“Every associate is important and we need every associate,” Ed Crenshaw says. “Like most companies, we need to be efficient and productive. This makes everyone important— from the newest hired associate in the most entry-level job, all the way to the CEO. I remind our associates that each job has

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different responsibilities and different pay, but the level of importance is the same; we all have a job to do that contributes to the success of our company.”

To honor associates who have made their careers at Publix, the chain, starting at five years of service, and every five years through 15 years of service, treats them to a luncheon.

Starting at 20 years of service, associates are invited to a formal dinner, complete with a gift of their choice.

Crenshaw addresses the group, and usually he asks people who met their spouse at Publix to stand. About half the group usually stands, he says; he has them remain standing and then asks people who have another family member who works at Publix to stand.

“The whole room is usually standing by then,” he says.

“What that does is it gives me a chance to say doesn’t it feel good to work for a company that you feel strongly enough about and good enough about that you would have your family work there, because you would not steer your family to something that was not good.”

Publix recently held a “contest” to see which family had the most members working for Publix, according to Maria Brous, director of media and community relations for Publix, whose mother and husband both work for Publix.

The family pictured at left is the winning family, with 28 people.

“It was multi-generations and extended family and family by marriage, kids and their kids,” Brous says.

It makes it easier when your family members understand the commitment.

“We spend so much time here. It’s a hard business but a rewarding business, but…your family has to be able to understand the hours we put in and the commitment we have to it.”

TARVER KNEW QUICKLY SHE WOULD STAY Dana Tarver, who was at the Lake Miriam store when it opened, has been with Publix 38 years, starting when she was 17. In fact, she just celebrated her anniversary on Oct. 8 this year. She is the highly-soughtafter floral designer at the store.

“Pretty quickly I knew I wanted to Dana Tarver make Publix my career,” Tarver says. “I started as a cashier; I have been doing floral for about 30 years. I was over in grocery as a cashier for eight years. The produce manager approached me at the time and asked me to come to work back in produce, which floral is a part of. When they decided to open full-service floral, it was very exciting for me. I worked really hard to learn everything and I’m still learning.”

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2015 Celebration HIGHER STANDARDS A HALLMARK OF DAIRY PLANT OPERATIONS

Publix’s dairy plant in Lakeland opened 35 years ago, in October 1980. Publix executive Joe Blanton believed that a key to Publix’s growth was being able to supply milk and other dairy products to its own stores, and George Jenkins agreed. Mr. George attended the plant’s ribbon cutting dressed in white from head to toe, perhaps in honor of milk.

Two gentlemen have been with the plant since the day it opened: David Dean, a maintenance manager, and custodial staff member Robert Williams. A number of others have been there 25 to 30 years. The dairy plant’s GM, Gregory Rudolph, is a 32-year plant veteran. (He was on vacation the week of our visit.)

The dairy operations manager, Christopher Cole, will celebrate his 20th anniversary with Publix on Jan. 2, 2016. He started across the road in the bakery plant as a college student and, after graduating with his engineering degree, went to work in the dairy plant.

The Lakeland dairy plant produces about 200 products in three categories: fluid (milk, tea, lemonade, etc.); cultured (yogurt, sour cream, etc.); and ice cream. The Lakeland plant is the only one of Publix’s dairy plants that produces cultured products (the other dairies are located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, and Lawrenceville, Georgia).

Publix is known for its seasonal ice cream flavors, like Santa’s White Christmas, Pumpkin Pie, Peach Cobbler and New Orleans Caramel Praline. Last year, the International Dairy Foods Association named Publix’s Southern Banana Pudding Ice Cream as the most innovative ice cream flavor in its annual ice cream flavor contest. Accepting the award was Publix’s “ice cream lady” Laura Johnson—officially the research and product development manager who developed Publix’s own brand flavors—who retired Jan. 2 after a 35-year career at Publix. The ice cream was praised because it “captured the nostalgic flavor of banana pudding in an ice cream product.”

Joe Blanton, who was president of Publix in 1980, helps celebrate the opening of the dairy The Lakeland dairy facility supports 420 Publix stores. Store orders are put onto Publix trucks to plant; Mr. George is at left in his white suit. go directly to the stores; no stop at a distribution center for these items. About 50 trucks go out from the dairy each day, loaded with milk juice and tea. That number rises to as many as 100 during holiday periods.

Because the dairy exists to serve Publix’s retail stores, sometimes the day’s schedule has to be rearranged to accommodate store needs. On the day The Shelby Report toured the plant, two stores had submitted emergency orders for product from the dairy, according to Cole.

Keeping stores in-stock is imperative, so he quickly coordinated the pulling and loading of the emergency order and sent the trucks on their way.

Operating its own dairy also allows Publix to set standards higher than it has to to ensure high quality.

Twenty-one truckloads of raw milk arrive at the plant each day, but Publix tests the raw milk before it will accept it into its tanks. Sometimes the milk is rejected; in those cases it is passed on to processors whose standards are not as high, Cole says. Publix also pasteurizes its milk at a higher temperature than the FDA’s Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (PMO) requires to guarantee safety, and the dairy processing lines are shut down once a week for sanitation and preventive maintenance. Ice cream packages go through an X-ray machine and a metal detector before they’re sent to stores.

To control quality as well as its supply chain, Publix makes its own plastic jugs for milk, tea, lemonade and other beverages.

The material that is trimmed off the bottom of the jug during production is reground to go back into the jugs. Part of the material that goes in the jug is new, part is reground, which is “green” and saves money, too.

Christopher Cole, dairy operations manager, has a vested interest in making sure the milk (and other products) from the dairy plant are top-notch; he and his wife have 10 children ranging in age from 16 to infant and they go through at least five gallons of Publix milk a week.

The full range of products the Lakeland dairy facility turns out.

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2015 Celebration

PRESIDENT TODD JONES A SHINING EXAMPLE OF PUBLIX CULTURE Todd Jones is living proof of Publix’s promote-from-within philosophy.

He started his career a 15-year-old bagging groceries at a Publix in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, working to help support his family.

According to Ed Crenshaw, CEO, Jones would have excelled in a higher education setting, but that avenue was not available to him.

“But he had to work, and he stayed at Publix and worked his way up from the bottom— no family connections for Todd,” Crenshaw says. “He has worked his way through this organization and is president of this company. It’s a great story; he’s a great role model and a great example for people to see what you can accomplish. I’ll visit stores and associates and I just can’t tell you how many times they’ll say, ‘I want your job.’ It can be done, and I have proof right here. It can be done in this company because we reward loyalty, we reward learning this business from the ground up.”

Jones treated The Shelby Report to a tour of Publix’s flagship location in Lakeland, the Lake Miriam store, where a number of company executives and their families shop. To make sure he doesn’t lose touch with what’s going on at the store level, Jones will work at the store on peak business days like the day before Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and the day before Easter. Incidentally, Publix is one of the few supermarkets that remains committed to being closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.

The Lake Miriam store first opened Nov. 15, 1977, not as Publix but as a Food World. It was owned by Publix, but it featured a different configuration than Publix banner stores, and though the store eventually became a Publix, many of those differences remain today in spite of several remodels over the years.

But those differences don’t keep Lake Miriam from being a high-traffic, highamenity Publix store.

It is one of just nine Publix stores that offers an Aprons Cooking School. The Lake Miriam store offers not only classes there in its facility at the entrance to the store but also outside catering services.

“We call it the best place to have dinner in Lakeland,” Jones says.

Examples of recent classes include Cooking Light Seafood, Couples Cooking Pasta and Sushi, the latter of which was attended by two women whose husbands had worked for Publix for 38 years, according to the cooking school team.

With Publix headquarters in town, company executives keep the cooking school associates busy doing events around town. Jones, who personally uses the service, says the full-service staff not only sets up all the food and then staffs the event; they also leave no trace after the event is over.

“The amazing thing about it is it’s like an army of people come in, set everything up, you have the most wonderful event you can have, and then all of a sudden, like an hour later there’s nobody there; you don’t even know they’ve been there,” Jones says.

Publix also uses the Aprons name on its event planning stations that now operate in about 100 of its stores. Associates can help with planning weddings and birthday parties as well as unfortunate occasions such as funerals.

“You can come to one location, and the associate can walk you through how many people you’re going to have, what you want to serve,” Jones says. “They can make suggestions and put the whole plan together, do all the work. When you come back, you come right here to this station and it will all be ready when you get here.”

The cooking school started catering as a test to see what kind of demand was out there, and while it was slow at first, “it’s really starting to pick up,” he adds.

The store also will deliver items for the event within a 20-mile radius.

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Both the cooking school and the event planning station share their name with Publix’s well-known Aprons Simple Meals program, which is designed to help customers make more meals at home.

Aprons The idea for Aprons Simple Meals came from a Publix director as a way of “bringing the meal back to home, bringing the children back to home and having really good, better-for-you meals that you produce in 30 minutes,” Jones says, adding that the program is available in nearly every one of Publix’s 1,100plus stores.

To generate interest, there are Aprons Simple Meals sampling stations at most stores, “typically on the first endcap of the first aisle as you come in,” to help the shopper who is specifically looking for dinner ideas.

The store will offer one to three recipes a week, depending on store volume; staffing also depends on volume and ranges from 20 to 80 hours.

“We try to make it convenient for the customer, so all of the recipes will be merchandised right here (on the first aisle right past the sampling station),” Jones says. “This is everything in the recipe right here. All of the recipes are online and we also have hard copies if you’re like me and you’re old school…We believe this is a great option for our customers because in many cases not only is it convenient for the customers but we get the extra sales.”

The lobby Publix stores have what is called a “lobby” near the front entrance to showcase seasonal merchandising. During the October store visit, fall items were on display, including fall flowers, gourds and hard squash, and apples, which are “peak of the season right now. They built a nice, abundant display to give you a big bulk look of apples.”

A Halloween candy display also was set up in the lobby on the mid-October day.

To assist store teams with merchandising tie-ins, Publix worked with a vendor to create a new fixture, a “merchandising pod” that offers both dry and refrigerated display areas as well as a place in the middle to store needed equipment. It can be expanded or contracted right on the sales floor so no backroom storage is required.

Publix also pays attention to height, curves and lines in its displays to catch the shopper’s eye and hopefully get them to stop and look, and maybe even buy what’s on display.

The company also uses endcaps across the store for either high-volume or new and interesting items to attract shoppers’ attention. These are changed out several times a year and often feature seasonal merchandise, too.

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Towering over the competition with the freshest shrimp and seafood available anywhere.

Congratulations

PUBLIX

on your

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2015 Celebration From page 18

The speedway The speedway is the area of the store between the checkouts and the aisles. Publix stations its customer service manager, whose primary responsibility is front end, in the speedway rather than at the front of the store. From this vantage point, the manager can “make sure the front end is running smoothly, that there are enough registers open, that the front service clerks are bagging correctly and can help with problem resolution,” Jones says. “It’s the last point of touch with the customer before they go through the checkout. Typically you’ll see that and, particularly, during the peak times of business.”

Publix is not known for offering self-checkouts because of its emphasis on associates connecting with customers. But if that’s what customers are asking for, that’s a different story.

Jones says Publix has self-checkouts in about 120 of its stores, less than 10 percent, “but you’d be surprised at the younger generation of people who believe that this is service,” he says.

A self-checkout attendant is typically standing out front to welcome them in and offer assistance, though, so there is still a service element to Publix self-checkout.

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“It won’t give you a lot of information but we hope it makes you feel good,” Jones says.

What will make shoppers feel good is the savings they can get by joining the Publix Baby Club and/or the Publix Paws club.

For the Baby Club, moms can sign up when they’re pregnant and receive coupons for not only baby but for herself. Coupons will continue to be sent through the first two years of baby’s life.

When customers sign up for the Paws program, they get exclusive coupons, expert tips on pet care and advance notice of pet events and sales.

The center store

The Publix Deli

To help shoppers when they’re in the center aisles of the store, Publix created a label program that calls out healthier choices.

“One of the big things today, obviously, is better-foryou products, so we came up with a program called Better Choice,” Jones says.

The program is category specific. A better choice in the soup aisle would be one with less sodium, while a better choice in the cereal aisle might be one with less sugar.

Each will feature a green tag. Other tags include gluten free (GF); organic (USDA Organic); natural (a leaf); and WIC (approved for the Women, Infants and Children program).

That’s a major undertaking for the company, considering there are about 40,000 items in the center store at Publix.

Publix also seeks to add life to its center store categories with what it calls “flags.” The baby aisle and the pet aisle feature flags that often elicit an emotional connection for the shopper.

Signature items from the Publix Deli include sub sandwiches, sweet tea, fried chicken and cakes. Fans have set up Facebook pages devoted to several of these items, in fact.

To attract football fans to the deli this fall, Publix offered subs created specifically for the NFL teams from its marketing areas. They were a limited-time offer through October, and all were made on a fresh white sub roll baked in store. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sub featured guacamole, Boar’s Head Spicy Jerk Turkey, Boar’s Head Chipotle Gouda, shredded lettuce, mango peach salsa stirred well and lightly crushed plantain chips; the Jacksonville Jaguars sub featured chicken tenders, Boar’s Head bacon, deli imported cheddar cheese, deli sweet cole slaw and barbecue mayonnaise; the Miami Dolphins sub featured mayonnaise, Boar’s Head chipotle chicken, shredded lettuce, mango peach salsa, drained and fried maduros plantains; and the Atlanta Falcons sub featured sweet maple-flavored chicken tenders, Boar’s Head bacon, Publix mango peach preserves and sriracha mayonnaise.

Publix subs, which can be ordered ahead for pickup using Publix’s Online Easy Ordering (OEO) app, can be made using Boar’s Head or Publix private brand meats and cheeses, Jones says, noting that Boar’s Head is a longtime strategic partner of Publix, to the point of being involved in store design and product development as well as operational improvements like increasing service speed in the deli.

The Lake Miriam store’s deli associates are all Boar’s Head certified, which requires Please see page 22

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2015 Celebration From page 20

completion of an eight-hour course. About 400 of Publix’s stores have the certification, which Boar’s Head must renew each year based on a surprise inspection.

According to Tiffani Bell, the Lake Miriam store’s deli manager, the course teaches five steps to a successful deli sale: a gracious welcome; a suggestive sell; a show, slice and offer; a companion sell; and a gracious close. It also teaches product knowledge.

On an ongoing basis, planograms are checked, reports are written and product checks are done. If, for instance, a Boar’s Head ham is opened for slicing and not overwrapped after it’s used, Boar’s Head could pull all its product from the store.

To potentially increase safety for associates who use the slicers—most injuries in the deli are from slicers—Publix went to one of its suppliers and asked if they could create a slicer with LED lights to indicate if the slicer is open or closed. A red light means it’s open and to use caution; green means it’s closed. For the deli manager, the technology allows him or her, at a glance, to know if a slicer is open or closed. The technology is being tested in another Publix store in the Lakeland area.

But the deli increasingly is about more than just the beloved sub sandwiches.

“You can just see the explosion of convenience and ready-to-eat, ready-to-cook foods for our customers,” Jones says. “They’re starving for time to be saved.”

A growing area of the deli is grab-and-go items, including salads, proteins and side items; in fact, Jones says at times it’s difficult for the stores to keep up with the demand for these products.

There also is the traditional hot program that features items like fried and rotisserie chicken, Mojo pork, chicken tenders and fish.

The Lake Miriam store also is one of the Publix stores that offers Chinese takeout in the deli.

“We partner in about eight of our stores with an outside company that does this, and in about 100 of our stores we do it ourselves,” Jones says.

The outside company handles the Lake Miriam program, and “they do a wonderful job here,” Jones says.

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It serves lunch and dinner, starting around 11 in the morning and serving until around 9 p.m.

The Publix Bakery The bakery at the Lake Miriam store is staged to make shopping easier for customers.

The first part shoppers come to after they pass the deli is Publix bread and signature bakery items.

“There are about 25 of these breads that are fresh baked in the bakery every morning,” Jones says, noting that Wheat Mountain Bread and Italian Grain Plus Five are a couple of the bakery’s signature items. “In the middle we have decadent desserts and some artisan breads, and on the right are our cakes.”

In front of the bakery are “a lot of our manufactured products, from our Carrot Cake Bars to our muffins, coffee cakes, danish, cinnamon rolls and signature cookies,” he says. The Publix bakery manufacturing facility produces the cookies and sends them to the stores as “slugs” to be baked off there. The bakery facility also provides stores with the makings for the popular key lime pie. A slug of key lime filling is placed in the graham cracker crust. It thaws at the store and a bakery associate pipes on the whipped cream and it’s ready to sell.

“This is where you leverage your manufacturing to help you with volume, but the store still has its touch on the items,” Jones says. “It’s a blend of doing it in-house and using our manufacturing to help us grow.”

Each store carries a range of about 20 “decadent desserts”; only two are core items that are always available. They are the Chocolate Ganache Supreme Cake and the Chantilly Decadent Dessert Cake.

Jones said the Chantilly cake is a direct result of Publix moving into the Mobile, Alabama, grocery market.

In doing research on the Mobile grocery market, Publix discovered that Chantilly cake, well known in Louisiana and Mississippi, is a staple at area instore bakeries. It features vanilla cake brushed with almond simple syrup layered with fresh mixed-berry puree and iced with a light whipped cream frosting.

“One of our bakery managers said, ‘hey, we have to have Chantilly cakes if we’re going to operate out here,’” Jones says.

The cakes were only sold around the Mobile/Florida panhandle area at first, but word spread quickly, and now they are available across the chain.

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Congratulations to the Publix Team 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year!

From all your friends at

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Seafood

Smaller desserts are popular at Publix for smaller households or individual customers. There are smaller size cakes, jumbo cupcakes (that can be shared) and new items like an almond cone with cheesecake filling.

There also is the tub of Publix buttercream frosting that one can pick up to frost their own cake or, perhaps more likely, enjoy right out of the package.

While Publix recently launched OEO for its cakes, customers who need a cake at the last minute can find a selection of quarter-sheet cakes, 8-inch rounds and layer cakes that can be personalized at the store.

In the Lake Miriam store, the bakery is adjacent to floral, greeting cards and candy for some good adjacencies, Jones says, although floral is near the front door in most other Publix stores.

Seafood is delivered to Publix stores nearly as often as produce, six days a week—on the produce trucks.

“Since we have produce coming Devon Bush is manager of the Lake in every day, Miriam Publix. He grew up in Winter we’re actually Haven and came to Publix through his leveraging our Sunday School teacher, who was a Publix fleet to bring store manager. Bush was a teenager at seafood fresh the time and had told him he needed a for them,” Jones job. He started out as a part-time bagger says. and worked all through high school. He “Seafood is one graduated from high school and left for a of the areas that year, but came back in 1993 and has been we’ve decided to with the company ever since. make sure we’re He went from bagger to a part-time stock Devon Bush going to be all-in clerk in grocery to full-time grocery clerk. on,” he adds. “All “From there, the next step is grocery team leader; the next step is of our finfish comes in fresh not frozen; we also assistant grocery manager and then grocery manager—a department have whole fish that we offer for our stores, and manager. I was grocery manager for several years and then our assistant we can order seafood for customers if we don’t store manager. That’s really what we do at Publix; try to build that have what they want.” foundation, those good experiences and learn how the operations Because there are a lot of small seafood work.” suppliers that are not large enough on their He talks about the role of the assistant store manager: “They’re own to supply Publix’s 1,100-plus stores, Publix responsible for their own assignments but also to train to become a needs the supplies to be combined, so it created store manager. We don’t have any assistants in that role long term. a consolidation center. From the consolidation Their job is to progress forward, learn what a store manager does. That center, Publix picks the product and ships it out to way, when the opportunity comes for them to become a store manager, the stores every day but Tuesday. they’re going to be ready to take on that responsibility and to succeed.”

To help shoppers put seafood on the table quickly and easily any night of the week, Publix is fresh; pinwheels, promoting its new Cook-in-Bag Dinners program in all its stores. gourmet burgers, The customer chooses their seafood and one of four sauce/ lamb, breaded ingredient mixtures. They are placed in a special cooking bag pork you can with instructions written on the outside of the bag. just pop in the The program started in the Charlotte and Atlanta markets oven. It’s set up but has now spread to all stores. in the morning “We are trying to make sure our customers know that we’re and they work it the place for seafood,” Jones says. throughout the Publix also offers a sushi program in more than half its day to make sure stores through a strategic partnership with AFC Franchise it’s kept fresh.”

Corp. Publix provides space and equipment for the program; Other readyAFC provides the sushi expertise. At the Lake Miriam store, the to-cook items sushi is rolled by one employee. include stuffed

Produce The Publix produce department offers bulk produce, packaged produce, fresh-cut produce, snacks and other items.

Like many other departments at Publix, seasonality is key in produce. In October, the focus was on apples, so abundant displays were created at the end of the department where most customers enter.

“Right now it’s apples; before, it was strawberries,” Jones says. “It rotates throughout the year, but season’s peak goes front and center to highlight that fresh, quality product.”

To give more of a farmers market feel, Publix uses European racks that resemble wood. This makes the produce the star of the show rather than the rack, according to Jones.

Another distinction for Publix in produce is fresh-cut fruit, done every day at every store.

“There are about 30 different recipes from mixed fruit to single items to cut watermelons,” Jones says. “It’s just a wonderful program that does a lot of business for Publix. The produce department staff does a great job keeping it nice and fresh.”

Publix welcomes associates’ ideas in every department. One associate idea that was adopted in produce is yogurt parfaits.

The yogurt comes from Publix’s dairy plant; the fruit is cut up in-house. A packet of granola completes the parfait, which comes in a cup with a safety lid so the customer can be assured it has not been tampered with.

The Lake Miriam store, in addition to bulk produce, offers prepackaged produce in 3- to-5-lb. bags with clear panels and grab-and-go handles. Apples, pears, potatoes and other items are packaged this way.

The store’s produce manager, Don Murino, who has been with Publix for 28 years and whose wife Karen works in Publix’s marketing department, says, “Our competitors don’t have those packages…It’s a nice graphic bag and people can actually see the product inside of it.”

Because of the quicker turns in the produce department, produce is delivered seven days a week.

BUSH FOLLOWS PUBLIX PROGRESSION

Meat Publix’s meat department is laid out similarly in nearly all stores to help customers navigate it more easily.

It offers a two-tiered beef program: “USDA Choice Beef and our Greenwise Beef that is actually less processed, no antibiotics, no hormones, etc.,” Jones says. “We try to put all of our middle meats—steaks, etc.—in the front slot of the case and then we move into value-added. Chops or kabobs made

tilapia in a tray that goes straight to the oven with cooking instructions on it; breaded salmon, stuffed chicken, pork or meatballs.

“If you do meatballs, you’ll never do them again if you buy these, I promise you. My wife’s Italian and we buy these,” Jones says of his wife Suzette.

The flow goes into more red meat, Greenwise chicken, pork and then traditional chicken.

Meat is cut fresh in house every day.

Pharmacy The Publix Pharmacy offers customers a range of services, including prescriptions (including select free antibiotics), vaccines and health information.

The target is to fill prescriptions in about 15 minutes, but not at the risk of a misfill. Pharmacy staff take the time necessary to go through steps, more than a dozen of them, that go into filling a prescription correctly.

To help assure pharmacies have the stock on hand that they need, Publix opened a facility in Orlando that is manned by robots, reminiscent of “The Jestsons,” Jones says.

The robots pick pharmacies’ orders as well as maintenance drugs, such as those for lowering cholesterol, that have standing refill orders.

“It pulls off a little bit of the pressure on the things we know are maintenance drugs,” he says If an order is in by 8 o’clock at night, it will ship out to the store the next morning.

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1950s: Publix began closing its older stores and replacing them with modern ones. In 1951, to help build and supply the stores, a 125,000-s.f. warehouse and headquarters complex was completed in Lakeland. As the chain grew, so did the Publix spirit, based on the extraordinary policies and attitudes founded in the first store. Sales grew, too.

In 1951, the chain’s 24 stores grossed more than $18 million. By 1955, gross sales had increased to $49 million with earnings of $830,504. In 1956, Publix recorded its first million-dollar profit year.

1930s: In the midst of the Great Depression, George Jenkins walked away from the security of a good job to open the first Publix store in Winter Haven, Fla. This store set not only a new precedent for cleanliness and beauty, but also the Publix standard for employee relations. Mr. George, as he was affectionately called by his associates, established profit sharing and employee ownership. Gross annual sales in the early years averaged about $100,000, slowly rising to $120,000 by 1934.

1930s 1930s: While many of his competitors’ store shelves went bare for lack of goods, Mr. George traversed the country seeking products to send back home to stock his stores. In his travels, he also garnered ideas about how to better the business.

1960s: George Jenkins’s reputation was growing along with the business, and he was elected president of the Super Market Institute in 1961.

Profits were likewise fabulous; a share of Publix stock, valued at $2.50 in 1958, was worth $44 by 1969.

1940s 1940s: In 1940, George Jenkins mortgaged an orange grove he had acquired during the Depression for a down payment on his dream store— Publix’s first supermarket. He built his “food palace” of marble, glass and stucco, and equipped it with innovations never seen before in a grocery store. Air conditioning. Fluorescent lighting. Electric-eye doors. Frozen food cases. Piped-in music. Eight-footwide aisles. Open dairy cases designed to Mr. George’s specifications. In-store donut and flower shops. People traveled from miles to shop there, and Publix prospered.

But again, larger forces restricted his plans: the country was at war. In 1945, with construction expansion constrained by wartime shortages, Publix purchased a chain of 19 small, All-American grocery stores.

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1950s 1950s: By the end of the ’40s, the small chain of stores Publix bought and refurbished had fulfilled their mission by launching the Publix chain. With peace came new prosperity. Now, at last, George Jenkins could fulfill his dream to build a chain of stores as fine as that first Publix Super Market.

1960s

1970s: In 1970, Publix achieved another high mark, recording nearly $500 million in sales—a figure that would double in four short years. Three new stores opened in Jacksonville in the early ’70s, laying the foundation for a new division. A bakery plant and a produce distribution center opened in 1973. Other construction milestones included various distribution centers and storage and distribution facilities.

19 cel tec wit tec ple ch

1970s 1970s: By 1978, Publix was grossing nearly $2 billion annually, with profits of more than $32 million. Store expansion also continued; 1979 was a recordbreaking year with 15 new stores.

Publix was spending nearly as much every year for expansion as it did during the entire previous decade.

1960s: The expansion begun in the ’50s continued at full sp throughout the ’60s, with Publix spending $63.1 million on expansion from 1959-69. In 1962, there were 85 stores. By 19 there were 150. While the first wave of building focused on ce Florida, geographic expansion dominated the ’60s. Publix purchased seven new stores in 1959, mainly in the southeast area, to get a foothold in that market.

By 1963, Publix had opened the Miami Division and construc a 300,000-s.f. distribution center to supply the growing numb stores there. The first Publix Deli also was installed during thi

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2000s: In 2005, sales surpassed $20 billion. In 2007, Publix began its free oral antibiotic program, and a few months later filled its 1 millionth free prescription.

In 2008, Todd Jones became Publix’s sixth president, and the following year, Publix opened its 1,000th store.

ed

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ed d es.

1980s: Publix turned 50 in 1980 and celebrated by kicking off a decade of technological innovation. In keeping with the company’s penchant for using technology to make shopping more pleasurable, Publix introduced checkout scanning statewide.

1980s

1990s: 1991 saw a milestone in Publix history when the company crossed the state line to open a store in Savannah, Ga. Our Atlanta Division soon followed. The ensuing years were filled with accolades. In 1993, the book, “The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America,” named Publix in its top 10. Publix consistently receives local and national recognition as tops in the grocery business for superior quality and customer service.

1990s

1980s: More innovation came in 1982 with the launch of the Presto! ATM network. In the mid-’80s, the Lakeland deli plant began production, and an Orlando store pioneered the first Publix pharmacy. Scores of distribution centers and processing plants opened around the state, and by the end of the ’80s, Publix had 367 stores and 64,000 employees. In 1989, total revenues were $5.4 billion.

ued at full speed million on stores. By 1969, ocused on central 0s. Publix he southeast coast

and constructed growing number of led during this era.

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This also was a decade of evolution, as Howard M. Jenkins assumed the roles of CEO and Chairman of the Board.

2000s

2010s

1990s: In 1993, Publix opened its first store in South Carolina. The following year, the Florida Commission on the Status of Women honored Publix for progress in programs that support women. In 1995, Fortune magazine ranked Publix the 29th most admired company nationwide, and Publix made Fortune’s Famous 500 and Global 500 lists.

Business continued to boom, and in 1996, Publix began doing business in Alabama.

Also in 1996, George Jenkins passed away. His spirit, however, lives on in Publix associates.

2010s: In 2012, Publix announced its expansion to North Carolina, and the first stores opened in the Greater Charlotte area in 2014.

Publix celebrated its 85th anniversary in 2015.

2000s: In 2002, Publix expanded to its fifth state by opening stores in Franklin and Hermitage, Tennessee.

The Aprons Simple Meals program rolled out to all stores. During this time, Publix introduced several specialty formats: Aprons Cooking Schools, Publix Liquors, Hispanic-themed Sabor stores and Publix GreenWise Market natural food stores.

Publix continues to be ranked among the best companies in the industry, the nation and the world. It has been one of Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” since the list’s inception and a BusinessWeek Top 25 Customer Service champ. Publix also has been recognized for its sustainability efforts and community involvement.

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2015 Celebration

THE LESSONS OF MR. GEORGE COME TO LIFE IN 2015 On Sept. 6, Publix officially celebrated 85 years of serving customers and their local communities.

The dream of Publix’s founder, the late George W. Jenkins, better known as Mr. George, was to open a store that was different—a store that operated on a set of values that everyone could feel when they walked through the door. Publix refers to these founding values as the “Lessons of Mr. George.”

When it comes down to it, all the lessons of Mr. George can be wrapped up in this commitment: Do the right thing. Mr. George simply felt nothing was worth getting in the way of doing the right thing.

Today, Publix associates make this commitment to each other.

The company’s mission statement commits it to be devoted to the dignity, respect and employment security of its associates. Publix makes this commitment to customers though the premier service it provides every day.

It makes this commitment to its suppliers through superior chain management practices. It makes this commitment to its communities by giving back and being involved. And it makes this commitment to the planet through sustainability efforts.

In recognition of the company’s 85th anniversary, Publix included associates, customers and suppliers in celebrations focusing on a different lesson each month.

The focus on the lessons began in March and continued through August. Themes included: invest in others, give back, prepare for opportunity, be there, respect the dignity of the individual and treat customers like royalty.

“I thought it was a great idea to talk about these lessons in the anniversary year, the year we celebrate the 85th anniversary, because each one of these lessons in its own way helps describe the culture of the company, and the culture is so strong,” says Publix CEO Ed Crenshaw. “It’s nice to be able to have a vehicle to remind our associates about this very strong culture. In fact, the culture is almost so strong they don’t even think about it. They live it, but they don’t think about each one of these things. To give it back to them in the form of a lesson over the course of six months, I think it was great, and people really liked it, I think.”

“Some companies are founded on policy. This is wrong. Philosophy, the things you believe in, is more important. Philosophy does not change frequently and is never compromised.”

—George W. Jenkins (Mr. George), founder of Publix

Congrats from Barilla

ON YOUR 85TH ANNIVERSARY

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INVEST IN OTHERS March’s “invest in others” lesson was all about Publix’s relationships with its customers, suppliers and each other—and saying thank you to all.

As a token of appreciation for the supply chain, Publix associates across the company took the time to personally thank their supplier partners. Publix says it couldn’t serve its customers as well without the commitment and support from its suppliers.

“Our associates serve our customers, our communities and each other in times of need,” says Crenshaw. “We invest in our associates through our comprehensive benefit offerings, including our tuition reimbursement program. We build strong relationships with our suppliers and value their input.”

ed rned e lea leavrn I’vse I’ impontrtalesntsonless son “One“Oofnetheofmothest moimstporta no nman not ma businbuesssincaessreecar reeis rthais t tha in myin my er anorganorgizaantioizantioonn onhis hisown.ow” n.” togerethan ts eth putsputog

To give his associates ownership in the first store, Mr. George gave each of them a $2 a week raise, which he held to pay for the stock.

At the end of 50 weeks, the stock was paid for in full and everyone was a stockholder.

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Crenshaw Ed CrenshawEd CEO CEO

Thank You

This message of thanks was delivered to Publix’s suppliers.

Thank You

Jones Todd Jones Todd ident President Pres

Republic National Distributing Company and Atlanta Wholesale Wine congratulate The

Publix Super Markets for being selected as the

2015 SOUTHEAST

RETAILER OF THE YEAR!

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GIVE BACK Publix has always been a company known for giving back to the communities where it does business but, in April, the grocer and its associates specifically focused on that lesson from Mr. George.

“Mr. George was once asked what he thought he would be worth had he not given so much away,” recalls Crenshaw. “He humbly replied, ‘Probably nothing.’”

The company believes that giving its time, money and resources is not an expense but a responsibility and privilege. As part of 2015’s “Publix Serves Day,” more than 4,000 Publix associates across six states volunteered their time and supported more than 125 nonprofit organizations within their local

communities. Projects included beautification efforts, food pantries, backpack feeding programs, tutoring and reading resources, painting, building and more.

“Mr. George’s legacy lives on today though the foundation he established and through our associates,” says Crenshaw. “In 2016, our associates will focus volunteer efforts in our Publix Serves campaign on building Habitat houses with Habitat for Humanity affiliates throughout our operating area.”

Publix gives back to its commu nities in countless ways throughout the year. During 2015’s “Publix Serves Day,” ma ny organizations benefited from the compan y’s and its associates’ generosity, including...

• Action Ministries Feed the Hungry Program – Atlanta • Azalea Little League • Second Harvest Food Ban k – Charlotte • United Global Outreach – Jacksonville Division • RCMA – Lakeland Divisio n • Miami Division

“We have tried to instill the idea in all of our people that they should be very much a part of the community.”

—Mr. George

Let’s celebrate 2015

Southeast

RETAILER OF THE YEAR from

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PREPARE FOR OPPORTUNITY Mr. George created an environment for Publix associates to be successful if they so desired. Promotion from within Publix has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to reach their career goals by starting in entry-level positions and receiving training on the job throughout their careers.

The promotion prize patrol was out in full force in May capturing associate promotions at every level and sharing in the excitement of what lies ahead for these upand-coming leaders.

“As a promote-from-within company, we need associates who are ready to take the next step with our great company,” says Crenshaw. “As such, we continue to provide opportunities for growth, which includes new markets and continued growth in established markets.”

“Publix is like a smorgasbord, with opportunity spread out for you.

Prepare yourself. The opportunities are up for grabs.”

—Mr. George

Heather Woodward learns she is being promoted to full-time baker.

Ray Peters, left, is promoted to store manager.

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Would Like To Congratulate

on being named 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year, and on their 85th anniversary.

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BE THERE Up until his death, Mr. George was actively involved in Publix’s day-to-day operations—keeping a vow he made that if his business ever became a big success, he would not be the kind of owner that just sits behind a desk.

This part of the Publix philosophy can be summed up in two words: be there.

“Until his passing in 1996, and including after his stroke, Mr. George always enjoyed visiting stores,” says Crenshaw. “He enjoyed hearing and learning from his associates. He believed in being present and engaged. I’m proud to say we continue that philosophy today. (President) Todd (Jones) and I visit stores routinely; in most cases, weekly. In addition, we encourage our support teams to do the same.

“An additional factor that sets us apart is our associate appreciation program,” he says. “Company leaders visit every location, support and retail, thanking our associates for their contributions throughout the year.”

In June, Mr. George’s “Be There” lesson gave associates the opportunity to connect, listen and learn from each other. Being there is about more than just a job—it’s about family. During “Be There Day,” company leaders engaged with associates, working side by side, learning roles and responsibilities, sharing stories and connecting with each other.

Prior to “Be There Day,” Jennifer Bush, manager of special projects for Publix, distributed a signup sheet for associates to volunteer at different stores, encouraging them to go outside their comfort zones to a store not nearby.

“They went all over,” says Bush.

Maria Brous, Publix’s director of media and community relations, notes the success of the event and says the company will continue “some of the traditions we started this year.”

“Two things that really resonated with our associates was our

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Publix District Manager Dan Kline with driver Chedrick Jones.

‘Publix Serves Day,’ so that will be an annual giveback; the same with ‘Be There Day.’ We still do the associate appreciation visits with our executives and our senior managers going into the stores, but the ‘Be There Day’ took it one step further that has directors and above across the company going out and being with our associates on the front lines, unloading trucks, working in customer service, bagging groceries,” says Brous, who started her career with Publix as a bagger.

For “Be There Day,” she went back to bagging groceries and running a register. Like Brous, other leaders participated by going back to jobs they had before; others, like some from the deli, worked in the bakery.

“They went to a completely different department to see how another area was,” says Brous. “It was an awesome, awesome program.

“Learning from the associate, sharing in their stories and really learning from each other—we had a lot of positive feedback from ‘Be There Day,’ so we plan to do that moving forward.”

District Manager Patrick Helm showing some skills at Publix Bakery No. 1271.

Director of associate relations retail, Marcy Benton, works in the Publix deli.

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RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF THE INDIVIDUAL Mr. George vowed that his door would always be open—if anyone had a problem, an idea or just wanted to talk, there would be no barriers. The door to his office was always open, but it wasn’t just the physical door. He set the example for open communication. He encouraged others to share their ideas and opinions. He allowed people to make mistakes.

He trusted people to do their jobs. He expressed his appreciation for their hard work.

Publix continues to provide a workplace where everyone can feel welcome, secure and valued.

President Todd Jones in July challenged associates to get to know each other.

“If you want people to respect you or your company, you must first show respect for them.”

—Mr. George

Publix not only supports a diverse workforce, and customer and supplier base, but also programs like the Special Olympics. In fact, this year the grocer was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Award from Special Olympics of Florida. Publix’s support of Special Olympics began in 1972 when Publix and the George W. Jenkins Foundation provided the funds to send 60 Florida athletes with intellectual disabilities and their chaperones to compete in the Special Olympics National Games in Los Angeles.

Associates answered a series of questions designed to get them talking, learning and exchanging ideas. Upon completion of the challenge, associates received coupons redeemable for two free gourmet cupcakes—one for them and one for their new friend.

“Diversity is a very good thing,” says Crenshaw. “Not just for the physical differences, but because of the fresh ideas and unique perspectives a diverse group of people provides. We make it a priority to employ and work with people from many backgrounds, cultures, abilities and ethnicities.

“It’s no surprise that being diverse ourselves enables us to better serve a wider variety of customers and support our diverse communities with the right product in the right stores,” he adds. “We thrive as a business because of workforce diversity, including our suppliers.

We purchase products from both mainstream and diverse vendors.”

Congratulations to on their 85 Anniversary, and for being named 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year

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Congratulations Publix on your 85th Anniversary and receiving Retailer of Year Award 2015

We thank you for being a great supporter of Smithfield and our quality products. We look forward to celebrating your continued success for many more years to come!

From your friends at:

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TREAT CUSTOMERS LIKE ROYALTY When Mr. George opened his first store in 1930, his goal was to operate a better store than the competition. He focused on having a clean and well-stocked store. But, most importantly, he treated his customers like royalty. He built relationships with each customer and continually looked for ways to make the shopping experience more of a pleasure. His early supermarket innovations, such as air conditioning, automatic doors, fluorescent lighting and piped-in music attracted customers, but what kept them coming back was the friendly customer service and royal treatment.

“From our early days, Mr. George believed in treating his customers like kings and queens,” says Crenshaw. “We continue to provide this shopping experience for our customers today through the products, services and value we provide.”

“The aim is to learn all you can about the business to do the best job you can for the customer.”

—Mr. George

Throughout August, Publix customers were surprised with everything from crowns and tiaras to flowers and gift cards.

As part of this ongoing commitment to “treat customers like royalty,” Publix customers were randomly selected in August to receive Publix gift cards, flowers, crowns and tiaras, green carpet and all. In the community, the customer prize patrol surprised customers with random acts of kindness, including visiting a local hospital and showering new moms with baby baskets; attending sporting events and upgrading seats; and randomly handing out thank you notes with Publix gift cards enclosed, just to name a few.

Each store put their own twist on providing the royal treatment, too.

“The great thing about that is we didn’t really tell them what to do,” says Crenshaw. “They kind of did it on their own, and that made it really unique and special because every one of them was different.”

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WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE

2015 SOUTHEAST

RETAILER OF THE YEAR! AND 85 WONDERFUL YEARS

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MR. GEORGE’S BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY GREW FROM EARLY EXPERIENCE A bad experience with his boss at Piggly Wiggly made George Washington Jenkins Jr. decide there was a better way to run a grocery company.

Jennifer Bush, manager of special projects at Publix who worked in the same office building as Mr. George early in her 35-year career, says Mr. George traveled to Atlanta to meet his boss, ready to present his great ideas to make the company better, and he was turned away.

“The whole reason he started Publix was he didn’t feel appreciated,” Bush says. “And one of the things he said was that if I ever get to be a big shot in the business, like the guy in Atlanta, I am going to be in my stores; I am going to visit my stores.”

And he did, up until the week he passed away in 1996, despite a debilitating stroke in 1989 that impacted his communication skills and his mobility. His nurse would take him in his wheelchair to Publix stores, and “he would just light up the room,” Bush says. “For him, it was just marvelous.

Everyone would flock around him. He did exactly what he committed to—that he would be there with the people.”

That early experience also caused Mr. George to want his associates to be at ease around him and thus share their ideas. He had the Publix sign shop make a sign for his desk that reads, “Begin. The Rest is Easy!”

The slogan is still widely used at Publix, but these days it’s typically used for getting started on a project or other task, not necessarily as a means of facilitating communication. But that was Mr. George’s meaning.

“He knew when you came in his office and sat in one of these guest chairs that you would be intimidated, be Mr. George’s restored office— nervous. How did he know about that feeling? From his one of Jennifer Bush’s special projects.

Atlanta experience. He knew

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how that felt, so his message to you was, don’t be nervous, don’t be intimidated; just begin talking,” Bush says. “When you begin talking, we get into the conversation, and the rest is easy. It was all about keeping the communication open. He knew the secret to building a successful company—one that could grow—was surrounding himself with talented people that had ideas. He needed those ideas; he needed people to share their ideas and be Walt Disney and George Jenkins were Florida entrepreneurs willing to say, well, you know, of the same era and friends. what about this? He didn’t want to hear what people thought he wanted to hear. He wanted their honest opinion; he wanted to keep that door open. And he would give credit for ideas.”

By the way, when Mr. George opened his first store down the street from his former employer in Winter Haven, the meat manager and the assistant store manager came to work for him.

He offered profit sharing and employee ownership from the beginning.

First acquisition gave Publix a firm foundation…in people Mr. George opened Publix’s first true supermarket in Winter Haven in 1940, featuring a number of innovations not seen before in the grocery business (see timeline).

“For anybody else, that would have been the pinnacle or the epitome,” Bush says, “but he knew that in order to grow and be successful that he needed to have his own warehouse.

Warehouse his own products, ship to his own locations; that would put him in a better position of growing.”

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YOUNG AD MAN PITCHED MR. GEORGE ON LONGTIME COMPANY SLOGAN Jennifer Bush heard firsthand about the creation of Publix’s famous tagline, “Where Shopping Is a Pleasure,” from R. William “Bill” Schroter.

Schroter was her boss in the Publix advertising department a number of years ago when the department had 10 people (today, marketing and advertising has about 180 employees), and he told her about approaching Mr. George with the idea for the new slogan back when he was fresh out of college, heading up the advertising department.

Schroter was reading a book called “Give the Lady What She Wants,” which prompted him to rethink the company’s tagline, “Florida’s Finest Food Stores.”

The slogan, he said, was a pat on the back for Publix instead of a commitment to the customer. And he also thought about the fact that anytime people found out he worked for Publix, the words “pleasant” and “pleasure” kept coming up in their remarks.

“So he came up with the idea to say, Publix—Where Shopping Is a Pleasure.

The focus is on the customer’s experience—it’s a pleasure—and it’s our commitment or our promise to stand up to that and make it a pleasure,” Bush says.

So Schroter sat down in Mr. George’s office and presented his idea, in essence saying, “Your slogan doesn’t work, and I have a better idea.” He explained why the change made sense to him and then waited.

Schroter said Mr. George sat back in the chair for what seemed like an eternity, and then said, “I like it; let’s adopt it.”

&

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D P So Pub et P ut lix ro he o du as n ct t R be s c et in on ai g a gr ler w at of ar ula th de te ey d s ea r.

Around 1944, the owner of Publix’s grocery duplicated in 50 stores or more. And Mr. George, supplier, Lakeland Grocery Co., decided he wanted to Bush says, was always concerned about that. In retire. In addition to the wholesale business, he also fact, that was one of the reasons Mr. George was a had 19 stores under the All American Food Stores bit hesitant for Publix to move outside the state of name.

Florida; would the culture work in other markets?

Publix’s acquisition of the warehouse and stores But Publix keeps proving the skeptics wrong, became official in 1945, and that is how Publix came methodically teaching Mr. George’s lessons to make to be headquartered in Lakeland. sure they are lived out in each and every one of While gaining the stores and the warehouse were Publix’s 1,100-plus stores every day. certainly boosts to Publix’s business, Mr. George It’s even part of the company’s strategy map— always said the best thing to come out of that deal “Perpetuate the culture.” was the people. Some of Publix’s foundational According to Mr. George’s grandson, CEO Ed families came from All American, including the Crenshaw, “To ensure that our associates know Blantons, Hollises and Newsomes. their roles and the importance they play in our “They did a great job in those (All American) overall success, several years ago, we instituted our stores, and then George infused that business they strategy map. Our strategy map ensures that we were doing with a new passion and excitement,” are all focused on the important goals that move Bush says. the needle. We have an overall company map, and While Mr. George said, “those little All American individual departments have their customized maps. stores had all the architectural charm of a shoebox,” Each map has the same foundational principles he did his best to spruce them up, and kept them (i.e., our culture, commitment to sustainability, hire, operating until better training and retaining the right locations opened up. associates, an agile and highly But they were effective team, information valuable as a technology) and then the steppingstone to future processes and outcomes of growth, Bush says, those processes.” because with that Bush has put together a acquisition, Mr. George presentation called “Getting could envision reaching to Know Mr. George” that is 50 stores. designed for newer associates, Even back then there and of course, the company were skeptics, telling celebrated the “Lessons of him that the great Mr. George” as part of its 85th culture and team spirit anniversary celebration this at Publix could not be Joe Blanton, who came to Publix with its first year (see pages 33-44). acquisition, was president from 1974-84.

Want to thank

Quijote Chorizos Congratulates Publix on this great achievement

Tropical Cheese Industries congratulates Publix on a job well done!

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for being a great partner and for receiving the 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year award

The Gavina Family of fine coffees congratulates Publix on receiving the Grocer of the Year award!

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Congratulations Publix on your 85th Anniversary!

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Let Riteway L

Congratulations Publix, 2015 Southeast Retailer of the year. Riteway looks forward to celebrating more milestones in the future.

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Bush this ye meetin memb she as after t histori As B the saf know o Whe piece, says.

“For career things all my Jenkin

SAFE FROM MR. GEORGE’S FAMILY’S STORE RESTORED AND AT HOME IN PUBLIX OFFICES George Jenkins grew up in the retail business. His family owned the Jenkins General Store in Harris City, Georgia, north of Columbus, on the Alabama border. The store was built in 1906.

The area’s economy was built on cotton, and when the boll weevil came through a few years later, all the crops were destroyed and the economy was, too.

People could not pay their bills at the general store, but little George watched as his father continued to take care of the people in the community even though no money was coming in.

“It wasn’t just the business side he learned from his father; I think what has carried over that makes us who we are at Publix

is the relationships. He watched that as a child and learning that’s the way to do it,” Jennifer Bush, Publix’s manager of special projects, says. “His parents taught him to always do the right thing, be honest. A lot of integrity was instilled.”

Eventually, his father was forced to close the store, and the Jenkins family moved out of the area.

Over the years, the building became a gas station, a post office and a food store.

George Jenkins was driving through the area in the 1970s and stopped by the old store. When he looked in the windows, he could see the vault, and it brought back memories of when his father went out of business, as the story goes.

‘IT GR BE

Inside the safe? Nothing but IOU slips.

Jenkins General Store was built in 1906; Mr. George was born in 1907.

Bush set out on quest a few years ago to try to retrieve the safe as part of Publix’s history.

With the help of her husband Anthony and others, the safe—all 4,200 pounds of it—was secured and returned to Lakeland. It was in rough shape, and its legs left four permanent indentions in the back of her husband’s truck.

But it was a priceless find for Bush, who is Publix’s unofficial company historian and gatherer of Publix memorabilia.

The next step was to figure out how to go about getting it restored.

She called Publix’s VP of facilities, Dave Duncan, to explain what she was looking for and asked if he knew anyone who could restore it. He said, “We can do it.”

Turns out, Publix has a department within facilities that repairs all kinds machines and equipment, either finding the parts or making their own parts when needed. So the safe became a facilities project, to be worked on when the department had spare time.

The safe was taken almost completely apart, and layers and layers of paint were removed. When they got down to the original layer of paint, the real look began to emerge, and they were able to read the manufacture date: Feb. 25, 1873. A missing hinge was replaced, and the safe was repainted to look like it did in 1873.

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2015 Celebration Bush unveiled the surprise after this year’s Publix stockholders meeting. Most of the Jenkins family members were in attendance, and she asked them to come to the office after the meeting to see “this item of historic relevance to your family.”

As Bush related her story of finding the safe, it was clear that they didn’t know of its existence.

When she unveiled the finished piece, “their look was priceless,” she says.

“For me, this is the highlight of my career,” Bush adds. “It’s one of those things that has always fascinated me all my career—the roots of George Jenkins.”

Jennifer Bush with the fully restored safe from the Jenkins General Store.

Bush’s husband Anthony (left) and the Publix facilities team.

‘IT’S GREAT TO BE PUBLIX’ One of Mr. George’s lessons for Publix associates is “Be There.”

That covers a lot of relationships at Publix, whether it’s with customers or among associates.

Here are a couple of shining examples of Publix being there.

In one case, the mother of a college student who was ill reached out to the Publix store in the college town where he had moved and asked if they could help; he was so ill that he could not leave his room to get the soup and other supplies he needed. The store’s manager assured her that her son would be taken care of. They got together his groceries and delivered them to him.

The mother took to social media to tell what Publix had done, and the post received thousands of likes.

In a Publix store in Florida, an associate was diagnosed with cancer as he was approaching his 20-year associate mark, which is when associates are invited to have dinner with company executives and receive a gift. Unfortunately, his condition would not allow him to continue to work, so he would miss his service award. That was not OK with his fellow store associates.

The meat manager offered his own service watch to his colleague, not knowing Publix was going to give him one. The store’s associates sent card after card to his home and gathered money for gift cards and for a trip to Disney World. The store’s customer service manager took him to Disney World, working with Disney staff ahead of time to make sure he would have places to rest during the day. They also threw a party for him that was attended

by Barney Barnett, Publix’s vice chairman and husband of Carol Jenkins Barnett.

The associate has since passed away, but his family was amazed at all the love and support he received from his Publix family.

“Who does that? Publix does,” says Jennifer Bush. “They just do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

Adds Maria Brous, director of media and community relations, “It’s just one of those things where it’s great to be Publix.”

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A Shelby Publishing Special Section • DECEMBER 2015

2015 Celebration

BUSH RELISHES HER ROLE IN KEEPING PUBLIX HISTORY ALIVE Jennifer Bush is part of the “smaller population at Publix that didn’t start in retail,” she says.

Instead, she came to Publix as part of a high school co-op program. To meet the requirements of a high school business class in 12th grade, she worked part-time in the accounting department at Publix.

After high school, she earned her associate’s degree, and Publix offere her a full-time position. She realized she liked working for Publix and needed a career path, so she said yes. That was in 1980. She spent about three years in the accounting department followed by about three years in the advertising department. Then she moved into public relations/ public affairs, a two-person department that was headed up by Clayton Hollis, who succeeded his father, Mark Hollis, in that job. Mark Hollis served as president of Publix from 1984-96.

Mark’s father, William M. Hollis, also was a Publix executive who came to the company through Mr. George’s first acquisition in 1945.

Bush was company spokesperson for a time. But her favorite role is the one she has now—manager of special projects— promoting Publix culture, doing research projects (like trying to find out exactly where the Lakeland Grocery Co. warehouse sat) and handling the memorabilia that comes in from various sources, including customers, associates and Publix retirees.

For the last few years, Bush has been working on “The Legacy Project,” a collection of videotaped oral histories about Mr. George and the early days of Publix.

Bush says she wishes she could go back in time to her own early days at Publix when Mr. George was still active and men like Joe Blanton and William Hollis were there in the offices every day and mingling in the corporate dining hall, just like Publix executives do today.

“If I could go back, I would be taking notes, asking questions—things we can’t find the answers to today because when people are gone, the stories are gone with them. You just don’t appreciate it when you’re a teenager,” she says.

Jennifer Bush, manager of special projects and unofficial company historian.

• Mr. George was a golfer, for business and for pleasure; he also liked to hunt and fish. He kept a stuffed pheasant on his desk from a trip to Nebraska.

Congratulations to the 2015 Southeast Retailer of the Year and on celebrating their 85th Anniversary!

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FRESH EXPRESS WOULD LIKE TO THANK PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS FOR BEING A BUSINESS PARTNER

2015 SOUTHEAST RETAILER OF THE YEAR

Congratulations on 85 years of business!

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• Publix stores have not always been open on Sunday. They were kept closed to allow associates to rest and spend time with family and friends.

In fact, it was not uncommon for Publix associates to have barbecues and picnics among themselves, according to Maria Brous, director of media and community relations. But there came a time when the decision had to be made whether to remain closed on Sundays.

After heated debates around the boardroom table, the decision was made in 1982 that stores needed to be open on Sundays—though not everyone was 100 percent behind it.

Publix stores do remain closed on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• There is a painting behind Mr. George’s desk that was done by John Garth in 1960. Mr. George became acquainted with the artist through a tile mosaic mural he saw on the side of a Safeway store in California. Mr. George called Garth to ask if he could do mosaics on a couple of his stores in Florida, in Fort Lauderdale and Lakeland, and Garth came east to do the work although he primarily was a painter. Recently, Garth’s daughter contacted Publix to ask if either of the mosaics her father had done were still around. Unfortunately, the Fort Lauderdale store had been demolished, but the Lakeland store, though not owned by Publix anymore, still stood. She, it turns out, was the model for the mosaic depicting a goddess surrounded by food.

She was able to visit the store, along with her daughter and grandchildren, and see her father’s work.

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