An inside look at Wegmans’ leadership strategy

This has been a mostly dismal year for the retail industry, with many prominent stores and independently-run businesses either closing or barely hanging on. If there was one bright story in this environment, it would be the long-anticipated arrival of the Wegmans supermarket chain into the Westchester market, with its first local store opening in Harrison on Aug. 5.

The family-owned Wegmans was founded in 1916 and operates 103 stores across seven states. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, it is one of the nation”™s largest private companies, with 50,000 employees and annual sales during 2019 of $9.7 billion.

And while some supermarket chains can claim a devoted customer base, Wegmans”™ popularity goes beyond mere devotion into a genuine cult-level following ”“ indeed, Facebook has 65 different groups related to some aspect of the store”™s merchandise and culture.

In an exclusive interview with the Business Journal, Wegmans”™ Chairman Danny Wegman and his daughter, President and CEO Colleen Wegman, credited the company”™s success on its holistic relationship with its workforce.

“Obviously, we start with our customers and want to be the best serving the needs of our customers,” said Danny Wegman. “But the real way we do that is by being a great place to work. We take care of our people ”“ they do a great job of taking care of our customers. And we”™ve got 50,000 people who really care about our customers and care about doing a great job.”

Wegman theorized that his customers “feel that we’re a company they can trust ”“ they get excited about it.” He noted that customers at the Harrison starting lining up at midnight ahead of last month”™s opening “just to be part of it.”

Colleen Wegman acknowledged that the company”™s arrival in Westchester was a long time coming, adding that its expansion strategy emphasizes a slower growth rate.

“We only open a couple of stores a year,” she explained. “And it takes us a very long time to train and hire. We start hiring about a year out before we open a store, so we put a lot of time, effort and energy into finding the right fit with our company. And we’ve been thrilled to find the 500 people that we found in Westchester County for the Harrison store.”

While Wegmans”™ arrival in Harrison has been a positive for the company and the region, 2020 has proven to be a difficult year for the supermarket industry. The Wegmans executive leadership used Zoom videoconferencing technology to maintain contact with all of their store managers during the early months of the pandemic to ensure operations were not disrupted ”“ and, to date, none of the company”™s employees were furloughed or laid off as a result of the economic mayhem generated by the ongoing health crisis.

One area of Wegmans that proved to be a challenge involved the in-store restaurants that were a feature in many of its supermarkets. The pandemic forced the closure of this part of the business, but the employees were transitioned to other roles within the company.

“Our chefs would be working on our front end and some of our cooks would be out helping customers with their groceries and collecting carts,” said Danny Wegman. “Our main concern was to take care of our people and make sure that they were comfortable. Food retailers were one of the crucial and critical industries, and those people didn’t sign up to be first responders ”“ they were terrified. We had to make sure they were comfortable and felt safe, and fortunately we were able to do that.”

Colleen Wegman recognized that Wegmans faced an initial obstacle early in pandemic from suppliers who were unable to fulfill merchandise orders, but she pointed out that the company was quickly able to find new supply sources.

“For example, we”™d get in bulk chicken that would have been slated for a restaurant,” she said. “Our meat department had to package it for a retail packaging. But our people rallied around that and did it, and they felt really proud that they could provide healthy products for our customers. That was a unique challenge and we had to find creative solutions for it.”

Colleen Wegman also noticed that the pandemic encouraged more people to stock up on groceries and spend more time in the kitchen cooking.

“We’re hearing that our customers are really enjoying trying new foods and techniques,” she said. “We believe that this will be a long-lasting trend that worked out great for our business, but we think it’s good for bringing families together at home, as well.”

Wegmans had hosted cooking classes in its stores, but due to the pandemic this aspect of the business has shifted from group lessons to one-on-one instructions. Colleen Wegman observed this change has “given us better relationships with our customers than we had before,” with individualized attention provided to customers eager to channel their inner Julia Child.

This year, the Harrison store is one of three new locations where the company is opening stores ”“ the other two are in Morrisville, North Carolina, and Tysons, Virginia. Wegmans is planning to open nine new stores in the near-future covering Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.

There are no plans to expand into Connecticut ”“ Wegmans”™ New England presence is limited to six Massachusetts stores ”“ but Danny Wegman offered an assurance that the company will be tracking the Harrison store”™s success in order whether to open additional stores in Westchester and across the border in Connecticut.

“Our goal is not to be big,” he said. “Our goal is to be the best we can. Our view of being best precludes us fast growth.”