Wegmans Food Markets

One name strikes fear in the hearts of supermarket owners in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and now Maryland and Massachusetts. Wegmans Food Markets. The regional grocery chain owns more than 80 stores, but they are hardly typical.

Much larger than most supermarkets (up to 140,000 sq. ft.), they offer more than 70,000 products and house huge in-store cafes, cheese shops with some 300 different varieties, sub shops, and French-style pastry shops. The company is known for its gourmet cooking classes and an extensive employee-training program.

Founded in 1916, today Wegmans is one of the largest private companies in the US. The grocery chain is owned and run by the family of founder John Wegman.