Each team will be responsible for reviewing the following: Wegmans Food Markets Operations Tour of the Stevenson text Wegmans Food Markets Operations Tour, Shipping System, of the Stevenson text. The Wegmans website (https://www.wegmans.com) 4. Discuss major issues needing attention and/or specific actions the firm should take to improve operations. Support your discussion with outside sources. This section must be 3–4 pages. ations Tour at p. 33: OPERATIONS TOUR Wegmans Food Markets Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., is one of the premier grocery chains in the United States. Headquartered in Rochester, New York, Wegmans operates about 100 stores, mainly in Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse. There are also a handful of stores elsewhere in New York State as well as in New Jersey, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The company employs over 45,000 people, and has annual sales of over $3 billion. Wegmans has a strong reputation for offering its customers high product quality and excellent service. Through a combination of market research, trial and error, and listening to its customers, Wegmans has evolved into a very successful organization. Its sales per square foot are 50 percent higher than the industry average. Superstores Many of the company’s stores are giant 100,000-square foot superstores, double or triple the size of average supermarkets. You can get an idea about the size of these stores from this: they usually have between 25 and 35 checkout lanes, and during busy periods, al of the checkouts are in operation. A superstore typically employs from 500 to 600 people. Individual stores differ somewhat in terms of actual size and some special features. Aside from the features normally found in supermarkets, they generally have a full-service deli (typically a 40-foot display case), a 500-square-foot fisherman’s wharf that has perhaps 10 different fresh fish offerings most days, a large bakery section (each store bakes its own bread, rolls, cakes, pies, and pastries),and extra-large produce sections. They also offer film processing, a complete pharm cy, a card shop, video rentals, and an Olde World Cheese section. In-store floral shops range in size up to 800 square feet of floor space and offer a wide variety of fresh-cut flowers, flower arrangements, vases, and plants. In-store card shops cover over 1,000 square feet of floor space. The bulk foods department provides customers with the opportunity to select the quantities they desire from a vast array of foodstuffs and some nonfood items such as birdseed and pet food. Each store is a little different. Among the special features in some stores are a dry cleaning department, a wokery, and a salad bar Some stores feature a Market Café that has different food stations, each devoted to preparing and serving a certain type of food. For example, one station will have pizza and other Italian specialties, and another oriental food, and still another chicken or fish. There also will be a sandwich bar, a salad bar, and a dessert station. Customers often wander among stations as they decide what to order. In some Market Cafés, diners can have wine with their meals and have brunch on Sundays. In several affluent locations, customers can stop in on their way home from work and choose from a selection of freshly prepared dinner entrees such as medallions of beef with herb butter, chicken Marsala, stuffed flank steak with mushrooms, Cajun tuna, crab cakes, and accompaniments such as roasted red potatoes, grilled vegetables, and Caesar salad. Many Wegmans stores offer ready-made sandwiches as well as made-to-order sandwiches. Some stores have a coffee-shop section with tables and chairs where shoppers can enjoy regular or specialty coffees and a variety of tempting pastries. Produce Department Page 34 The company prides itself on fresh produce. Produce is replenished as often as 12 times a day. The larger stores have produce sections that are four to five times the size of a produce section in an average supermarket. Wegmans offers locally grown produce in season. Wegmans uses a “farm to market” system whereby some local growers deliver their produce directly to individual stores, bypassing the main warehouse. That reduces the company’s inventory holding costs and gets the produce into the stores as quickly as possible. Growers may use specially designed containers that go right onto the store floor instead of large bins. This avoids the bruising that often occurs when fruits and vegetables are transferred from bins to display shelves and the need to devote labor to transfer the produce to shelves.