Winco Foods Business Model

The notion of companies existing to create long-term wealth for the employees, customers and communities they serve, as the core of their business model, is almost unthinkable. Players in the industries are more concerned to let us know about their rankings by revenue, value of their stocks, or how much we need their products and services. As customers, unfortunately, we care about price, and not about companies creating value with long-term wealth for stakeholders. One company I feel is living up to the idea of creating long-term wealth is WinCo Foods. Their employee ownership model, profit sharing, good pay, good benefits, and philanthropy, is their way to instill a sense of ownership and pride in employees for company success. WinCo

in the Unites States operates 5239 stores with an employee base of 1.5 million and revenues close to $482.2 billion. (news.walmart.com, 2015) WinCo Foods core values reflect the idea of “embedding long-term wealth creation in the heart of the enterprise” in different forms, but mainly in the investment to their human capital. The creation of the Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) makes the company wholly owned by the employees. This translates that local communities where the stores operates become owners by means of their employees. They have a stake to make sure the company succeeds and held accountable. The interesting part of the business model is the way employees become owners. No capital investment is needed on their part, just their time and effort. WinCo contributes 20% of each employee’s yearly earnings into the fund thru profit sharing, and over time they become owners of the company stock. Another way WinCo invests in their human capital is their wages, benefits and advancement opportunities. WinCo provides an average wage of $11 an hour, tuition reimbursement, low cost healthcare insurance, paid vacations, paid sick leave, retirement plan and promote within. (wincofoods.com,