ROCHESTER, N.Y. — On a recent visit to the Wegmans supermarket in Pittsford, N.Y., Danny Wegman was approached by a customer who said he was moving away from Rochester.

"Can you please come with me to Phoenix?" the man asked the chief executive of Wegmans Food Markets Inc.

The request underscores what Wegman calls "the role our people have played" in customers' lives. It also helps explain the appeal and success of this homegrown company that so far in 2007 has received national recognition from the Food Network, BusinessWeek and Fortune magazine as the store that has "changed the way we shop," provides the best customer service and is one of the best places to work.

In 2006, Wegmans received 4,885 requests from people asking the company to open a store in their community. An additional 4,100 wrote to say how much they liked the Wegmans shopping experience.

Colleen Wegman, president of the company, said the national recognition is appreciated. "It's humbling. We're fortunate and very proud. We know how hard our people work."

The Wegmans said there are no special committees or consultants that determine what the company and its more than 35,000 employees should do.

"We listen to our people. We get ideas from all over the company. We try out the ideas. If they don't work, we change course," Colleen Wegman said.

EMPOWER WORKERS

Wegman, 35, and her father Danny, 60, continue the philosophy of her grandfather, Robert B. Wegman, the chairman of the company who died a year ago Friday.

Robert Wegman was known for his willingness to empower employees.

Danny Wegman said his family also was blessed growing up in Rochester, where George Eastman made Eastman Kodak Co. a model company to work for during much of the 20th century.

"That's how the rest of us grew up," Wegman said. "It affected my dad. It affected me. That has enabled us to be a good place to work."

Mark Zupan, dean of the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, said Wegmans' key is that people are treated as assets. Employees believe they have ownership in the company's success, and that translates into their taking responsibility for how the company performs.

"They go the extra mile," Zupan said. "This is a good role model for all organizations out there."

The supermarket chain had sales of $4.1 billion last year. It operates 70 stores, most of them in New York, with other locations in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland.

Eugene Fram, a marketing professor at Rochester Institute of Technology, said a business strength of Wegmans is picking new locations that have the type of demographic the company appeals to.

Over the years, he said, Wegmans has cultivated young workers, especially through its scholarship program. Since 1984, the Wegmans Scholarship Program has given $63 million to more than 20,000 full- and part-time employees.

"For many teens, their first job is with a grocery store," Fram said. "The scholarship, though modest in amount, is a nice bonus for mid- and low-income students. Over the years, that's a substantial investment in people."

WELL-TRAINED WORKERS

Wegmans invests in its people in another way: by ensuring that they're well-trained.

Part of the company philosophy is that "good people working toward a common goal can accomplish anything they set out to do," said spokeswoman Jo Natale.

"We do that by providing the right training at the right time. In-depth product knowledge makes the job more fulfilling. They (employees) want to learn about new cooking techniques. They want to share that knowledge with customers and one another."

Another strength of Wegmans, business experts say, is its emphasis on innovation and experimentation with different types of products and services.

When Lisa Wharton, 40, arrived in Pittsford six months ago from Iowa City, Iowa, she already had heard about Wegmans.

"I heard they have a reputation," she said as she shopped at the Pittsford store with her 3-year-old son Ryan. "It all held true. It's just amazing, the selection. I've never seen so many olives in my life."