WinCo Foods

WinCo Foods is a chain of employee-owned grocery stores that runs its own distribution and transportation systems. Its origins trace back to 1967, when Ralph Ward and Bud Williams established a discount warehouse grocery store in Boise, Idaho, under the name Waremart. The company operated under the names Waremart Food Centers and Cub Foods until 1999, when it rebranded both its storefront and corporate identity as WinCo Foods, short for Winning Company. WinCo Foods is presently owned by its staff. In 1985, the WinCo Foods Employee Stock Ownership Trust (Employee Pension Plan), led by then-president Bill Long and backed fully by store employees and management, bought a majority interest in WinCo from the Ward family, thereby granting WinCo staff a legitimate ownership share in the business. The company kept expanding rapidly, and by 2000, it had replaced most of its retail locations with updated, larger facilities. WinCo Foods now employs over 20,000 people and runs more than 140 stores across Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California, Oregon, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Montana.