Publix Super Markets

RANK325

The Lakeland, Fla. company is owned by its 200,000 employees, making it the world’s largest worker-owned business. Operating more than 1,200 supermarkets throughout the southeastern U.S., Publix is one of the best-performing companies in the grocery sector. In 2019, overall sales increased 5.6% year-on-year, and the company maintained an operating profit margin of 7.6%—both figures more than double the industry average. The chain invested more than $1 billion in expansion in 2019, opening 35 new stores, and remodeling 177 others, as well as acquiring shopping centers in which its supermarkets were the anchor tenants. It announced plans to further ramp up capital spending in 2020, committing $1.6 billion to similar investments.