by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
You’ll have to excuse Peter Lynch if he’s purchased his third boat since coming to Jacksonville in December of 2004. In between rescuing Winn-Dixie from Chapter 11 bankruptcy and renovating 75 stores a year, everyone needs a little R and R.
Lynch, the chairman, president and CEO of Winn-Dixie, told his boat anecdote to over 500 people at Thursday’s Cornerstone Quarterly Luncheon at the Hyatt. Unfortunately, Lynch said, he’s been so busy visiting stores and running the company he hasn’t been able to take the new boat — which is aptly named “Paper or Plastic” — to the Bahamas yet.
In all seriousness, Lynch, who was called a “corporate giant and turn-around expert” by Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce Chair Ron Autrey, inherited a company with a laundry list of problems: a tarnished brand, low employee morale, vendor problems, trust and cleanliness issues among others.
In just three years, Lynch took a company that was in dire financial trouble and rang the bell to open the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc. live last fall during the grand reopening of a store in New Orleans that had been devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
“The day we walked in there the first time (after the hurricane), about 60 to 100 people came in and cried,” said Lynch. “The day we reopened, about 60 to 100 people walked in and cried.”
Lynch said when he took over, two of the most apparent problems were hundreds of needless stores in markets that couldn’t support them and a public perception problem.
“We had 1,000 stores and many were in states we shouldn’t have been in,” he said, adding Winn-Dixie quickly pared that number to 520. “At the end of the day, we saved the jobs of 52,000 people. Sometimes you have to shrink the company to save the company.”
Honesty also played a key role. He was up front about the image of the stores, everything from a stale logo to dirty stores to employee morale. Lynch said he has changed all three. Winn-Dixie has a new brand and advertising slogan, stores are being cleaned up and radically remodeled at a clip of 75 a year and Lynch said he spends two days a week in the stores, meeting with employees.
“I am there to thank the 52,000 associates. Sometimes, the best ideas come from the people in the stores,” said Lynch, adding another concept was to pick a few issues to focus on and work hard at making them better. “Keep it simple and execute like crazy. Too many companies in America are too complicated.
“Things are working very well for Winn-Dixie,” he said.
In other news from the luncheon:
• Suzanne Lemen was named the Chamber’s Compass Bank Small Business Leader of the Year. Lemen is the president and CEO of Dynamic Corporate Solutions Inc. The company was founded 14 years ago and provides training and consulting in all areas of human resources.
• Mayor John Peyton talked briefly about several topics. Peyton said he likes the direction the Jacksonville economy is headed.
“I wouldn’t trade places with any other city in the Southeast,” he said.
He even talked about an economic stimulus package unique to Jacksonville.
“It’s called the Duval County Courthouse,” he said. “It houses judges, and lawyers and criminals and sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s playing which role.”