DAVIS, Calif. — For the 16th consecutive year, Nugget Markets ranked at number 24 on Fortune Magazine's “100 Best Companies to Work For” 2021 list. The survey noted the company's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as one of its major achievements.
"We’re in the people business, we just happen to sell groceries," explained Nugget Markets resident and CEO Eric Stille. "My number one goal was to make sure I was doing everything possible to keep our associates safe as well as our guests safe."
According to Stille, Nugget had installed plexiglass in front of registers and began rigid cleaning protocols before most companies. Even ahead of Governor Newsom's mask mandate, Stille said Nugget Markets had begun requiring masks in all stores. Nugget was also one of the first companies in the nation to offer "thank you" pay, offering $2 an hour more for each employee, which will continue until September.
"Many other companies followed suit, but in a couple months they started dropping the thank you pay and the pandemic wasn't over," he explained. "To this day, we're still paying the 'thank you' pay. It's just our way of sharing our gratitude."
Stille said much of the company's culture and values began with his grandfather, Mack Stille, when he founded the first Nugget Market in Woodland in 1926.
Nugget Market's ranking in Fortune came on the heels of the local, family-owned company opening their 16th store in Roseville in March.
Stille said the company is always looking for employees and that anyone with a great attitude was encouraged to apply.
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