2015 will be an exciting year for lots of reasons: new stores, new products, promotions and celebrations.

This year marks the 85th anniversary of Publix, and I’m happy we’ll be able to celebrate it together. Any time you have the opportunity to celebrate a birthday or anniversary, you have a chance to reflect on that milestone.

For us this year, we will reflect on the lessons Mr. George taught us.

• Invest in others.
• Give back.
• Prepare for opportunity.
• Be there.
• Respect others.
• Treat customers like royalty.

When you learn what these lessons mean, they can be summed up in what Mr. George felt very strongly about — do the right thing. He did that with his associates, his customers and his suppliers.

How can you ever go wrong if you always do the right thing? You just can’t. Mr. George believed it and tried to teach it to everyone who worked for him. And we’ve continued to teach these lessons to every associate who has walked through our doors.

Today, we’re making these lessons more public. Each month, we’ll focus on an individual lesson through posters, letters and corporate.publix.com > About Publix.. (We may even have a couple of surprises along the way!)

I hope you’ll take some time to learn more and see how you can apply the lessons to your careers and personal lives. After all, I truly believe we all want to do the right thing.

Ed Crenshaw
CEO