You may remember 2004 was one of the busiest hurricane seasons the southeast has ever experienced. Four hurricanes — Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne — hit Florida in just 44 days. And, one year later, one of the deadliest and costliest hurricanes, Katrina, slammed into New Orleans, devastating the area. Hurricane Wilma was close behind, causing more than 6 million Floridians to lose power.

Because Publix was determined to make sure the customers and communities we serve had access to life’s necessities after a storm, we decided to purchase generators. So, on March 13, 2006, Publix announced plans to install hundreds of generators in hurricane-prone locations in time for the upcoming hurricane season.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush even acknowledged Publix’s efforts.

“The private sector is an important element of Florida’s State Emergency Response Team,” he said. “I applaud Publix’s leadership as we work to instill a ‘culture of preparedness’ in Florida.”

Although this was a more than $100 million investment, it has more than paid off. In 2014 alone, our generators kept the power on during more than 900 power outages, and the standby generators powered our stores for almost 1,200 hours.

Powering through other storms

While we thought about the hurricane season back in 2006, we’ve seen the benefits of generators during other outages. Four years ago, tornadoes tore through Alabama and the southeast, taking hundreds of lives and destroying homes and properties in their paths. Several Publix stores — with power, thanks to the mobile generators — opened their doors to folks in need of food and supplies. Keeping our stores up and running when our customers need us the most is just one more way we can provide premier service.

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Read more about what happened this month in Publix’s history.

• March 1, 1982 — Publix purchased 100 ATMs for installation at our stores.
• March 1988 — The Deerfield Beach distribution center was completed. Covering 650,000 square feet, this distribution center included a processing plant, where more than 7,000,000 gallons of fresh milk, juice, fruit drinks, bottled water and soft drinks are processed each week. The complex also included frozen food and boxed meat/dairy distribution facilities.
• March 1989 —Our 427,000-square-foot dry grocery distribution center in Boynton Beach, Florida, was completed.
• March 2, 1992 — On this very special day, Publix opened the Atlanta Division office in Marietta, Georgia.
• March 2007 — Ed Crenshaw officially assumed his role as CEO, and Todd Jones began serving our company as president.
• March 2007 — Publix Premium Limited Edition Sticky Buns Ice Cream won the International Dairy Foods Association’s most innovative ice cream flavor of the year. Since then, three of our ice cream flavors have received this award: Publix Premium Light Creamy Churned Style Lemon Sugar Cookie (2008), Publix Premium Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie (2009) and Publix Premium Southern Banana Pudding Limited Edition ice cream (2014).