The story behind how a ‘Winning Company’ got its name

Boise, Idaho-based WinCo Foods dates to 1967 but has only carried its current name since 1999 — the result of an employee contest spurred by competition from Walmart.

The company initially operated as Waremart Food Centers and Cub Foods. By the late 1990s, Waremart/Cub Foods had expanded into Washington, Oregon and California and entered Nevada with stores in Reno in 1994 and 1999.

But with Walmart moving into its territories, the company held a contest among employees to come up with a new name to help more clearly differentiate itself from its competitor.

WinCo, which stands for Winning Company, was chosen and adopted in 1999.

There was another suggestion that was seriously considered but was only adopted as a “fun fact.”

That suggestion was to call the company “WINCO” as an acronym for the states it operated in: Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon.

The acronym was accurate until the company’s entry into Utah in 2009.

“So that’s part of the folklore,” said Michael Read, WinCo vice president of public and legal affairs.

Winco ranked No. 66 on Forbes’ 2011 list of America’s largest private companies. Forbes said annual sales at WinCo in the fiscal year ending in March 2011 were $4.73 billion, and the company had 13,300 employees.

Calendar year 2011 sales came in at $5.1 billion and will grow this year with expansions into new markets and same-store sales growth, Read said.

WinCo, which now has 82 stores, is opening three more on April 1. One is in Bremerton, Wash.; the other two are in a new market for the company, Arizona (Phoenix and Glendale).

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