In my (major) city, Publix has by far the best bakery and prepared foods of any of the grocery stores.
They also reliably have the freshest produce. Does that mean they're more wasteful and take things off the shelves if they're just slightly overripe? I have no idea. I just know that I end up spending more money at, say, Kroger because a lot of the fresh items go bad before I can use them.
I'm personally also willing to pay more to a business that takes care of its employees, but other people might not care that much.
I lived in a city with a Publix, Walmart, and Kroger. While I agree re: the deli, most of my family's grocery bill came from things other than that.
In a routine week, where I'd buy the typicals(dairy, meat, bread, canned good, etc), Kroger would be about $90, Publix would often be ~$120. (If you couldn't tell, this was a few years ago, before massive inflation).
I want them to take care of their employees too, and part of doing that is not replacing them with machines.
It's still far cheaper than Whole Foods.
> what the hell are we paying more for?
In my (major) city, Publix has by far the best bakery and prepared foods of any of the grocery stores.
They also reliably have the freshest produce. Does that mean they're more wasteful and take things off the shelves if they're just slightly overripe? I have no idea. I just know that I end up spending more money at, say, Kroger because a lot of the fresh items go bad before I can use them.
I'm personally also willing to pay more to a business that takes care of its employees, but other people might not care that much.