Wegmans Store Manager Takes Pride (Photos)

When the new Germantown Wegmans opens on September 15, the store’s 600 employees, 550 of which are new to the supermarket chain, will be at the ready to deliver the exceptional customer service on which the store stakes its reputation.

“Yes, we’re in a race for the finish,” says store manager Phil Quattrini. “And the finish line is now in sight. We’ve hired a great group of people from in and around Germantown, and we’ll be ready to serve our customers well from Day One forward.”

A 25-year Wegmans veteran, Quattrini smiles as he contemplates his rise through the ranks. He began working for Wegmans in his hometown of Corning, NY, when he was still in high school. “What I love most,” he says, “is that today we are offering the very same opportunities to people in Germantown that brought me to a job I love. One of my personal missions is to make sure everyone who works here builds the kind of career they’re looking for.”

The same holds true for his vision of customer service. “We apply the same values,” he says, “caring, respect, high standards, making a difference and empowerment – to our employees and to our customers. That’s the foundation we work from every day.”

Produce Department, Wegmans in Germantown
Ready to receive fresh produce for Opening Day

It’s an ambitious way to do business. With more than 70,000 products and a mandate to seek continual improvement in customer service, training is critical. “Some of our new employees have been training for nearly nine months,” says Quattrini. “We’re making sure we all have the tools required to play at the top of our game.”

Quattrini developed his love of people and food at a very young age. “We were – still are – a very close family,” he says of his early years in upstate New York. “We lived just a half block from my grandparents and we all had gardens. It was part of our Italian heritage. My grandparents had pear, apple and plum trees in the yard, and I’d spend afternoons canning tomatoes with my grandmother.”

Having moved to Virginia in 2003 to become Perishable Area Manager at the Dulles store, Quattrini now lives in New Market with his wife Amy and two children, Logan and Makenzi. “Everything I’ve learned from my early days is serving me well,” he says. Since joining Wegmans in 1988, he’s worked in produce, frozen foods and other departments at various New York stores and learned the ropes of management there and at a Wegmans in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Since moving to this area, he’s opened new stores in Leesburg, Virginia, and Frederick, Maryland. But it’s time, he says, to settle in.

“My family loves it here,” says Quattrini. “We really feel at home.” He especially appreciates the diversity of the Germantown community and what that means for stocking his new store’s shelves. “People don’t always know that Wegmans features an extensive array of international foods. You can expect ingredients and prepared foods here that reflect the many cultures represented in Montgomery County.”

And no one, he says, will offer a more fresh, vibrant or appealing seafood department than Wegmans Germantown. “This is an area in which we really set ourselves apart,” says Quattrini. Fresh, whole fish are delivered daily to be cut to order. When in season, fish will come from local waters off the mid-Atlantic coast and in the Chesapeake Bay. “Our fish and shellfish are as fresh as they get,” he says. “We can’t wait to show it all off on opening day.”

Wegmans Germantown

The Germantown store is Wegmans’ seventh in Maryland. Among the 70,000 individual products carried will be 700 produce items, an extensive array of prepared foods, 300 imported and domestic cheeses and superb sushi, along with fresh-cut veggie and fruit stations, whole fish delivered daily and cut to order, and a shellfish steaming station.

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