Seven grocers in top 30 U.S. private companies

Forbes published its 33rd annual ranking of America's largest private companies, and seven grocers landed in the top 30. (Cargill topped the overall list, with $109.7 billion in sales, followed by Koch Industries).

Albertsons, with several banners including Albertsons, Safeway and Acme, is third on the overall list and the top grocer, with $59.7 billion in sales and 273,000 employees.

Also on the list:

#7: Publix Super Markets
#10: C&S Wholesale Grocers
#12: HE Butt Grocery (H-E-B)
#16: Meijer
#25: Southeastern Grocer (Bi-Lo, Harveys, Winn-Dixie)
#27: Hy-Vee

Wegmans beats out Trader Joe's as nation's best grocer

For the first time in four years, Trader Joe's wasn't ranked as the nation's best grocery chain. That honor recently went to Wegmans, which ranked ahead of Trader Joe's and Publix in a survey of more than 10,000 consumers conducted by Market Force Information.

Hy-Vee Food Stores ranked fourth, and Aldi was fifth. The top five chains are all privately held.

Costco ranked sixth, while Walmart ranked 15th, last on the list.

Although online ordering seems to be a hot topic and a fast growing trend, the survey found that only 5% of the people surveyed ordered online for home delivery in the past 90 days, while only 2% placed an order online to pick up their groceries in the store.

Study reveals Trader Joe's as consumer's favorite grocery chain

As the result of a study of 6,600 consumers released last week by Market Force Information, Trader Joe's was named North America's favorite grocery store based on customer satisfaction. Publix and Whole Foods were second and third, respectively. All three chains received high marks for courteous staff, inviting atmosphere and high-quality produce.

As far as factors that consumers said they liked the most about their preferred store, convenience was at the top of the list, followed by low prices and good sales and promotions. However, the study concluded that these characteristics are not necessarily helping the chains gain more business; rather, consumers have come to expect these attributes from their grocery stores. Operations-focused attributes seemed to make a bigger difference.

Here are the top ranked grocers in several key categories:

Convenient Location - Ralph's, Food Lion, King Shoppers
Low Prices - Aldi, WinCo Foods, Walmart
Good Sales & Promotions - Winn-Dixie, Hy-Vee, Publix
Merchandise Selection - Meijer, Trader Joe's, WinCo Foods
One-Stop Shopping - Walmart, Target, Meijer
Cleanliness - Publix, Trader Joe's, Hy-Vee
Accurate Pricing - Aldi, Trader Joe's, H-E-B
Courteous Staff - Publix, Trader Joe's, Hy-Vee
Atmosphere - Trader Joe's, Publix, Hy-Vee
Fast Check-out - Trader Joe's, Ralph's, Publix
High Quality Meat - Whole Foods, Costco, Publix
High Quality Produce - Whole Foods, Publix, Trader Joe's
Natural & Organic Options - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Publix
Nutritional Information - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Hy-Vee
Sustainable/Green Practices - Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Aldi