Surveying the aisles.

Many people consider a trip to the grocery store a chore. Instead of picking out apples and waiting in checkout lines, they'd rather watch a ball game, go to a movie, or do a host of other things.

Not George Golleher. As the newly appointed CEO of the recently merged Ralphs Grocery Co., he spends most Saturdays in the stores.

"I find it so entertaining, I don't even consider it work," he says.

When he visits the stores, he's rather inquisitive. He asks customers what they like and don't like about the stores, and he also asks employees what feedback they've gotten from the customers, he says.

While he's at it, he often asks employees how well certain items are selling, he says. This direct research method can be a lot more efficient than sitting back in the office waiting for computer-generated sales reports to land on the desk, he says.

Since being appointed CEO in February, though, Golleher admits he does spend quite a bit of time in the office, to run the largest supermarket company in L.A. County. Century City-based Yucaipa Cos., then-owner of the Alpha Beta, Boys, Viva and Food 4 Less chains, acquired Compton-based Ralphs Grocery Co. in June 1995.

The new company, also called Ralphs Grocery Co. and still based in Compton, now operates 409 grocery stores in California and the Midwest, with 346 of them in Southern California. Golleher has a total of about 29,000 employees working under him. For the nine-months ended Oct. 8, 1995, the company reported sales of $2.7 billion.

Golleher served as president and chief operating officer at Food 4 Less from 1989 to 1995, and was named vice chairman of Ralphs Grocery Co. when the merger took place. He gave up that title, however, in becoming CEO last month.

Like many supermarket executives, he has spent his life in the industry, working his way up the ranks.

After graduating in 1970 from California State University at Fullerton with a degree in humanities and business, he was recruited by a headhunter to work at L.A.-based Arden Mayfair markets. He worked in the distribution facilities there for a year. Arden Mayfair now owns and operates the Gelson's chain.

Then, for the next decade, Golleher made his way around the supermarket industry. He worked for a chain operating in L.A. at the time, Fazios, its parent company, Cleveland-based Fisher Foods. and Colton-based Stater Bros., in that order. By the time he reached Stater Bros., he had worked his way up vice president of finance.

Then, in 1983, he made a segue into the insurance business, working for Warren Buffett's insurance company, Redwood Fire & Casualty, which has since merged with another company.

"Insurance was really quite slow-paced for me," he says. Golleher likes to move at a fast pace (he even talks quickly) and is very people-oriented, he says, noting the supermarket industry is the same way.

He says he also likes the fact that much of the business in the supermarket industry is done with a handshake, not with a written contract. Believe it or not, there are rarely problems with this system, he adds.

So he left the insurance industry and went to work for Boys Markets as vice president of finance and chief financial officer. He was later promoted to senior vice president of finance and administration.

Boys merged with Food 4 Less Supermarkets Inc. in 1989. Yucaipa had a majority stake in Food 4 Less.

From 1989 to 1995, Golleher served as president and chief operating officer of Food 4 Less. He has no magic formula for what brought him to his current position. Basically, he was "willing to work harder and smarter than anyone else" in the companies he's worked for, he says.

One of his biggest assets, though, has been his ability to deal with and manage change, he says.

He grew up in a family that moved around a lot because his father was in the military. As a result, he attended 17 different schools during the first 12 years of his life. He learned to adapt to change, he says.

Furthermore, he takes care of his employees when times get tough. When the 1992 riots devastated L.A., 44 Food 4 Less stores were burned, looted and otherwise damaged. Some were closed for several weeks, others much longer. The jobs of 1,800 employees were at stake.

Golleher and his management team offered all dislocated employees jobs somewhere in the company, at their normal salary, until their stores were up and running again, he says.

Food 4 Less officials brought out brooms, mops, shovels and other equipment, and put employees to work repairing the stores, in the warehouse, restocking shelves and doing anything else management could think of.

When things are calm, though, and all employees are in their appointed positions, Golleher says he tries to make his staff feel "empowered to do their job."

He allows managers to create their own plans and carry them out, while he approves and critiques them, says Harold McIntire, senior vice president and general manager of the Food 4 Less warehouse division.

But Golleher says he also holds them accountable for their performance.

In his new position, Golleher plans to oversee the company's expansion, he said. Ralphs Grocery Co. is slated to open 26 new Ralphs and Food 4 Less outlets in Southern California over the next 12 months, he said.

He also plans to help the company capitalize on the potential cost efficiencies that the merger created, he says.

Golleher works about 60 hours a week. But when he isn't leading a giant supermarket chain, he likes to spend time outdoors, he says.

He works in his yard and spends time at the tide pools near his Laguna Beach home. He is married and has a grown daughter.

Golleher also likes to ski. He admits he's "pretty good, not an expert."

RELATED ARTICLE: Snapshot

George G. Golleher

Age: 47 Native of: Bethesda, Md. Resident of: Laguna Beach Education: B.A. in humanities and business, Cal State Fullerton Spouse: Rita Golleher