Jenkins was born in Warm Springs, Georgia, and his family owned a general store in the community of Harris, Georgia, catering primarily to farmers. In the 1920s, Jenkins' father move his business to Atlanta where people had money to buy groceries. Young Jenkins stayed behind to sell the remaining inventory and finish high school.In 1924, he also moved to Atlanta and enrolled at Georgia Tech, going to classes at night, and working days. He began as a clerk for Piggly Wiggly stores and after eight weeks, was sent to replace a manager who was recovering from an illness. From that point on, his job was temporary manager at all the owner's stores. He moved back to Florida where he purchade some real estate and soon later purchased Lakeland Grocery Company. Jenkins incorporated Publix Food Stores in 1930 with 30 shares, each valued at $100. He kept 13 for himself and sold 4 to friends.The first year was difficult, but Jenkins' store covered its expenses.Jenkins was affectionately called "Mr. George" by his workers, who were known as associates, rather than employees. He believed that workers who owned the business and shared in its success would work harder to exceed customer expectations, so he granted full-time workers stock in the company and shared the store's profits on a quarterly basis. These benefits were eventually expanded to part-timers who worked at least 1,000 hours in a year.[8] Jenkins was also serious about employee satisfaction, so he almost always promoted from within the company, and allowed the workers to make many decisions for the department where they worked.
