LOS ANGELES — Forty-eight high school students are learning how the supermarket industry works, thanks to a unique summer youth employment program sponsored by Unified Western Grocers, Inc., the largest wholesale grocery cooperative in the western United States.

The students, 31 of which are from the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 6 from Portland, Oregon and 11 from Northern California (Stockton, Livermore and Hayward area), are spending seven weeks working at various departments and divisions located at Unified's regional offices throughout the West Coast. This year's program, the company's eleventh, began on June 25 and will conclude on August 10 with "graduation" and farewell luncheons in Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Portland.

Paid for the time they spend working on behalf of the company, the students also spend a major portion of their time learning how the grocery distribution business works. In addition to hands-on seminars that explain various aspects of Unified's business, students participate in extensive facility tours that include the company's distribution centers, manufacturing operations and participating members' retail grocery stores. Students also have the opportunity to win scholarships to further their education.

Unified Western Grocers, Inc. is a retailer-owned wholesale grocery distributor that supplies independent retailers throughout the Western United States. Unified and its subsidiaries, which generated approximately $3 billion in sales during fiscal 2006, offer independent retailers all the resources they need to compete in the supermarket industry.