Lifetime achievement: Ralph W. Ketner, Food Lion Inc.

• Author: Eldridge, Lisa
• Position: Entrepreneur of the Year

When a competitor once dared to say that his food prices were as low as Food Lion's, Ralph Ketner asked him to bet the farm on it. Compare item for item, he suggested, and let the lower-priced chain win the other - lock, stock and barrel. "He said, `Hell no, I won't do that,'" Ketner recalls. "I said, You've answered my question.'"

No supermarket runs leaner than fast-growing Food Lion, a company with $4.7 billion in sales that Ketner and two partners founded 33 years ago in Salisbury. Food Lion operates about 680 stores in 10...