The wolves are at the door,” Steve Paulenka said to the crowd, introducing the next speaker. “They came for ATD — and they are coming for you.” The night before, Paulenka, a facilities and operations supervisor with over forty years of experience at Market Basket supermarkets, had been notified by courier letter that he no longer had a job.

A privately held company founded and owned for decades by the Demoulas family, Market Basket is the sole reason Walmart has been unable to gain a foothold in New England. When CEO Arthur T. Demoulas (known affectionately as ATD or Artie T.) was ousted in June by a board controlled by his rival cousins, it was the long-expected culmination to a feud at the heart of the chain’s ownership.

By mid-July, loyal top executives at headquarters and in the warehouse began a company-wide rebellion, which led to their summary termination. They went on to marshal the collective force of 25,000 workers to shut down the entire company — and win.