Whole Foods Case

Whole Foods Markets is a retailer of natural and organic foods. The company was founded by current CEO John Mackey who partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge their two natural food stores, Saferway and Clarkville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market on September 20, 1980. They had a 12,500 square foot store manned by 19 staff members. With a passion this industry, Mackey devised great visions, values, and strategies to take Whole Foods Markets to the top of the list as the worlds leading retailer of natural and organic foods. Twenty eight years later, Whole Foods Market continue to hold their 256 stores, 54,000 employees, and thousands of products to the highest of standards to deliver the best in customer service and goods. (Thompson 24).

For more than twenty years, Whole Foods growth strategy was to expand by opening new stores and acquiring small owner operated stores. Whole foods started to make major acquisitions in 1992. This was a major factor in the growth of not only Whole Food but for the natural and organic food industry. Seeing how most of the natural food stores across the country were single store operations Whole Foods sought out to acquire ones that would be able to fulfill their needs and had the type of personnel they wanted to fit with the Whole Foods plan. In 2002, the strategy changed and Whole Foods began to open large stores (50,000 square feet and larger) rather than acquiring small stores that typically ran anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 square feet. In these stores, Whole Foods is trying to bring the world the best product line possible. They have a selection of over 30,000 natural, organic, and gourmet food and non food items. This is still a growing industry but one of the down sides to the pleasures of natural and organic foods is price. They try to provide the best customer service possible. Whole Foods has been on several lists as one of the top companies to be employed by. They continue to take it up a notch by motivating their staff with incentives and giving them not only options for benefits but a say in what their benefits will be. Whole Foods meets and exceeds all standards of the natural and organic food retailing industry. There continues to be a growing demand for natural and organic fresh produce and other items. My research shows that Whole Foods is taking the proper steps to help supply themselves with items by opening their own processing facilities for goods like the Atlanta based seafood plant. In recent years they have also launched the Organic Everyday Value line. Having their own line allows them to expand beyond there stores but still deliver the Whole Food quality goods to consumers which has become increasingly important since conventional supermarkets started to introduce natural and organic items in 2000.

Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet is the motto of the company. This motto is short and to the point. It encompasses everything that John Mackey intended for Whole Foods to accomplish. They are the worlds leading retailer in natural and organic foods. They have made it a promise to only sell items that were evaluated with the quality of nutrition, freshness, appearance, and taste in mind. Whole Foods has taken care of their employees with training, incentives, and benefits. Their accolades speak for themselves having been named in the ranks of FORTUNEÐ'® "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the 10th year in a row. Whole Foods gives back to the communities by donating at least five percent of its after-tax profit in cash or products to non profit or educational organizations and by giving employees 20 hours of paid community service for volunteer work. In March 2002 Whole Foods Market Berkeley became the first major food retailer to introduce solar energy as a primary lighting power source. Since, Whole Foods has added solar power to several other locations and continues to be one of the few Fortune 500 companies to purchase green energy. John Mackey said, “Our deepest purpose as an organization is helping support the health, well-being, and healing of both people and of the planet. He stands by his motto of Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet and puts his money where his mouth is.

Whole Foods core values are a descriptive extension of their motto. Their five core values compliment the slogan and our shared among top management and company personnel. All mission statements, visions, core values, ect. Serve as some form of “window dressing” for a company or organization. However, Whole Foods core values are broke in to five different areas, all of which are detailed. These details express values of passion for food, customer service, self-directed teams, and stewardship to name a few. They show these values in their stores by promoting friendly competition among the different regions with incentives