Is Whole Foods Straying From Its Roots?

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Is Whole Foods Straying From Its Roots?
By MARIAN BURROS
Published: February 28, 2007

THEY came together in what seemed like a perfect marriage: earnest former hippies and Whole Foods, the clean, well-lighted version of the old natural food store. The chain’s stores were filled with organic foods and socially responsible ingredients. They were decorated with pastoral scenes of the local farmers who sold to them; signage explained why local and organic are better for the environment.

The food may have been more expensive, but for many shoppers it was worth it. Since opening its first store in Austin, Tex., in 1980, Whole Foods has grown from a small business to a mega-chain with 193 stores, capping its rise last week with a deal to acquire the 110 stores of its largest rival, Wild Oats.

The newer stores are getting bigger, too: 60,000- to 80,000-square-foot supermarkets, they have extensive prepared food offerings, along with in-store restaurants, spas, concierge shopping services, gelato stands, chocolate fountains and pizza counters.

While many shoppers find the new stores exhilarating places to shop, the company also faces critics who feel it has strayed from its original vision. In angry postings on blogs, they charge that the store is not living up to its core values — in particular, protecting the environment and supporting organic agriculture and local farmers....Bill Bishop, president of Willard Bishop Consulting, a retail food consulting firm, said that Whole Foods has drifted toward the middle, which has made the store more popular with a broader range of people. Many of today’s Whole Foods shoppers are more interested in prepared foods than in whether the eggs are organic. But that carries a downside. “The folks truly devoted to organic and natural can’t get them all in Whole Foods and have to go somewhere else,” he said.

“There is a segment of shoppers,” he added, “who have moved ahead of Whole Foods. They think it is important to have a smaller carbon footprint and to want to help small farmers.” He said that John Mackey, the chief executive officer and co-founder of Whole Foods, “is lagging behind his leading shoppers.”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/28/dining/28whole.html?_r=1&ref=dining?8dpc&oref=slogin

[jobycom]

1. The roots are still there, but they have expanded their options.

You can still go to Whole Foods and get the type of organic stuff and natural stuff you used to get (minus the bugs--I used to get bugs in my food in the old one in Austin). And they are still more environmentally and locally conscious than the regular supermarket chains.

But as "organic" and "vegetarian" have become more popular, and more options are offered from major and minor producers, the store has grown beyond it's small footprint organization. So the root system has grown, and is more of a burden, and I can see why some are disappointed in that.

But the growth has also allowed more people into a more natural lifestyle. To me, that's a good thing. People who shop at Whole Foods now may often be just the same people who would have shopped at the other chains, and they may not have a lot of interest in organics and locals and footprints. But they are still helping. The damage THEY are doing--both to themselves and to the environment--is lessened over what they would have done shopping at the other chains, because the damage Whole Foods does is less than the other chains.

And people who shop there for the yuppie appeal will also encounter raw foods, enough vegetarian options to persuade some who have considered vegetarianism but been unsure of how to start, environmentally friendly products, and lots of other good stuff and advice, and some of these people may be drawn into a better lifestyle.

And those who want the pure organics and locals can find them at Whole Foods, too. They still offer that option to the shopper, and I've not found another store that does that, aside from some local co-ops and such.

Just my analysis. I would encourage anyone with the access to buy from farmers' markets (who actually sell local food--some don't), or from organic co-ops or such stores. But I see Whole Foods as one of the good guys, not part of the problem (which is not to say that they don't have some problems). Although, I would be happy to one day seem them become part of the problem, because that would mean society had left them behind, and that would be a good thing.

[kestrel91316]

2. I shop at WF for local and organic produce and products. If I

can't tell where a particular item is from, I won't consider buying it there. Why buy environmentally unsound non-local stuff at their inflated prices????

[jobycom]

9. I do that, too, but I also buy items I can't get elsewhere.

Their prices are inflated, so I try to avoid items I can get at another store for less--I don't see how a product becomes more ecologically or nutritionally sound just because it's shipped to a Whole Foods store, instead of to HEB across the street.

But they do have selections on vegetarian items I can't get other places.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Thank you for this thoughtful post! I, unfortunately, have recently moved to a city...

with no Whole Foods -- although we are hoping for one.

[renate]

4. I love me some Trader Joe's

Of course they don't have the same selection, especially of produce (but they actually do pretty well, and better all the time) and nutritional supplements, that Whole Foods does. But man are they cheap. And at my local store, anyway, the employees are happy to be there; I've been told they have good benefits.

[jobycom]

6. I've never seen a Trader Joe's, but I'd probably shop there is one was available

On the employee thing, Whole Foods is usually judged one of the best places to work in America. The employees at the two I shop at here in Austin seem happy, relaxed, helpful, and generally more satisfied with their jobs than I am with mine. :) (Don't tell my boss!)

[MzNov]

10. Trader Joe's rocks! I couldn't exist without one.

their employees always seem like they are happy, union or not. It's not perfect but beats Whole Foods any day!

[mark414]

5. their CEO likened unions to parasites

that's all i need to know to stay the fuck away from whole foods

[jobycom]

7. Got a quote on that?

Might influence my opinion of them.

[mark414]

8. here ya go

http://www.buyblue.org/node/4214

and on edit: about a year or so ago there were a couple people who were fired from a Madison, WI store for trying to get employees to vote on if they wanted to unionize or not

[Selatius]

12. Profit ahead of workers. This is why Whole Foods is typical of most corporations.

Their products may be different, but their attitude towards their own workers is the same.

Meet your new boss, same as your old boss.

[vireo]

13. Yeah, that turned me off to them big time

The Madison store also quit carrying political magazines, such as The Progressive, which is even published here.

I buy what I can from the co-op, but I admit that I pick up a few specialty items at WF, although I boycotted during the organizing effort.

[jobycom]

14. Thanks. Me no likey that.

I'll read up on it.

[ellenfl]

16. the ceo is not the good guy he pretends to be. he does

enough to get noticed in a good way. i saw a report (60 minutes, i think) about him that surprised me to find that he is not as 'organic' in spirit as he would like all to believe.

check them out at buyblue.org . . . Whole Foods

ellen fl

[callous taoboy]

11. I remember shopping at John Mackey's store

in Austin with my hippy brother in Austin back in the early 70's. It was called "Safer Way" and it was located in an old victorian mansion. We'd go in and it would be John and a couple of hippy clerks, and John would be running around stocking shelves and dusting then he'd run up front and ring you up. The guy had boundless energy. Then they moved into an old Piggly Wiggly down the hill in the late 70s, but the store still had a great vibe and John was still running around like a wild man. Austin was much more laid back and friendly back then. Things have changed a lot, my brothers are now both registered MEpublicans, Whole Foods is now this Temple of food (the one on Lamar is really an amazing place; my brother calls it HOLY FOODS!!!). The people that work there are still really cool and friendly, but it does have this appeal to the well-monied, and even though I'm not well-monied I try to eat well and still find some good bargains there. It is decadent, though. But, dammit, I like hand-made flour tortillas without preservatives or lard and WFM is the only place where I can find those. The walk-in beer cooler is right up my alley. I'd still call WFM an oasis, of sorts, I suppose. But I can't be 100% sure about that.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Great story! Thank you! nt

[Nutmegger]

17. Trader Joes is by far the best.

Whole Foods is a little too pricey for me.

[walldude]

18. I heard they were merging with Wild Oats

a lot of jobs in Colorado are on the line...

[SheilaT]

19. I shop at Whole Foods

much of the time. There's a lot to like about them, as far as I'm concerned. But I do spend a lot more money there than I do at the chain stores.

Someone I know calls them "Whole Paycheck".

[jobycom]

20. Heh. I thought that was just an Austin nickname.

Glad to see it's gone global. :)

[Gruenemann]

29. WF employees forced to wear freeperish shirts!

This weekend the WF employees here were wearing shirts with the WF logo along with Murkan flags and the motto "United We Stand"

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

21. It's nothing but a marketing racket IMO

Judging by what I've seen, it's primarily a feelgood place where people with a high sense of entitlement can buy expensive produce and meats. If that was the extent of it they'd merely be serving a sizeable target audience, and no fault in that. If I had the money, I'm sure I'd feel entitled to shop there too.

But then they go beyond serving their shoppers to bilking them by teaming up with manufacturers to push processed packaged foods and other staples that are no different from conventional products except that they add a "superfood" or leave out a preservative and then mark it up accordingly. (Salon had an excellent article on the difference between Annie's mac & cheese, and Kraft's blue box version. There is none, except that Annie's contains more fat, and leaves out a calcium-based additive Kraft adds to restore nutrients lost through processing.) A frozen waffle is still a frozen waffle, even if the manufacturer adds enough flax to it to meet the minimum FDA requirements that allows the word "Flax" on the front of the package (hint: not very much).

That's why I see it as just another racket, a profitable way to dupe consumers who think that if they buy it at Whole Foods it must be good for them. Yeahright.

BTW, in the course of my work I have visited countless retailers to study layouts, products, displays etc. Only two retailers have stopped me from taking photos inside their stores. One was Whole Foods. The other was Wal-Mart. And the Wal-Mart people were a lot nicer about it.

[Odin2005]

25. That's pretty much what the organic food craze has become, a racket.

not that I'm dissing organic foods, I try to get organic food when I can, but a lot of it is just businesses taking advantage of yuppie snobbishness.

[LeftyMom]

22. Whole Foods sells overpriced convenience food to yuppies.

I can get a better selection of local and organic produce and basic ingredients at either my local food co-op or a local grocery chain for less money, and they have well-paid union workforces, while Whole Foods does not.

I think the composition of the parking lots is instructive- the local food co-op is full of smallish imports sedans, hybrids and a whole freakin' lot of subaru wagons. More cars than not have lefty stickers on them. They have bike parking and it's almost always full. They're in midtown next to a transit hub and a lot of people walk in.

Whole Foods is out in a monied part of the burbs. Nobody walks up, because the roads it's on are 40 mph roads with long stretches with no sidewalks. The parking lot is full of bigass SUVs and european luxury cars. I've only once seen a bike parked out front. Sticker-wise, the split is about even between left and right, with a slight edge to the right (not surprising given the neighborhood, these are the people that send Dan Lundgren to congress) and the vast majority of the OMG! A sticker might ruin my resale! sort.

People-wise, WF is whiter than a Klan rally in terms of shoppers and staffing. The staff all have a clean-cut preppie thing going on. Customers are for the most part older and obviously monied. I don't feel comfortable shopping there. I'd rather go someplace local where people know their stuff, get paid to know it and look more like my community and less like the golf team from some suburban high school.

Oh, and whole foods smells like something has gone horribly wrong with their dead fish cooler.

[NashVegas]

23. The Parking Lots Do Tell the Tale

In Nashville, Sunshine Grocery was the main organics & natural grocer for decades. Foods (especially produce) were very reasonably priced. I could buy a baggie of fresh basil for 1/2 of the price of the plastic-boxed ones you'd see in the conventional grocers.

The parking lot was always full of old Toyotas, old Hondas, old Volvos ... the usual funk, and it was in a very mixed (economically + racially) neighborhood.

Wild Oats bought them out in the late 1990s, and then added a second store in a tonier part of town. It was a wild success, and then they expanded south of Nashville in an even higher income area and closed the original store. The parking lots of the new stores are filled with SUVs - even freaking Hummers!

And now, their herbs are in those plastic boxes, too. You get 1/2 as much for 3x the price.

And Whole Foods just bought them out.

[Odin2005]

24. Whole Foods = Anti-Union bastards.

Of course the upper-middle class yuppies people who think they are saving the environment by shopping there tend to not a second thought about the workers.

[judaspriestess]

26. I shop at Sunflower markert

they are from Arizona. They have the BEST prices on veggies. They are a simpler version of Whole foods but they ROCK!!

[Madspirit]

27. Whole Foods

I come from the town where Whole Foods was birthed, Austin, Texas. One year it flooded and all the hippies in town sandbagged it and saved it. That was the very first Whole Foods anywhere ever. We often call it Whole Floods, here in it's hometown. The loyalty has not always been reciprocated.

Now we have two great big giant Whole Foods big box but better, stores. John Mackey has ALWAYS been a business man first and a liberal hippie second. He has always fought unions and at one time was invested in South Africa...until he was called on it.

Whole Foods is great but far from perfect. It has at times looked perfect and seemed perfect but behind the scenes, there has always been problems with Mackey's slipping politics.
Lee

[nosmokes]

28. if you really want *real* food, then join a CSA and use farmer's

markets. wholw foods and wild oats and all the rest of that ilk are simply green washed more of the same old corral carpet.it's still a chain, it's still more interested in the bottom line than the health of the community or the people on either end of the cash register.

by joining a CSA you become part of the farm you meet the people that actually produce your food and in many cases you even have the option of work trade so you can lower your food bill by spending a few hours a month helping out on the farm. and you get the freshest most wholesome veggies (and meat depending on the CSA) possible. it's a win/win.

if that doesn't appeal then join a co-op that specializes in local & organic. but it's imperitive to break the chains, even (or especially) the green washed ones and get back to a local scale and local economies.

[Madspirit]

30. Yup

We belong to Wheatsville Food Co-op in Austin.
Lee