Super Eco

Photo credit: sarah gilbert

Whole Foods Market is a cultural touchstone of organic and natural groceries. It was built on the principles of John Mackey and girlfriend Rene Larson  who were kicked out of their apartment for storing products for Whole Foods' precursor, Safer Way Natural Foods, at home. The first Whole Foods in Austin, Texas was a re-envisioning of the health food store and one of the first natural foods retailers to operate on the same level as a traditional grocery. Two years after the 25-year-old Mackey founded Safer Way, he and Larson joined forces with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. At the time Whole Foods opened, there were fewer than 10 natural foods supermarkets in the U.S.; now the company operates 276 stores in the U.S., the United Kingdom, and British Columbia and Ontario, Canada.

Whole Foods, as a business, is a conundrum. On one hand, the company is fiercely committed to social and envrionmental good works, what with its fair wages (all employees make at least $13.15 an hour, and no member of management may make more than 14 times the employee average), its Whole Planet Foundation microcredit program, its leadership in providing organic and sustainable produce, its commitment to cruelty-free meat products (and its famously vegan CEO). On the other hand, corporate management has been blamed for cut-throat practices both internally and externally; its CEO has admitted to ranting and raving about the company's competitors using a fictitious name on finance message boards; and supporters of the buy-local movement and of small farmers accuse Whole Foods of disingenuity in the marketing of its products. Many critics believe Whole Foods to be the enemy of local foods.

Whole Foods has grown both through expansion and acquisition. In the past 20 years, the company has acquired these stores:

• Whole Food Company
• Wellspring Grocery
• Bread & Circus
• Mrs. Gooch's
• Fresh Fields
• Bread of Life
• Merchant of Vino
• Nature's Heartland
• Food for Thought
• Harry's Farmers Market
• Select Fish
  
• Wild Oats© Markets

The most recent acquisition, of Wild Oats Markets, previously Whole Foods' major competitor, has been the bitterest battle; the FTC is still fighting the acquisition in court, more than a year after the completion of the deal in late August 2007. In the course of the court battle, Mackey and the company have suffered from a negative image, and at the same time, Whole Foods' sales and profits have dipped sharply; due, management insists, to the recession begun in 2008.

Notable Eco Activity

While many locavores question Whole Foods' true commitment to small farmers, unquestionably, the company brought organic foods from its roots in hippie culture and firmly into its current place as the food of the "elite." Whole Foods has been a pioneer in refusing to sell products containing, variously, partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil, artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners, and preservatives; it also has strict standards for the treatment of the animals whose products (from meat to dairy to eggs) it sells. In 2006, Whole Foods announced that it had purchased wind power credits equal to its entire year's supply of energy, becoming the first Fortune 500 company to do so. In 2008, it became the first U.S. supermarket to eliminate plastic bags from its checkout counters.

• Whole Foods Details

  • Year Founded

    1980

  • Founded By

    Unavailable

  • Green Products?

    Yes

  • Hazardous Products?

    Unavailable

  • Sector

    Unavailable

  • Industry

    Unavailable

  • Help Line

    512.477.4455

  • Help Address

    http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company/service.php

  • Fax Number

    Unavailable

  • Website

    http://www.wholefoods.com

  • Key Execs

    Craig Weller, John Mackey, Mark Skiles, Rene Larson

  • Competitors

    Unavailable

  
  

• Whole Foods Locations

  • Headquarters

    550 Bowie Street Austin, TX 78703-4644

  • Mail Address

    550 Bowie Street Austin, TX 78703-4644

  • Operates In

    Canada, United Kingdom, United States

  • Manufacturing

    Unavailable

  
  

• Whole Foods Financial Information

  • Company Type

    C corporation

  • Yearly Revenue

    $7.95 billion

  • Traded On

    NASDAQ

  • Symbols

    wfmi