What is the Secret to Whole Foods Market's Success

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Aug. 21, 2012

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What is the secret to Whole Foods Market's success?

byCarlotta Mast in New Hope 360 Blog

The reasons why Whole Foods remains at the top of the food retailing game are many and well

documented, but a recent interview with the companys co-CEO, Walter Robb, underscored for me how the

company was able to bounce back with a vengeance during the recession and why the future will continue

to be bright for Whole Foods.

Whole Foods Market is arguablyone of the most innovative

companies in the health and wellness arena, and the

natural retail juggernaut continues to impress the market

with its sales performance and growth while other large

grocers struggle and face uncertain futures.

The reasons whyWhole Foods remains at the top of the

food retailing game are many and well documented, but anAug. 9Bloomberg BusinessWeek interview with the

companys co-CEO, Walter Robb, underscored for me how

the retailer was able to bounce back with a vengeance during the recession and whythe

future will continue to be bright for Whole Foods.

Whats the secret to Whole Foods success?

The retailer stands for somethingand does so in more than just its PR and marketing.

This company is a mission-based company, Robb toldBloomberg BusinessWeek. This

company started to change the world by bringing healthier food to the world. Its not

about the money, its about the impact, and this company is back on track as a result of

those experiences.

Whole Foods mission can be tracked in just about everything the company doesfrom its

high product standards to the creation of itsWellness Clubs to its efforts to educate

consumers on the nutrient density of specific foods.

Sure, even Whole Foods sells products in its stores that are far from healthy, even if they

are natural or organic (Im talking about you, whoopie pies). The retailer, like most other

grocers, also carries genetically modified food that is not labeled as such and uses a few

ingredients such as canola oil in its prepared foods that some would rather see left out.

Whole Foods itself acknowledges that it could always be doing more to achieve its mission

and thats why the company decided to open a store in downtown Detroit next year.

Where weve kind of stopped, I think, in our mission to bring healthier natural foods to

the marketplace is with underserved communities that dont have access to fresh food or

have access to it in different ways, Robb said. When you look at the demographics and

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psychographics, its a groundbreaker for Whole Foods in terms of this particular location.

Its an effort to stretch ourselves in service of our mission, which is to bring healthier

foods to the world in a broader, newer direction. Its generated a lot of interest from

mayors around the country.

The end result, Robb added, is that Whole Foods is proving that a company can do well

even very wellby doing good. The money comes because you are on a mission, Robb

says. You are doing what you are here to do, and the money comes as a result of the way

that you do it.

Companies of all shapes and sizes look to Whole Foods for inspiration and ideas for how

to be successful in the natural products space and beyond. The mission-based approach to

making money is one page I wish all companies would take from the Whole Foods

playbook.

How do you demonstrate your commitment to your company's mission?

Share in the comments.

Natural products sales do not end at

checkout

Attract customers with better shelf

placement

Discuss this Blog Entry 16

< SEPTEMBER 2013 >

Farmers come first at Kimberton Whole

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Anonymous (not verified) on Aug 21, 2012

reply

Many independent natural retailers in North America offer the very same missions and values.

Shame they don't get this kind of exposure and support from big media

Jacob (not verified) on Aug 23, 2012

reply

There are many great natural and organic companies out there. I work for one and have

been in the industry for 15 years. Whole foods did start out with a fantastic mission

statement and purpose. There are many choices for a company like that to make along the

way. One thing really to say is that they are publicly traded. I would love to see Whole foods

not worry about their profits and poor that money into more education for consumers and

take a much firmer stance on "clean products" like the company I work for. The only thing

we have as true power as individuals and companies alike is our dollars. Come on Whole

Foods. Get rid of the junk and be really natural and organic. You are the leader in the

industry.

KeriAn Dodson (not verified) on Aug 21, 2012

Rebecca's Natural Food is turning 25 years old this year. That's about 9,000 days that the

hundreds of people who have worked here during this time have shared in the: learning and

research, discussions with customers about their needs, changing of lifestyle habits and being

good examples of health, discovering new products, making positive impacts in our

community and the world. Over these days we have made countless decisions about the best

products we can carry. Years ago we added chocolate and wine, which we used to think should

not be in a natural food store. Weve stopped selling many products which seemed to have a

good ingredients lists but are over-processed, or are not made by a trusted source, or other

ways in which they weren't up to our standards. The nutritional supplements we carry are

continually refined and expanded so that we are confident they are the most effective and safe.

We are about fair trade, organic, local, minimally processed, and countless other options that

our customers want and that we value. We cant always have perfect supplements and food,but we try to have the best balance of qualities at a reasonable price. We believe our customers

can appreciate that what they see at Rebeccas today is the refinement of countless choices

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weve made in days past. We want our customers to feel confident that our caring, research,

and selection will continue in the days ahead.

Rebecca's community involvement is widespread. We aim to help as many schools, churches,

co-ops, public agencies, nonprofits, civic groups, and more in their fundraising efforts through

various donations and sponsorships. We involve ourselves in local endeavors such hosting

booths at events like the Charlottesville Vegetarian Festival, the Earth Week Eco Fair, and the

Locavore Expo. Several of our employees formed Team Rebecca's to participate in the Mud

Warrior race to benefit our local Hope Community Center. We are working to help sponsor the

up-and-coming Common Ground Healing Arts center-- a local nonprofit wellness center

committed to empowering our community to live a healthy lifestyle, with a unique way of

providing services that makes wellness available to all members of our community, regardless

of ability to pay.

Our business serves our community in other ways as well. We have always had a role in

helping other small, local startup businesses break into retail. Charlottesville is full of creative,

talented individuals with interesting, high-quality product ideas. People regularly come to us

with items that they would like to sell. When those products meet our quality standards, we

are happy to offer a venue to give them exposure. Over the years we have helped countless

local small companies launch their products. It makes us feel good to watch them grow... for

instance Bake 'MMM Bagels is now carried through a large distributor and can be found in

stores across the northeast. Rebecca's was also instrumental in the success of RelayFoods.com-

- we were the first vendor to sign on with them (originally they were called Retail Relay),

giving credence to their vision and helping them attract their first customers and other

vendors because of our good reputation.

Rebecca's is great because of our people. Our team is amazing! It is very unusual in a retail

environment to have employees stay on for 5, 15, even 20+ years-- not just the Full Time staff,

we have Part Time employees who have been here for 3-8 years as well-- and that speaks

volumes about Rebecca's. We are a dedicated group who embrace the natural products lifestyle

and are passionate about sharing our knowledge and experiences with our customers. We

strive to be a resource for community education. We have often provided employees to give

lectures at local businesses' health fairs, ACAC fitness and wellness center, Weight Watchers,

and retirement communities. We have a member of our grocery department who has begun

teaching a class on lactofermentation at our local Charlottesville Cooking School. When we

renovated our space in 2007, we made provisions to allow for rearranging shelving units in

order to have space to host in-store presentations given by a variety of community

practitioners and educators on topics including: the Buteyko Breathing Method, Colic

Consulting, a workshop on solid waste reduction (The Zero Garbage Challenge!), Airrosti

musculoskeletal care, discussions about the Organic Farmers Against Monsanto lawsuit, and

more. We have also hosted documentary film screenings at one of our local coffee shops that

has space set up for such purposes.

Knowledge gives people the power to make the best decisions for their health. By continuing to

offer the most comprehensive and current information for our customers that we possibly can,

we can help our community and our business thrive.

cmast (staff) on Aug 21, 2012

reply

KeriAn, thank you so much for sharing about all that you do at Rebecca's Natural Food. Very

inspiring and certainly good fodder for future blogs and articles. In fact, will you be at Natural

Products Expo East in September? I would love to connect and see if we can get a picture of

you (or someone else from Rebecca's) to feature in Natural Foods Merchandiser and on

newhope360.com.Keep up the good work for the Charlottesville community!

KeriAn Dodson (not verified) on Aug 22, 2012

reply

Yes, we'll have a few of our people at Expo East (not sure yet if I can make it up this time

around). Bill (he's our grocery department manager) and Brandon (she's our Vitamins and

HABA department manager) are very photogenic :)

Anonymous (not verified)on Aug 21, 2012

It is not all about Whole Foods. Many independents are doing it right, and doing it for longer
http://newhope360.com/comment/reply/265441/46581http://newhope360.com/comment/reply/265441/46441http://newhope360.com/comment/reply/265441/46431


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reply

that Whole Foods. Whole Foods is all about Corporate Concentration, Buying Power, and

Exclusive Contracts, not good things for our industry


reply

LOL. You go Rachel's! A lot more naturally-raised meat in your response than in the fluff piece

about WF. LOL.


reply

I think its always done well because it serves a higher end clientelle like bristol farms and

people make it a social event its just fun to go there see the variety of healthy choices in a

community atmosphere.


reply

Whole Foods does well like Bristol Farms because of its quality variety and uniqueness. As aresult of that focus it attracts higher end clientele that remain loyal to it. Ralphs is "choc a

block" but Whole Foods has an ambience to it.

Michael Maddox (not verified) on Aug 23, 2012

reply

The Healthy Home Market started over 33 years ago providing a healthier choice of foods to

the Charlotte North Carolina area.

Over the years we've grown to 5 stores by staying true to our identity. We take great pride in

offering a wide selection of natural and organic bulk foods, groceries, meats and produce that

are scrutinized for their quality and natural goodness. We may not be 100% politically correct

in everything we sell but we constantly try and maintain that "difference" when it comes to

leading a healthier lifestyle.It is an on going battle with the larger corporate retailers. However we have survived for all

these years for a reason.

Whole Foods is the corporate giant in America as we all know but there are still plenty of small

independents across the country that are thriving in this arena.

Our employees are sincere in their values of customer service and product standards. It's that

personal interaction that reflects in customer loyalty and retention that is lost in the big box

retailers.


reply

What a ridiculous article! They are a wordwide company, with many stockholders! Of course it

is all about the money!!! Who wrote this article??? Obviously one of their high-payed pr

people! Very disappointed that new hope printed!

cbaginski (staff) on Sep 12, 2012

reply

One of our staff wrote this article and Whole Foods was not involved in any way to shape its

content.

Jim Walton (not verified) on Aug 25, 2012

Whole Foods is an American success story because of very intelligent corporate management

from the top. But that doesn't mean that this should be a model for other natural foods
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reply

businesses. The American consumer still craves - and rewards - diversity. There will always be

a market segment which will discriminate between levels of authenticity, and truth in labeling.

Ironically, Whole Foods is paving the way for its higher integrity competitors.

Anonymous (not verified) on Sep 4, 2012

reply

Hello All, if you know of some company triying to expand its market in Mexico, let me know, I

m interest on investing in a business like this in Mexico.....


reply

Our mission of providing certified organic, vegan, kosher, gluten free, allergen free, no refined

sugar and NON GMO raw chocolate to the world is one we have stuck to for 6 years. Even

though the costs of getting and staying certified is so high, we still stay credible to our

customers and our retail stores by sticking to our mission of making the purest food on the

planet. Our other important mission is taking care of our employees with free food in their

lunchroom, free health insurance, etc. We are less profitable but have an amazing crew of

employees who love their jobs and show it in their work.


reply

Taking care of employees -free food & health insurance-excellent example being set. While I

enjoy shopping at Whole Foods unfortunately that's not their part of their mission-;(
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