Can Whole Foods Serve Chicago Southside Soul Analysis

As I walked into Wawa, I could confidently tell you where everything is because the layouts of every Wawa in New Jersey are almost identical. There is a wall of refrigerators filled with soda to the right as you walk in, a side of the store towards the back reserved for making sandwiches, endless shelves of junk food by the registers at the front entrance and the refrigerators filled with soda, and an open freezer area in the middle of the store with some “healthier” foods. The amount of people inside took me completely by surprise as I opened the door because there was a lack of cars parked in the parking lot. I personally felt like I was in a grocery store rather than a Wawa. What I first noticed was the demographic of the customers in the Wawa. Almost all of the people in the store were either hispanic or african american. With people suffering from poverty and a lack of cars in the parking lot, I realized that many of these people walked to the store probably because they didn’t have cars. As I browsed through each aisle I found that Wawa had a nice selection of milk, fresh bread, and cereals that anyone can afford. As I attempted to search the store for any food filled with quality nutrients that wasn’t a dairy or wheat, the number of options weren’t to thrilling. Wawa’s fresh fruit consisted of about 5 red apples, 3 bananas,

All food should be available to all people. The concept of this is dwelled on in the article, “Food justice and Food retail in Los Angeles” by Mark Valliantos. Throughout the article, Valliantos maintains the notion that healthy food should be within everyone’s reach, yet inner cities are still suffering from shortages of fresh produce. To see this issue in action, Valliantos documented this reoccurring phenomenon in Los Angeles. The author gives a description of two areas within the city of Los Angeles, and how they are economically divided based on the amount of healthy produce one has at its disposal. He makes note of programs that already exist to help low income families receive healthy foods that they could not afford. He also

Whole Foods is a retailer that specializes in organic foods and it has done an excellent job of determining its target market and how to position itself. Instead of going head to head with large food retailers such as Wal-Mart, Whole Foods has found a niche market that works perfectly for itself. This niche market is one that prides itself on being health conscious and environmentally responsible and Whole Foods has done a great job of positioning itself in the same way through its environmentally safe actions and its use of the local community to stock its stores. However, as Whole Foods grows and expands, a person has to wonder if the company will be able to maintain this same position or will have to make

(Love & Das, 2016, para. 7). However, Love and Das (2016) expound on the inefficiency of this solution by stating that it “does not bridge the gaps to healthy food” because of their inability to invest in the community and understand their needs (para 12). Using vivid language throughout the article, the authors make their point emotionally impactful by emphasizing that big-chain grocery stores “lur[ed…] to the hood” leave when they no longer profit from maintaining a store in these neighborhoods (Love & Das, 2016, para. 9). Rightfully criticizing the existing solution, the authors expose the superficiality and inefficient manner of only bringing in more stores into neighborhoods. Moreover, by criticizing the superficiality of the existing solution, the authors suggest that eliminating food deserts involves a more personal investment into the betterment of the community. Overall, Love and Das permit the readers to gain an emotional insight on the impact food deserts have on low-income populations and understand the limiting nutrition conditions by appealing to

Collectively, there are fewer full service stores in wards 5, 7, and 8 than in ward 3 alone. These wards can be referred to as a ‘food desert’, urban neighborhoods or rural towns without access to fresh, healthy and affordable foods. This is a large contributor to the problem. If someone cannot easily access the right foods, are they expected to go out of their way to get it? Perhaps, but it certainly isn’t the reality.

These conflicts exist in the demographics served by Whole Foods – the elite and well to do. If Mackey is a conscious capitalist and servant leader and practices what he preaches he would have stores which are accessible to persons of all demographics. This has been the main complaint against Mackey and the one which the potential to damage his credibility as a servant leader and conscious capitalist and thus the good work of his legacy. Recently Mackey acknowledged the weakness of his legacy this and answered the call to provide good food for people of all incomes be creating Whole Food’s Market 365 stores, which only sell the stores brand. The 365 stores will have price points which are easily affordable to persons of middle and lower income (Kowitt,

The factors that would appeal to working at Whole Foods are that they values employees. When a company give employees the resources they need to be successful, this goes a long way with the employee. The employee feels empowered, will be loyal the company, and to management. Employees will go out of their way for the company if management makes them feel valued and appreciated (Kainkan, (2015. Knowing that management ways you to be successful makes the employee want to do everything they can to do exceptional quality work for the customers and are committed to achieving the company’s goal. This dedication is directly benefited by profits for the company.

Whole Foods Market Inc. has developed into one of the most prominent supermarket chains that only market foods without artificial preservatives, colors, flavors and etc. Starting in 1978 as a small vegetarian store and now has developed into a $13.7 billion that has just recently been bought by Amazon. Whole Foods started the efforts in the grocery industry to base its food based on healthy living. This calls for food products to be sourced responsibly and call on innovative solutions that can improve Whole Foods environmental footprint. By doing so the company provides a strong contribution to the communities it does business in. While there is no argument to the accomplishments of Whole Foods, the company has not been free of criticisms. For example, the company has been accused of placing local stores out of business which has resulted in mixed responses from some of its customers. Some other ethical issues also include the questionable activity by CEO John Mackey and an antitrust investigation. This analysis will provide a background on the ethical dilemma Whole Foods had to undergo.

According to an article that was published by the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, many grocers are finding that customers are changing their preferences about their food, and are now wanting fresh foods and organic foods in their local supermarkets. This paired with increasing transportation costs are causing grocers to rethink the ideas and processes of large centralized distribution centers (Ernst & Woods, 2012).

As Whole Foods has increased the number of retail centers that it operates, it has suffered accompanying growing pains in the distribution of its products to the store. They are growing at such a fast rate that supply can’t keep up with demand. A big reason for inefficiency is Whole Foods’ decentralized back-end. It has 12 geographic divisions, a national headquarters in Austin, regional distribution centers, bakery facilities, kitchens, seafood processing facilities, meat and produce procurement centers and a specialty coffee/tea procurement operation. Product wise, Whole Foods is differentiated because all products are sourced locally. Whole Foods stores operate under the premise that they need these freedoms to meet the unique buying needs of its local customers. A down side to this local purchasing policy is consistency. Every retail location carries a variety of products that distinguishes it from other stores in the same chain. Whole Foods believes that the company’s emphasis on perishables and locally-sourced produce differentiates their stores from run-of-the-mill supermarkets and attracts loyal and

Canton had many restaurants and markets and supermarkets and food sources, but Madison had just a couple corner stores and one “supermarket”. Combined with the data we gathered from research that half of Madison residents do not have access to cars, we identified that Madison might be a “food desert”. A food desert is a place where it is exceedingly difficult to find food, and harder to find healthy hood, and even more expensive. The people in Madison have very limited options in terms of access to food, and are thus forced to spend comparatively more of their resources in order to access the food they need. I thought the “day in the market’ initiative put on by Johns Hopkins University was an important first step, but I am not sure if it does enough to meet the needs of the

Thirty six years ago John Mackey started a grocery store based on his vision of a business that provides customers only natural foods. Based on a simple but effective business model, Whole Foods has grown to a position of market leadership that is now being challenged by low-cost organic sellers. According to Feldman (as cited in Giammona, 2015) “Whole Foods continues to face challenges from competitors going after organic and natural foods more aggressively”(para. 4). The company 's differentiation edge against lower-cost competitors is fading as competitors have been successfully emulating the Whole Foods experience (Sharma,2015).Furthermore, Wahba (2016) noted that the company 's "Whole Paycheck" reputation is hurting sales and driving customers away to other low-priced organic food competitors.

Whole Foods has spearheaded efforts in the grocery industry to source its food products responsibly and search for innovative solutions to improve its environmental footprint. The company emphasizes healthy living and seeks to contribute to the communities in which it does business. However, despite Whole Foods’ significant accomplishments in business ethics, it has not been free from criticism. In its pursuit of growth, it has been accused of placing local stores out of business

Introduction: By 2006, Whole Foods Market had evolved into the “world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets.” Their rapid growth and success is primarily due to being highly selective about what they sell, as well as being dedicated quality standards and core values. Whole Food’s stated mission statement was to “promote vitality and well-being for all individuals by offering the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful natural and naturally preserved foods available.” Situational Analysis

Whole Foods Market began in 1970 as a local supermarket. Over the past 31 years, Whole Foods Market has grown from a single store in Austin, Texas, to becoming one of the worldwide leaders in providing consumers with natural and organic foods. They have grown to over 300 stores in both North America and the United Kingdom. (Whole Foods Market, Inc., 2011) This report examines the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market has put into place. Also, it uses past financial data to provide an assessment of the condition of the company going forward. Those assessments include recommendations of future actions, along with concerns I have about the way the company is currently operating and some difficulties that may be on the way.