Wholefoods Chapter 3 Needs Assessment

Summary After viewing the film “food Inc.” the way I now view the American food industry and our government has changed. I now see the food industry for what it really is, a corrupt business empire that is protected by government officials and policies. In the film it pinpoints many different areas where the food industry has become an injustice to the citizens of America, they have also been protected by laws and policies, and also have treated the cattle, chickens, and other farm animals with such cruelty for profitable gains. Some of the areas where the food industry has become an injustice to its citizens is in the processing of mass food products that are not healthy, the advertising of products to fit the description of farm grown food

ACC 300 FSA Project Ratio Analysis of The Kroger Co. and Whole Foods Market, Inc. TEAM Jake Eriksen (002) Brycen Goldstein (002) 16 Ross Wright (001) Nicolas Kim Omar Harb (001) (002) Kroger The Kroger Co. (referred to as Kroger) is a large grocery chain audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Training and Development is imperative to the organization’s progress. Training helps addressing employee weaknesses and builds a reliable and skilled workforce. This will improve the employees’ performance and boost their self confidence, and innovation. By acquiring the needed knowledge and skills, employees can perform more efficiently and increase the overall productivity of the organization.

When the organization invests in training and development to improve the knowledge and skills of its employees, the investment is expected to yield productive and effective employees. The programs could be focused on individual performance or team performance depending on the development need identified by a training needs analysis which helps in the creation and implementation of training and management development programs. In the view of Grobler, Warnich, Carrel, Elbert and Hatfield (2004:345), training needs have to be determined first.

This report is written in order to perform financial analysis on Whole Foods Market Inc and its competitor Safeway Inc. This in depth report is both to determine which company is doing financially better and how also how they are doing comparing them to their whole industry.

As our short-term objectives evolve with Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, it is important to identify and clearly state our objectives the long run.

The Whole Foods (WF) annual report for 2010 states “Our growth strategy is to expand primarily through new store openings. We have a disciplined, opportunistic real estate strategy, opening stores in existing trade areas as well as new areas, including international locations. Our new stores typically are located on premium real estate sites and range in size between 35,000 and 50,000 square feet which we believe is appropriate in most circumstances to maximize return on invested capital and Economic Value Added (“EVA®”). Our growth strategy includes opening new stores in existing and new areas and operating those stores successfully.” (Flanagan, G. 2010). This means they are growing and spreading their wings out into a large variety of regions. The report also stated in order to meet those goals “many of our competitors went back and forth on their pricing strategies, we stayed true to our goal of offering a clear value choice in every department through compelling prices on known value items, as well as targeted pricing and promotional strategies” (Flanagan, G. 2010).

The company that I choose is Chick-fil-A, quick-service U.S. chicken restaurant. Since fast food restaurants are based on both goods and services, chicken and customer services are their primary resources. The headquarter is located in the Atlanta suburb of College Park, Georgia, and the Internet address is www.Chick-fil-a.com/

In this case, an analysis of the outputs for Whole Foods Market was performed. As with the previous case in regards to inputs, the purpose of this analysis is to determine the company’s outputs, how they interact, and how they help Whole Foods achieve their company goals. As such, determining the outputs, understanding how they are measured, and analyzing the congruency between the functions are imperative to determining how they fit into the organization.

Food Inc., a documentary on the secrets of the food industry in America, captures it’s audience’s attention by sharing some disturbing information on where their food really comes from. People in America are fooled today by the pictures and advertisements that paint an innocent picture of a farm, tricking consumers into thinking what they’re buying is real, grown food. The food industry has many dirty secrets about it’s food production methods and is scared to reveal any of them because it could put their product sales in jeopardy. The content of this intriguing film compare with chapter 19 of the history textbook in many ways. In chapter 19 of our history books, the topic of awful work conditions and standards are discussed.

With food retailing, the relationships between food manufacturers and retailers have been traditionally fairly complicated. We certainly see this complicated relationship with the mega box retailers. Manufacturers often pay slotting fees for shelf space and fund promotions, which means that they are subsidizing the advertising for their products. Trader Joe’s on the other hand have taken a much different approach. Trader Joe’s has eliminated many of the middlemen as they buy directly from the manufacturers. They buy large quantities, don’t sell shelf space, don’t offer discounts or coupons, and most importantly, they pay their suppliers quickly rather than stretching out the accounts payable for as long as possible. They do however change the balance of power in the supplier relationship by buying

There are several factors that appeal to me for working at Whole Foods. In doing my research about the Whole Foods Market and John Mackey I learned a lot such as how it was established, and the history of John Mackey as well. In today's era it is very rare to find an employer who has a genuine concern with his employees, giving back to charities, and the community. I feel it is heartwarming to know that Mackey set-up a fund for his employees if they were going through personal issues and needed monies. He gave money to charities, and got to a point in his career that he no longer saw it as a profit to himself. He also promotes growth and encourages his employees to push for higher expectations. I would most definitely work for this company

Dot Foods’ formal origin can be traced to a small garage in rural Illinois in 1960. While the formal beginning may have started a garage, the idea that would become Dot Foods had been developing in Robert Tracy’s mind for several years (Tracy, 2016).

Whole Foods Market (WFM) was founded in 1980 as a single local grocery store by John Mackey for natural and health foods. By 1991, WFM had 10 up-and-running stores with revenues of about $92.5 million in United States Dollars (USD), and a net income of about $1.6 million in USD. In 1992 WFM became a publicly traded company with its stock trading on the NASDAQ. By 2006 Whole Foods Market had progressed into the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarket. As of September 2007 WFM has 276 stores up-and-running. 263 of the stores are located throughout 37 of the U.S. and the District of Columbia. 7 of the stores are in Canada and 6 in the U.K.

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.