Whole Foods Merger

John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, the co-founders of the current Whole Foods Market, simply wanted to provide quality healthy food to the American consumer. This was about three decades ago when the first store opened. According to Mackey, making money was not the first priory, but helping people to eat better was. Happily for Mackey and Lawson, the residents of Austin Texas were hungry, no pun intended, for just this type of product. At the time, though there were several small independent healthy food stores, there was not a full sized grocery store. This is what set Mackey and Lawson apart from their competitors, their enormous sized health food grocery store was a huge success and now Whole Foods Market (WFM) is not only a

Whole Foods was established in 1980 with one store in Austin, Texas. Today, Whole Foods is the world’s largest leader in natural and organic foods. There are over 310 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods is committed to the finest natural and organic foods available, sustainable agriculture and have one of the strictest of quality standards. Whole Foods offers customers a wide variety of products. “Natural” refers to food that is free of growth hormones or antibiotics, where “certificated

Whole Foods, just like any other retailer right now, has been struggling with the economy. The external environment has been changing in uphill and downhill motions daily, something that Whole Foods has never experienced before. Not only is there pressure on the financials of the corporation, but also there is the pressure to go green.

Who exactly are Whole Foods? They are one of the finest natural and organic foods grocery store in the US. The store maintains the strictest quality standards in the natural foods industry and an unshakable commitment to sustaining agriculture. Whole Foods as a brand are currently growing and spreading like wildfire. Moreover, with the successful chain planning to open 100 new stores by 2017, we are yet to see how much more the organic grocer has lined in store for us.

Whole Foods Market, Inc, is an Austin, Texas based foods grocery that has the finest natural and organic food available, including produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, beer, wine, cheese; in addition to whole body, floral, pet products, and household products. Whole Foods is among the most profitable health food retailers in the United States. The rapid growth and market success has much to do with having remained a uniquely mission-driven company, highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to their core values, stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture.

Whole Foods is known for its quality: Quality ingredients and a unique shopping experience is its foundation. Whole Foods shoppers expect ingredients that adhere to their moral values and that are in line with their social status.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. was founded and created by four business people in Austin, TX during 1980. The founders opened Whole Foods Market because they wanted a supermarket that offered natural foods. This company was able to be successful because at the time they opened there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United Sates. In 1984, they build stores in Houston and Dallas, they then moved to New Orleans, and eventually to the West Coast. A major part of Whole Foods growth has come from the many mergers and acquisitions with companies that have occurred throughout the years. The mergers and acquisitions gave Whole Foods’ even revenues to move to the East Coast.

Whole Foods continues to grow as the leader in organic and natural grocery supplier in the United States, Canada, and England. The company has continued to open new stores in new markets, as well as, opening two 365 by Whole Foods Market stores. Whole Foods became the industry leader by providing high quality natural and organic food products for consumers, which is a better and healthier product for consumers to consume. This is a big part of their competitive advantage. Other grocery stores are limited in their organic supplies, where as at Whole Foods, it is the primary focus. Another comparison is that with the help of Instacart, Whole foods is now the leader when it comes to delivery of fresh groceries then any other grocery in the industry. (Quarterly Results)

As of September 2015 Whole Foods Incorporated had 431 stores in the United States, Britain and Scotland. Over the years since its inception Whole Foods Incorporated has grown steadily recording high revenues that have made it to be recognized as a Fortune 500 company. It has accomplished this by sticking to its original mission of retailing organic foods in a market where other retail stores mainly retail processed foods that are high in calories and hydrogenated fats. During the 2008 recession, revenues in Whole Foods Inc. dropped as this company struggled to meet its operation costs with a receding number of shoppers, this caused the company to close some of its stores in Britain for failing to meet is profitability targets (Market, 2008).

Whole Foods Market is a conglomerate of more than a dozen different acquired natural food grocery stores whose mission and vision fell right in line with that of the parent store. The Whole Food Market Core Values are far reaching and touch several significant ideologies including; providing quality products, customer satisfaction, employee happiness, wealth creation, community service, environmental conservancy, building sustainable supplier partnerships, and healthy eating promotion. Their Mission goes beyond providing whole healthy foods that are both good to and for their customers to contributing to a greater good. More so than just for profit, they focus on the triple bottom line for people, planet and profit; which is incorporated into

Whole Foods Market is a grocery store that features and specializes in natural and organic foods and products. Whole Food Market has headquarters in Austin, Texas. John Mackey is the founder and he established the store in 1980. The store began in Texas and later expanded to California and other states on the East Coast of the USA. There are Whole Foods Markets across the United States and also in the United Kingdom. Recently, Whole Foods Market purchase another health food store chain, Wild Oats. The success and expansion of Whole Foods Market over the past 32 years must be in part due to marketing. This paper will examine aspects of Whole Foods Market and how those factors contribute to the store's progress.

Another important event that happened to Whole Foods was in 2001. Whole foods acquired most of Harry’s Farmers Market Inc.’s assets for $35 million. Whole Foods at the

Whole Foods Market has expanded by a mixture of opening its own new stores and acquiring already existing stores. Today WFM does not follow this strategy, instead their motivation is to open its own large stores. This is due to noticeable sales differences in larger stores as opposed to smaller stores. WFM locates these newer stores in upscale areas of urban metropolitan centers and high-traffic shopping locations. Not all WFMs are isolated structures; some are located in strip malls. WFM offers a larger selection of natural and organic foods than any other grocery store. WFMs marketing expenditure is extremely small. They spend a measly 0.5% of their revenues on advertising. Their chief marketing strategy relies on word-of-mouth. WFM strives to meet or exceed customer expectations. This is so customers receive competent, knowledgeable, and friendly service and become advocates of WFM. The employees here have a decentralized team approach for store operations. This is so some personnel, merchandising, and operating

Over the past few decades, the diet and health food industry has become big business. Americans, along with people in many other countries, have become more educated about the benefits of exercising regularly and eating healthy. Whole Foods Market is pursuing a business strategy that strives to offer products that are of the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and natural foods possible (Whole Foods Market,

Whole Foods Market® is the world’s leading food market chain of natural and organic foods, with 193 stores in thirty-one states, Canada and the United Kingdom. Originally established in Austin, Texas in 1980. They own and operate many subsidiaries. Allegro Coffee Company was formed in 1977 and purchased by Whole Foods Market in 1997, currently acting as their coffee roasting and distribution center. Acquired in 1996, Pigeon Cove is Whole Foods’ seafood processing facility, the sole food market to own and operate a waterfront seafood facility. Two other subsidiaries are Produce Field Inspection Office and Select Fish, which is Whole Foods’ West Coast seafood processing facility acquired in 2003. In addition, the company has eight distribution centers, seven regional bake houses and four commissaries (Pearce & Robinson, 2013).