Whole Foods Whole Paycheck Analysis

Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage

The Expansion Period. Beginning in 1984, Whole Foods Market began its expansion out of Austin, first to Houston and Dallas and then into New Orleans with the purchase of Whole Food Company in 1988. In 1989, we expanded to the West Coast with a store in Palo Alto, California. While continuing to open new stores from the ground up, we fueled rapid growth by acquiring other natural foods chains throughout the '90s: Wellspring Grocery of North Carolina, Bread & Circus of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Mrs. Gooch 's Natural Foods Markets of Los Angeles, Bread of Life of Northern California, Fresh Fields Markets on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Florida Bread of Life stores, Detroit area Merchant of Vino stores, and Nature 's Heartland of Boston.

Every retail location carries a variety of products that distinguishes it from other stores in the same chain. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to achieve economies of scale. Supply Chain Mackey describes his consumers as being “part of a cult”. 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 devoted customers. However, “fresh produce” is one of the most challenging product categories to operate due to limited product shelf life and high cost of spoilage. Whole Foods has tried to circumvent most of the problems inherent in supplying fresh produce to its stores by sourcing locally and having short and flexible supply chains. In the case of fruits and vegetables, Whole Foods has buying relationships with local farmers who supply the store with seasonal produce. Thus, if one farmer is unable to produce a sufficient amount of yellow corn or heirloom tomatoes, the shortfall can be made up by another farmer. Although challenging to perfect, these short supply chains are agile and difficult for other big retailers to duplicate.

In the article “Can Whole Food Serve Chicago Southside Soul”, Natalie E. Moore reveals the announcement of the executives of a nationwide organic grocery chain, Whole Foods, on its opening store in Englewood, Chicago South Side. Moore pulls out several tweets of individuals’ concerning the chance of success of Whole Foods, which are mostly negative. However, in my point of view as a consumer, there are many opportunities for Whole Foods in term of the location, the neighborhood’s background history and more jobs for local resident regardless the disadvantages resident’s low income status and the complication on neighborhood security.

What makes this meal so unique was not as much the item itself, but the way I always chose to eat it. The first step was to pull back the tin foil that’s crinkling sound gave me goosebumps as if I had just listened to Jimi Hendricks play the “Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock in 1969. I ate the first mouthwatering half of the burrito before removing the rest of the tin foil and emptying the tortilla contents on top of my chips that are complementary with each meal. Using my fingers, I rubbed the tortilla back and forth feeling for any food remaining inside to ensure that it had all ended up in the bowl. I then drenched the now nachos in the famous Kaiser salsa and steaming hot queso. Using a combination of my fingers and the oh so familiar black plastic fork, I proceeded to take my first bite, aroused by the crunch that filled my ears, mixed with the flavors that were taking over every single taste bud in my mouth. Before I knew it, the entire plate was cleared, but it could not have been more satisfying and I could not wait until the next Sunday when this adventure would begin all over

On the one hand, the location is a major advantage. It is close to major transportation and near Kennedy-King, a newly designed City College, with the enrollment of 6000 students. Whole Foods can be a very good place for a hungry students or business people who work in this former “second downtown” (3). Having said that, one of the biggest changes Whole Foods can make is to provide an opportunity to shop for the finest, freshest, the most natural and organic food available. In other words, to bring a new “food oasis” in a long standing “food desert” right within the community. On the other hand, the background history of the neighborhood is a surprising factor that promises a great chance to sell fresh and healthy products: It has a “number of bona fine community’s assets, including many working and middle-class families living there” (3). One of the findings in the Chicago Food Desert Progress Report on June 2011 by Mari Gallagher is that “The Food Desert has many low-income residents, but not everyone is poor. Middle and upper middle class residents also live there. For example, in 2010, we identified over 12,000 Food Desert households that earn over $100,000 per year” (3). In my point of view, these families are willing to shop for better and healthier foods. Gradually, they will be able to make a great influence on the

People have ideas that in today's society professional athletes are swimming in money, but do they really know what their athletes paychecks look like? These paychecks aren’t always what they seem to be.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) lives through their motto of “Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet.” WFM opened their first store in Austin, Texas with 19 employees in 1980. Today, WFM has 311 stores in the US, Canada and the UK, and employs more than 72,700 employees. Whole Foods Market is one of the largest natural and organic food retailers in North America. WFM has grown to its size today mostly through mergers and acquisitions of such brands as Bread and Circus and Natures Heartland. In 2011 and 2012 Whole Foods Market was added to the Fortune 100 “Best Places to Work” list. Fortune Magazine (2012)

I bought a few more items but those were the most intriguing. I HAD to purchase the whole hard red wheat berries because I’ve wanted to grind my own flour using my NutriBullet for my online dessert shop. You guys know I use “special flour” for my customers. LOL, The seafood shop and the butcher shop were not fully open so I couldn’t see their entire selection. I managed to talk with a few of the employees because they were pretty inquisitive as to why I was recording and taking pictures. I explained my blog to them and they invited me to return tomorrow for the grand opening ceremony when reporters and news stations would be present. I’m thinking about going back! You guys should definitely go there for the grand opening ceremony at 7:30 a.m. because they will be offering free coffee and pastries until 8 a.m. The first 200 guests will receive either a $10, $20, or $100 Whole Foods Market gift card and the first 500 guests will receive a free reusable shopping bag. So you will definitely be able to leave out of the store with

Overview: Provide a brief overview of the company. Include such details as its history, present day situation, and any other pertinent information you think is helpful in understanding the company (points 5)

Up to now, Whole Foods always be considered as a slow responder so they need to step up with the game. They did not pay so much attention on the online shopping while other player like Walmart has been develop its own pick up system.

Whole Foods has been adaptive in fitting its competitive strategy to its situation. The store first grew to prominence by being a stylish antithesis to the crunchy mom-and-pop organic grocery stores, providing a relatively normal but

Marketed as ‘America’s healthiest grocery store’ the company has successfully grown to 408 stores across the world with sales of $14 billion in 2014 (Whole Foods Market, 2015). The firm is positioned as an upmarket grocery due to the emphasis on natural, organic origins, and as a result are able to charge a premium for their products. Through efficiently running its operations and stores, Whole Foods are able to maintain healthy 4.02% profit margins (Financial Times, 2015) and operating margins well above the American grocery store industry average at 6.58% (Bloomberg, 2015). Looking at 2015’s quarter 1 figures it is clear to see that Whole Foods have had a hugely successful year with sales of $4.7 billion, up 10% from the same period last year. Furthermore, they opened 9 new stores and have signed a further 11 new leases.

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

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.