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[edit] Corporate Facts

[edit] Corporate History

Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin Texas by John Mackey, Renee Lawson Hardy, Craig Weller and Mark Skiles with the intention of creating a natural foods supermarket. Whole Foods Market first opened its doors to the public in 1980 to immediate success. While the growth of the WFM chain is largely due to mergers and acquisitions of companies like Wellspring Grocery, Bread & Circus and Mrs. Gooche’s, WFM has furthered its success by expanding into new and small competition markets.

Beginning in the early 70’s the roots of Whole Foods Market started with the opening of companies The Granary in Pacific Grove, California and Whole Food Company in New Orleans, Louisiana. Along with other natural food stores, co-ops, restaurants and coffee companies opening to the public throughout the mid and late 70’s offering a healthy alternative, the foundations of what would later become the health food giant found their markets.

In 1980 , Safer Way Natural Foods and Clarksville Natural Grocery joined to open the first Whole Foods Market in Austin, Texas and establish Texas Health Distributors as their wholesale supplier along with other natural food stores and restaurants. Within a couple years they began leasing space within their store to small companies and by 1984 Whole Foods opened up their second store in Houston, Texas. By 1986, Whole Foods takes a new turn in its efforts to grow by purchasing Bluebonnet Natural Foods Grocery in Dallas, Texas. By 1988, WFM moves out of Texas by purchasing Whole Food Company in New Orleans, Louisiana and then by opening a store in Palo Alto, California in 1989.

Throughout the 90’s Whole Foods continues it procurement of companies Wellspring Grocery, Bread & Circus, Sourdough: A European Bakery, Mrs. Gooch's Natural, Bread of Life in the San Francisco bay area, Unicorn Village, Oak Street Market, Fresh Fields Markets, Pigeon Cove Trading Company, Bread of Life chain in Florida, Amrion Inc, Granary Market, Allegro Coffee Company, The Merchant of Vino, Nature's Heartland. In 1992 Whole Foods became public and began trading stock in the Nasdaq market. Whole Foods also started its own line of products such as 365 Every Day Value and Whole kids.

Since the year 2000 Whole foods has acquisitioned Food 4 Thought Natural Food Market & Deli, Harry's Farmers Market, Seattle's Select Fish and Fresh & Wild. Launching their website, publishing cook books and later merging with e-retailers Gaiam.com,WFM continues its expansion into new markets. With fiscal sales reaching into the billions, WFM begins doing new environment friendly things like incorporating solar and wind power into some of its stores. Whole foods debuts on the Fortune 500 and launches non-profits Animal Compassion Foundation and Whole Planet Foundation. By the year 2005 Whole foods was named one of the best companies to work for by fortune magazine for the 8th year in a row. Whole Foods has become the nations first certified organic grocer and awarded the Green Power Leadership Award by the EPA.

While WFM has been credited with being responsible for bringing out the organic market, one of its biggest criticisms has been with its treatment of its employees. Ironically, being named as one of the best companies to work for doesn’t say much in light of union busting, questionable lay-offs, low-wages and poor health care benefits. While Whole Foods has encouraged its livestock farmers to treat their animals better it’s been reluctant to step up its efforts for strawberry pickers. Whole Foods distributed flyers and handouts written by the Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance, a front organization for corporate interest. The Strawberry Workers and Farmers Alliance have been closely affiliated with the notorious right wing PR firm “The Dolphin Group”. Whole Foods has also been accused of using consumer conscious labels such as “fair trade coffee” as a reason to mark up its goods.

The CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackay has been quoted as stating “Here’s the way I like to think of it. The union is like having herpes. It doesn’t kill you, but it’s unpleasant and inconvenient and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover” (Business and Society Review, 6/22/92). Mackey has been a known opponent of unions going as far as writing a 20 page article entitled “Beyond unions”, detailing has anti-union philosophy. Still, Mackay’s own company policy limits the salaries of top executives (including his own) to no more than 14 times the average salary of all full-time employees.

[edit] Corporate Governance

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In February 2007, Whole Foods Market announced the acquisition of Wild Oats Markets. Wild Oats, based out of Boulder Colorado, Is also a well known natural foods market. Wild Oats currently has 110 stores in 24 states and also in Canada. The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is looking to stop the acquisition. Claiming that the merger will eliminate competition in the natural-foods industry, therefore increasing prices and lowering quality. The FTC is looking to go as far as a Federal lawsuit to stop this merger.

[edit] Criticisms

[edit] Environmental Issues

• In California in January 2004, the Environmental Working Group and the Center for Environmental Health presented a notice of intent to file an anti-toxin lawsuit against two B.C. salmon farms, Marine Harvest and the Stolt Sea Farm group, along with and 48 additional U.S. and Canadian salmon farms, fish processors and grocery chains, including Whole Foods. The companies have been accused of failing to warn consumers the fish contain what the two environmental groups defined as potentially dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals known as PCBs. The two groups were petitioning salmon farmers to stop feeding practices that lead to high concentrations of PCBs -- chemicals known to cause cancer, reproductive harm and nervous-system damage. Source: PETA, June 2003

[edit] Animal Welfare Issues

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• In June 2003, members of PETA gathered in front of Whole Foods’ Austin, TX headquarters to protest the company’s practice of purchasing duck meat from Grimaud Farms where workers chop the end off of ducks’ bills to keep them from mutilating each other. Grimaud Farms is also a producer of foie gras, the enlarged livers of force-fed ducks and geese. In 2002, PETA began petitioning Whole Foods to take steps to ensure the improved treatment of animals sold in its stores. As of June 2003, Whole Foods had declined to respond. Source: PETA, June 2003

[edit] Worker's Rights Complaints

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• Whole Foods achieved a score of 57 on the Human Rights Campaign 2005 Corporate Equality Index which rates large corporations on policies that affect their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The 2005 HRC Corporate Equality Index rated companies on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent on seven factors. The company also achieved a score of 57 on the organization's 2004 Corporate Equality Index. source: Human Rights Campaign

• In 2002, the first successful union drive took place at a Whole Foods in Madison, Wisconsin. Union Officials were critical of Whole Foods’ reluctance to negotiate with unions and suspicious of the abrupt firing of two pro-union employees after one employee gave a co-worker a drink she’d accidentally made with soy rather than skim milk. Before unionization, workers at the Madison store perceived the management’s allotment of promotions and pay raises as subjective: workers with the same seniority frequently found they were earning different amounts. source: The New York Times, May 24, 2003

[edit] Praise

• Whole Foods switching to all wind power in U.S.: "Deal for wind power credits makes Whole Foods the biggest corporate user of wind power in the country."

• In June 2003, Whole Foods announced that it was the first national grocer to have its operations declared "Certified Organic" by Quality Assurance International, an independent third-party certification organization with federal recognition. Source: PR Newswire, June 6, 2003

• Whole Foods-owned Allegro Coffee worked with Coffee Kids, a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of coffee farmers and their families, to build two schools in Mexico for coffee workers. The company also worked with the NPO to sponsor a "health action network for women in Guatemala." Source: Eco Mall

• Whole Foods ranked 70th on Business Ethics' list of "The 100 Best Corporate Citizens" of 2004. Companies were chosen according to its relations with employees, customers, and the community as well as its commitment to the environment and diversity. Source: Business Ethics

• Fair Trade: Allegro Coffee Company, owned by Whole Foods, espouses a fair trade policy, though the company does not sell TransFair or otherwise certified coffees. The company asserts that Fair Trade programs are exclusionary in that they do not apply to family owned farms or to the poorest countries. Allegro Coffee, therefore, has a policy of paying premiums directly to farmers instead of going through certifying agencies. Source: Coffee Chronicles

• Whole Foods sells Fair Trade products, which are purchased at an above-average price to ensure that farmers and their families have a sustainable income. Whole Foods sells certified Fair Trade bananas. Source: Christian Science Monitor 9-29-03/Grocery HQ 10-04

• In September 2003, Whole Foods initiated a "Bouquet for a Cure" program in support of breast cancer foundations and the Race for the Cure. In the Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Diego areas, Whole Foods Market stores began selling fresh flower bouquets for a limited time, with three dollars of every bouquet going to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the Komen Race for the Cure. Bouquets cost $12.99 each. Source: Business Wire, September 16, 2003

• According to their their website, Whole Foods pledges to donate five percent of their annual net profits to non-for-profit organizations. Company policy states that each Whole Foods will be an active member of their local community. Individual stores participate in local Earth and Health festivals, sponsor blood drives, and donate food to shelters.

• Whole Foods has a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. Source: Human Rights Campaign

• Whole Foods-owned Allegro Coffee is a member of Ecocycle's "Buy Recycled Network," a program designed to connect member businesses, organizations, and suppliers of recycled products, thereby allowing businesses to share success stories, receive discounts on recycled products, and further integrate an environmentally responsible program into their daily operations. Source: Ecocycle

• According to their sustainable future policy and In order to promote recycling and reusing to reduce waste and the use of nonrenewable resources, Whole Foods offers a five cent discount per bag when customers supply their own.

• Whole Foods works with with Earth University, a non-profit group that seeks to contribute to sustainable development in the humid tropics by seeking a balance between agricultural production and environmental protection. The group has certified Whole Foods' bananas in 40 stores, primarily in the Northeast. Source: USA Today, Jan. 21, 2004

• Whole Foods ranked 30th on Fortune's "100 Best Companies to Work For" in 2004. The company was listed because of its wage disclosure report that lists the gross pay of all employees and its use of a salary cap that limits compensation to 14 times the average total of all the company's full-time employees. Whole Foods ranked 47th on the magazine's 2003 listing. Source: Fortune, Jan. 24, 2005

[edit] Brands & Subsidiaries

Allegro Coffee Company, Pigeon Cove, Select Fish