Whole Foods and The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I love Whole Foods and really wish that there were one closer to my home in Sound Beach–not that the hour drive each way stops me from going regularly. The selection of organic and natural foods is far beyond anything else on Long Island.
Tonight, the co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market, John Mackey discuss the past, present, and future of food before joining author Michael Pollan in a conversation that continues the exchange of views the two have been conducting since the publication of Pollan’s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.”
The chat is taking place tonight in Berkeley, CA, but you can watch it live online at 10:00 p.m. EST.
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It is unfortunate that so often what becomes popular in mainstream food culture also becomes accepted as the blind standard which no one questions. I would politely suggest that in using the word “love” you might want to look a bit deeper at Whole Foods.
If you take, for example, Mr. Mackey’s response to Mr. Pollan’s book (which you can see at):
http://www.wholefoods.com/blogs/jm/archives/2006/05/an_open_letter.html
You will see that Mr. Mackey states a few points quite clearly:
1) “Whole Foods Market has done more to advance the natural and organic foods movement in general and local organic growers and artisanal food producers specifically than any other business currently operating in North America”
2) “I regret that you did not engage in any serious research about how Whole Foods Market actually does business or you would have discovered that we support local and small farm food production all over the United States as well as in other parts of the world.” This is Mr. Mackey commenting on Mr. Pollan’s book.
3) “Whole Foods Market, despite its size, does not operate as a typical monolithic corporation such as Wal-Mart (with which you associate Whole Foods Market several times in your book). Our company continues to operate on a decentralized model wherein each of our 11 regions, as well as each store, has a high level of autonomy.”
4) “We screen our offerings by the quality standards I mentioned earlier and try to offer as many natural and organic products as possible, but we don’t try to channel our customers into adopting any particular dietary regime.”
Points 1 and 4 might be of particular note. Whole Foods has blurred the definitions for the average consumer of what is organic and what is “natural.” Most customers are not food experts; they instead rely upon experts or certifications to tell them what is or is not healthy. How is Whole Foods blurring of this line any different then from what a number of lobbyists for large corporate concerns tried to get the USDA to do? (I am referring to protests by the Grocery Manufacturers of America, etc over the USDA Organic Label.)
Points 2 and 3 are actually the same thing. Whole Foods is the largest retail organization of its kind in its industry (basically health food) in the USA. Wal-mart is the largest in its’ industry. Both companies are successful because they work on a decentralized business model whose flexibility offers a significant competitive advantage. I would refer you to Sam Walton’s autobiography “Made In America” as well as “What I Learned from Sam Walton.” Sam Walton clearly states that he views his operation as a distribution network and then as a store. Whole Foods recent acquisitions of distribution and import / warehousing companies in Atlanta, New Jersey, Maryland, etc would seem to be identical in mentality. Look at the blogs of Whole Foods employees complaining about how hard it is to go from a part-time employee to full-time, and compare those to Wal-Mart employee blogs complaining about the same thing.
This is not an entirely negative thing, by the way. This blind opposition to big business in support of the underdog is very American and commendable. But a big business claiming not to be a big business but offering the benefits associated with economies of scale is misleading. I can buy a bag of almond flour for $13.99 at Whole Foods, and $14.99 at my local health food store. How is this different from Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart’s emphasis on low cost keeps the US inflation rate 2-3% lower then it would otherwise be. Inflation, as you know, means that you can buy less for every dollar you have. I point this out not to praise Wal-Mart, but to illustrate that economies of scale can benefit retail customers and that is exactly what Whole Foods is doing.
Are any of the above points “bad things?” I am not passing judgment for or against regarding Whole Foods. But I am saying that reading corporate press releases and good in-store retail marketing should not be the sole qualifiers among food connoisseurs about what is or is not worthy of praise. I am not condemning Whole Foods, but I am saying if it is to be loved it should be clearly understood and loved both for its beautiful as well as its ugly components.
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