why i won’t shop at whole foods market
by asi
when i first entered the whole food market store in union square ny, i thought i’m in heaven. big, lavish 2 stories food-hall with amazing take-away area, outstanding choice of fresh food and hot chicks with skinny latte and powerbooks. so when i heard they are coming to london it really made me happy. until i saw it on tv and read some mixed reviews.
something feels wrong about this food theme park. first, i’d expect that the smart people behind wfm will think much more wisely about importing this brand to the uk. the eye-popping mega-food-shrine that fits perfectly to new york’s landscape and culture feels wrong (for me) in london.
for a start, it feels wrong that a business/brand that is built on values such as locally produced, ethically sourced etc. will have the look&feel of harrods. you just cannot take the philosophy of small and local etc. and wrap it in a mega-ultra-uber bling package. it’s out of context! 400 different cheeses? 78 different kind of eggs? 9875 different organic museli?
sorry but you can’t build an 80,000sqm, 3 stories in-your-face food shrine and pretend you’re a farmers’ market!
secondly, I can understand that food that’s been grown and prepared with love and care will be more expensive than ‘regular’ food but from that truth to the rip off (£12 for salad bowl???) it just way too much, which brings me to the last point:
i fuckin’ hate the fact that good, healthy food and the so called sustainable or conscious living have become such a status symbols. I hate the smugness around it. well, if you look at human history it’s true that rich people always ate better than poor people , but looking at it from a broader perspective, this whole wellbeing /welleating /welldoing trend sometimes has such a stinky, shallow, posing fragrance to it.
don’t get me wrong here, it’s only good that good stuff is the new cool. but why a change for good has to be escorted with such pompousness,, showoffness and all kind of celebrities and designer’s bullshit?
what’s next? philip starck’s organic blueberries? recycled toilet paper by anish kapoor? Stella McCartney’s compost?
I totally disagree with your latest entry on wfm. you cant judge until you have been there! and secondly – you sound like you buy organic and fair trade all the time and wfm just makes it posher/expensive but that is bollocks because you don’t.
RIGHT ON Asi. smug and pretentious sucks.
“i fuckin’ hate…” — sounds like you have some anger issues…just go somewhere else if you don’t like wf…and food stamps are always an option
wf offers high quality, great customer service, and fun place to shop — what’s not to like…and the stores offer the best value proposition in terms of price/quality…on a like for like basis, wf offers the best prices in the market…
right….both my sheira and some guy called andrew (that looks like he’s working for wf?) are on me today…don’t think i have anger issues but it does upset me a little
ok. if i’ll be around high street ken i will surely pop in and probably eat something – yea yea call me hypocrite but i won’t be able to resist it.
the point i was trying to make is that personally, the clash of values between small and local to the extravaganza that is whole food in london is too much for me. for me there is simply a big contrast between the philosophy of goodness and the mega food hall that is wf.
on a similar note, i argue that somewhere in the oh so necessary process of green/organic/ethical living becoming mainstream, fashionable and cool something bad has happened.
smugness cries out loud.
nothing happens on a significant scale in our culture unless it becomes relatively cool and fashionable. it’s the way things work (see the book rebel sell for a good discussion of this, among others).
the question is what happens after it fades from fashionability? my two cents: the smug yuppies (are they still called that?! will move on, but on the other hand a whole generation of kids are growing up with a much healthier outlook on these sorts of issues (environment, sustainability, healthy lifestyle) than previous generations.
damn right dino. I have to take some of my words back. the best thing that happened to the ‘environment’ is that it has become cool and fashionable. its a blessed and much needed change. if the way to awareness and action is through designers bags and over-hype shopping than let it be.
I just find it a bit sad that positive sustainable living is going through this penetration phase through hardcore consumerism. seems odd.
i agree wholeheartedly with asi.
i went to wholefoods kensington when it first opened and was very, very disappointed. it poses as an environmentally friendly shop and yet, in reality, it’s more like a cross between harrods food hall and tesco.
the people who shop there are poncy and smug. they only shop there to show they can afford it, not because they care about environmental issues.
at the tills, the cashiers shove everything into plastic bags without even asking if you want a bag. when i pointed out that i don’t want one, and proceeded to unpack everything into my own bag, the cashier just rolled her eyes.
i actually wrote a complaint to the wholefoods customer service manager and got a really lame reply. apparently, the plastic bag issue is because the cashiers are ‘inexperienced’ and ‘haven’t been briefed on the company values’. that just says it all.
i usually shop in small independent health food shops and will continue to do so. i shall never set foot into the overpriced ‘faux organic disneyland’ that is wholefoods!
“nothing happens on a significant scale in our culture unless it becomes relatively cool and fashionable. it’s the way things work”. Right on.
That said, I’m with Asi. Smugness, when it comes to organic foodstuffs, isn’t pleasant. There’s an ‘us and them’ undercurrent which I don’t like at all.
By all means, offer a premium product. But be realistic about how much of a premium you charge. I have to hold my hands up and say I’ve not been there yet (and probably won’t go), and on the evidence of this post/a few friends of mine, it sounds like a bit of a love in. Yes, I want to eat well – but not at the expense of my wallet/joining what sounds like some terribly clichey food police.
No, no thanks. And I believe in brands/branding – but come on guys, be honest about the amount you charge. £12 in anyone’s money is far, far too much for a salad bowl. No amount of self-satisfaction will make me part from my cash for that.
So I admit, I work for WFM. I’ve read all of the postings here and would like to respond to a few. We’re just people working everyday (presumably not unlike yourselves) trying to do the best we can, offer the best can as frequently as possible. Granted the staff in the London store are behind the learning curve on some of their knowledge, I won’t argue this, but you should see how excited they are. To them this is an opportunity to learn, to make a decent wage (superior to most if not all of the competition in London) and to feel like they are a part of something that is unique and in many ways special. As I said, they aren’t perfect and neither am I.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that how many other food retailers listen to their clientele as much as this one? If given honest, constructive criticism, we’re generally very responsive. The consumers that understand the ethos of the company learn to realize that we’re pretty approachable about these things. We can’t change the price on the salad bar on the spot because someone is unhappy with it but we can see and hear a trend. When we get consistent and constructive feedback, we listen.
On pricing-you may find that some of our product is expensive. We offer expensive items. You may also find some deals. We offer good value. It really depends on what you want. The butcher shop in the London store for instance offers some of the most reasonably priced and highest quality meats in the city. I’m not bluffing or boasting, it’s really just a fact.
It’s funny because I really do “get” alot of what people don’t like about what Whole Foods represents but honestly it’s a better company than many of the alternatives. Whole Foods never claimed to be perfect, people have put that label on them and it’s just silly.
I get you’re anger, frustration, disappointment but really think many of the issues mentioned above are not about Whole Foods as much as society in general.
I hope this hasn’t raised any hostility, it truly wasn’t intended to. Interested to continue this conversation if anyone would like.
All true. Here in Texas, we call it “Whole Paycheck”.
Dear admitted wfm employee,
thank you for taking the time to read and respond – i really appreciate it.
I think that you have a good point in saying that some of the wf bashing is indeed not as much about whole foods as much as society in general, however, for me, wf represents everything I (and some of the people who posted their comments) dislike about the growing good-food-snobism culture.
As I wrote in my original post, from branding, positioning and business strategy perspectives, I think that wf made a mistake in opening such lavish extravagant store. personally, the marrying of goodness with hardcore consumerism is wrong. it’s a clash of values. there is a positive trend towards locally produced, ethically sourcd, no impact, minimum waste etc and that doesn’t fit with that huge, immoderate, excessive store – sorry. It has the feeling of hardcore capitalism dresses up as something else.
I’d really like to know what are you doing with all that is left at the end of the day, and i can only imagine (and will be happy to be proved wrong) it’s large quantities of good food been thrown to the bin.
It feels like big corporate that can handle financial loss decided to go big for the sake of getting into the UK market and no matter how much waste and loss – we are here.
Addmitedly I haven’t been to the store yet, and if/when I’ll find myself in high-street ken I’ll enter and get something and i’m sure that everything you wrote is true and the stuff is lovely and helpful – my problem is with the big suits that runs the business and make the big decisions – they come to represent everything that is going wrong with what supposed to be a positive cultural shift.
sorry I don’t wear a suit (this debate would probably be much more interesting if I did!) I work at one of the stores in the US (substantially smaller). i was lucky enough to be in London for the opening.
i agree that the store is big but i really enjoy that about it. the top floor is all mini food venues which is unique, the ground floor is mostly wine, cheese and the checkouts/tills, and the lower floor is like a regular grocery shop. Mostly dry grocery with long shelf life. I don’t see that there’s really much more space for wastage as would be in a normal grocery store.
while i don’t know the details around wastage in the London store, I’m sure there is a fair deal of it but would also be willing to gamble that it’s less than you’d think. food retail involves loss/shrinkage regardless of whether you’re in a massive store or on a farmstand. if you’re buying is appropriate and there is enough business to support the size of the sales floor, than wastage shouldn’t become any more of an issue than at any other food retailer. honestly, if wastage is what your main concern is than rebel and grow all of your own food. i’ve worked at small organic shops that have what would seem disproportionate levels of waste. it’s also worth pointing out that WFM composts in every store where the opportunity exists so as to minimize effect on the wastestream.
let’s take the worst case scenario where as you said, large quantities of good food going into the bin, is true. what if WFM didn’t buy it? would an organic farmer have been better off not selling the product at all? would she/he have given it all away to charity? no on both points. if nobody buys it, it’s still waste either at the farm or at the store.
local-WFM actually puts a good deal of pressure on the individual stores to procure local product. it’s good for the community and the customers and employees enjoy it equally. i think WFM promotes local better than any other corporation that I know of. WFM isn’t trying to be a “farmstand” as was mentioned by another contributor, but it is making an effort to support the farmer that might sell at the farmstand.
WFM is a publicly traded corporation. some of you will take issue to that sight unseen and that is of course your right. businesses exist to make money. what WFM is trying to do is show that you can provide a return to a shareholder while maintaining a conscience. if more companies followed that lead than I think the world might be a better place, even if just a little.
in my personal Utopia we all live on farms, we don’t drive cars, we don’t communicate in any way other than in print or in person and we don’t continually screw everything that we touch up.
i’m a hypocrite, how about you?
I’ve really enjoyed this and appreciate the forum to have sensible debates!
Yhe wastage at this store is something in the order of 10 tons a week! It should in fact be more as the meat and fish have a distinct glazed look about them.
Some of the Tuna has gone black,which puts a whole new slant on the famous restaurants signature dish of Black Cod !!
The till girls/boys are abysmal and if they really are paid more than the norm then it is a disgrace that their training is so lax and says something as to why good trained staff from High end retailers have not joined. The tills themselves are very labour intensive as well as been inefficient.getting to them is also like entering security control at Heathrow. Long snake bends.
The worst thing I saw was Eggs taken from a box labelled fresh eggs(Not Organic) and piled up on a stall with signs saying Organic free range eggs. Wish I could have taken a picture but the staff are very aware of anyone pointing camera phones etc at the produce.
The cheese room can never hope to make a profit due to the cost of running it( It is situated behind closed doors with air conditioned environment. God help you if you leave the doors open…that friendly smug look disappears instantly !!
Wholefoods in the States is successful due to the quantities Americans buy plus the more reasonable price.
Wholefoods Uk to quote an old adage is:-
Overpriced
Overdone
Over here
and eventually will be taken over.
They must be losing bucketfuls of money as their project T/O was in the order of £47 MM per annum and there can hardly be more than 2/300 customers a day on 80,000sq ft
Not good !!
Whole food is a great place to work,the pay is good,there is a but,too much discrimination at the Memphis store.Some of us have been told that we would lose our health benefits if we didn’t work the weekend but certain white employees could have every weekend off,also we try to get good employees employed with a clean record and they only hire there friends with them coming in making top dollar with no experience.Also employees are made to change there statements about another employee being fired about three or four months ago.ASTM have been seen going into computer changing there time when he supposed to be at work 6 and get to work at 8a.m.leave when he gets ready and always say fuck butch,scott any higher corp.personal all we want is to be treated fairly and stop bringing our moral down.
Whole Foods Market likes to present themselves as a company that cares for the environment and the community. I worked for Whole Foods for 4 years and during this time, I saw something completely different.
First of all, Whole Foods advertises that they compost. When I worked at Whole Foods in Palo Alto, CA and in Campbell, CA we did not ever compost. When fish would start to get a little old, they had us glaze it with a marinade and hike up the price one dollar. If it
still didn’t sell, we would put it in a metal pan, steam it and then throw it in the Cioppino stew along with a label that read “made from the finest vine ripened tomatoes and the freshest seafood available.” The food wasn’t getting wasted as much, but it had the potential to make people very sick which it did sometimes. Everything that didn’t make it into the stew, got thrown in the dumpster.
Once, I helped out at the Cupertino, CA Whole Foods and their seafood department was putting their fish waste into a box to be composted. I asked one of the employees about this and his reply was that they just pretend to compost. They put the seafood waste in the boxes so that people would think they compost, but they would just really throw it in the dumpster at the end of the day. Apparently, it’s too
time consuming to actually compost.
Lately, Whole Foods Market has been building mega stores, like the ones in Los Altos, Cupertino and now Blossom Hill, CA. I must admit that the stores look really cool. Shopping there is like being in a Disney World Resort. However, I get really disgusted when I go inside these mega stores. I remember how much food was wasted at the smaller stores that I worked at and I see massive seafood and meat
displays that are about three to four times larger than the ones that I worked at. Do they sell all of that food? I highly doubt it. People do not realistically buy that much seafood.
In addition to all of the food that gets wasted they use a lot of natural resources to build these huge stores. This goes for all big grocery store and restaurant chains. (Safeway, Walmart, McDonalds, Black Angus etc.) From all of the wood, metals, paints and glass to the flat screen TVs all over the stores with images of cattle grazing and oats growing on a farm. It is not necessary to have all of these things in a store. It’s a visual lure to help their company make money. Also, there are the costs for the energy used with all of their refrigerators, lights, ovens, rotisseries etc. One of Whole Foods Market’s core values is “Caring About our Communities and our
Environment.” From what I’ve witnessed, the company, as a “Whole,” needs to recommit themselves to this value.
I dont care how old this post is, I want in. I am a WFM emplyee, a proud one, and I just want to point out that these bashers on this blog must have their entire leg in their mouth at this point when they survey the unbridaled success the UK WFM stores have seen. Massive growth throughout the region was expected, and sales expectations were SHATTERED; indeed, WFM stores have been popping up around London and the rest of the UK (Edinburgh and Dublin next). You want to hear about ‘food smug’? Then listen to the negative troll-bloggers here. If you want high-quality foodstuffs you wont find anywhere else and at a much better price. come to WFM.
PS, to the camera-toting troll, ‘organic free-range’ eggs can come from any box. A box can say ‘fresh eggs’, and those contained inside can be of any quality, so long as they are ‘fresh eggs’. It didn’t make any other claims on the packaging, so you cant have any other expectation. The ‘organic grass-fed’ cheeses I sell come from boxes that say simply ‘cheese’. Duh.