Can Whole Foods be too Organic?

11-30-2005 @10:30AM Ivan said... The point of WF's avoiding products that do not fit their standards is straightforward: simplicity.

WF wants to ensure that if you care about quality ingredients, you don't have to spend time checking the labels on every item you buy to ensure that. You just grab the item from the shelf and off you go.

The only way to keep such an experience is by strictly enforcing that standard, and I would argue that WF's success is evidence that providing that experience is a successful approach.

Simplicity is valuable. There's a reason why iPods don't have an FM radio.
Reply

12-01-2005 @9:33AM Lloyd said... I do not live close to a Whole Foods store, but if I did I would not want to see any name brands that have all thoughs added things(to many to name)to the foods. Eating natural or organic foods and then drinking sodas(Pepsi,Barqs,etc) is like riding a bicycle without wheels.
Reply

11-30-2005 @2:04PM Melanie said... Next you'll want your Chinese place to start serving meatloaf.
Reply

11-30-2005 @2:20PM Allison said... Whole Foods is an outstanding resource for people who want and appreciate real food, not additives, chemicals, or fake anything. I can shop for three times the number of items at WF than at Safeway because WF guarantees to carry only real food items. At a mass market grocery store I have to carry my magnifying glass and spend many minutes on each item to read the ingredients. Remember, the nutritional count charts are mostly bogus. There are good fats and bad fats (olive oil vs canola oil), healthy cholesterol and unhealthy (fiber vs sugar)... but unless you read the ingredients, you'll never know what those 9g of fats are. WF makes it very simple.

I also have found that organic food seems much too expensive at first, but is ultimately cheaper. No paying for processing and unhealthy additives, less health care costs or sick time, and much more. Organics taste better, satisfy your appetite and food experience and thus, you often eat less.

I'd encourage you to go to the following web site to see some price comparisons between an organic and non-organic food budget. Very enlightening. http://www.mercola.com/2005/feb/16/organic_food.htm
Reply

11-30-2005 @2:52PM Jack said... I disagree: I think Whole Foods should stop lightening up (as they seem to be doing - to me), but rather stop carrying Newman's Own Virgin Lemonade, Hansens and other such products (that still have, for example, High Fructose Corn Syrup).

In fact, they need to wield their clout and get these companies (who seem grandfathered in) to change? Why can't they tell Newman's or Hansens, for example, we're not going to carry your products 6 months from now if they still have HFCS in them?

The above is just an example.

So, I don't want to see what you call "normal" brand names - these are the companies I don't trust. Instead, I want to see the smaller guys, who make products that have better taste and that are healthier, rather than the blandness/carelessness of Big Food.
Reply

12-01-2005 @3:30PM jc said... It's wise not to have any illusions about WF. This is not some mom-and-pop operation fighting the Evil Corporate Hordes. WF is a national corporation, smaller than Kroger, Safeway, and the like, but with a much higher profit margin than those mainstream chains can manage (thanks to us, thgeir customers).

Four WF stores are in my area. They entered this market several years ago by buying out two locally owned and operated organic grcoeries and bakeries. Now, instead of baked goods you knew were baked on the premises, I get things that were delivered by truck from parts unknown. Might be across town, might be across the country. The produce -- my primary reason for shopping at WF -- usually comes from California, just like at the mainstream groceries. Too bad the farmer's market is a 45-minute drive.

I've grown increasingly selective about shopping at WF, buying only what I can't find elsewhere. I don't buy things that I can also buy at a mainstream shop. WF's prices are always extravagant on these. No sense paying a premium price for something like a bag of frozen spinach. (Last year I escaped with a bag of veggies that totaled under $20. The cashier laughed and said he thought it was a rule that WF shoppers paid at least $40 per bag.)
Reply

11-30-2005 @5:58PM kitchenmage said... *sigh* I am really tired of articles like the one Alison linked to that compare tofu to TV dinners. I reject the argument that people either shop at WF and buy fresh copper river salmon (what do they do the other 50 weeks of the year?) or Safeway and buy frozen breaded fish sticks. How about comparing the price of copper river at Safeway v. WF? Or a prepared in the store menu at each store? Where's the list of *exactly the same thing* bought at both places? (Didn't Kate do something more like that recently?)

I'd still have to read the labels for HFCS, farmed seafood (and other things, I am sure), which I do at whichever store I am at, so I guess I don't fit the too lazy to read the label demographic anyway. And they label, but don't ban, GMO food...I guess a ban would cut into the myriad soy products they sell since it mostly is.

Since I don't have a WF around to check with, does anyone know how their policies line up as pertains to lower-income customers? Do they take food stamps? Participate in WIC? I searched their site and there's nary a mention of either. (Not asking about charity here; giving is nice, but do they welcome customers who aren't necessarily in the whole paycheck mode?)

How about baby stuff in general? Sell baby formula so that women who aren't breastfeeding can feed their babies? (This isn't an argument about breast-feeding, it's an acknowledgement that formula is a valid thing to sell...)

James, from everything I can see at their site, and everything that I've read from their loyalists, WF isn't trying to be your one-stop shop. They would like you to spend your premium food dollars there--especially in the expanding high-margin prepared food section--but don't be looking for plebian goodies. (Their catering seems inordinately expensive for some things, not so much for others--I believe that lasagne is the same price as mac and cheese...odd.)

Can we dish the oh-so-overcrowded and needlessly loud Trader Joe's next? I love some of their stuff but every store I've been in is so over-crowded and difficult to shop in that I try to go there about once every three months. Not a pleasant shopping experience. (and what's up with the bells? they should give away migraine meds)
Reply

12-01-2005 @3:30PM Stefania Butler said... One thing I like about New Season's Market here in Portland is that they carry all the Whole Foods-type items but they also carry some selective "junk" (Cokes, nutter butters) as well. Healthy junk just isn't the same and it is nice not to have to stop twice. Love New Seasons. http://www.newseasonsmarket.com/
Reply

12-04-2005 @12:03PM M-L said... Just so happens that when I was picking up the Thanksgiving bird and could not find an up-to-snuff chocolate pecan pie, I was able to find the Karo at WFM. I was surprised. Felt a little apprehensive about asking if they carried such an obvious death wish, so I struck out for baking items. There it was: the tiniest bottle, the only one they carried, down on the bottom shelf. I was so grateful to not have to make a stop at the Ralph's up the street on this particular Weds before Thanks that I was able to stomach the 30%-plus mark-up from what I knew I'd have been charged at Ralphs. Also, WFM had pears when the Santa Monica Farmers' Markets did not. They serve their niche.

I've often been saved from a bad-intentioned though ill-defined craving by stopping at Whole Foods. Not being able to find a single thing that appealing, I've wound up settling for salad bar or hot-food bar or ready-made sushi and thereby eating something healthier than I'd hoped. However, I've always had to make the conscious budget decision to allow the splurge.

I'd argue that, at least in the LA area, maybe 40% of WFM shoppers do so for the philosophy. The other 60% do it because it's another status symbol. Buying your organic milk at WFM instead of TJ's is another show-off of your financial fortitude.

I had a short-term, from-France roommate. He was completely in love with Whole Foods from a previous stint in the States and so did all of his shopping there. When I saw some of the things he was getting there, I told him about Trader Joe's and how the prices there, for the exact same brands etc, were cheaper. He sniffed at me, as he was wont to do, and said "Ahh, but eet is not the same as goink to Whole Foods!" So there you have it. It's not always about price, quality, variety, sometimes it's just about the love of a store, regardless of that love's foundation.

PS. The food labeling, only introduced in 1992 (my Food Science 101 professor was on the team), is immensely better than what existed previously. It does break out saturated vs unsaturated fats and sugars vs carbs, both of which were not on the original implementation. The labels are evolving constantly. Upshot: NOT "mostly bogus".

PPS. Amen, Dmnkly, re: "EVOO".
Reply

12-29-2005 @6:23PM rainey said... No, no, no, no, no! WF should not carry Coke and Skippy because it's WF. Me, I'm a food whore — I want my Rogue Crater Lake Blue cheese AND my Fresca. ...and my lemon curd from Trader Joe's and the red flame grape raisins I can only get at the farmers' market. And artisan whatever in boutique-y little "finds" to discover. And I want stores like WF & TJs to preserve markets for small commercial food operations. And mom and pop sandwich shops. And white linen restaurants.



Thank god for variety and choices. Thank god for WF and TJs and health food stores and grocery chains and big box stores and farmers' markets. I want it ALL and I'm thrilled that they each have an identity!
Reply