"whole foods market" news and stories

No need to whip out your Seafood Watch app at the Whole Foods Market fish counter anymore. The national retailer just applied the same color-coded sustainability-rating program for wild-caught fish throughout their 298 stores, and even better, have committed to eliminating red-listed wild fish from their counters by Earth Day 2013.

Wild-caught red-rated species will remain for sale at Whole Foods for the time being, but will be prominently labeled. Guiding customers towards making better seafood choices are fish labeled with a green rating, including wild Alaskan salmon, Pacific halibut or Dungeness crab. Species that will be phased out include grouper, monkfish, skate and red snapper.

In making the move, Whole Foods Market has chosen to partner with Blue Ocean Institute and the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both organizations evaluate seafood and assign a color-coded rating to fish ranging from mackerel to tuna, based on species abundance, habitat impacts, fishery management, bycatch and more. It's not the retailer's first seafood partnership. In 1999, the chain began working with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for wild-caught seafood.

This week, Whole Foods Market announced that all 292 of its stores in the U.S., Canada and England will collect customers' wine corks with the goal of turning them into really cool items. The company has partnered with Cork ReHarvest to find various ways to repurpose the corks. For example, Midwestern Whole Foods stores plan to give the corks to Yemm & Hart, a cork-floor tile manufacturer. At stores west of the Rocky Mountains, corks will be turned into recyclable cardboard shippers containing 10 percent cork. And Jelinek Cork Group, one of North America's oldest cork manufacturers, will be responsible for taking corks turned in at Whole Foods stores along the East Coast in the U.S. and throughout the U.K., and transforming them into an assortment of products for consumers. While news hasn't been announced about what exactly those products will be, Jelinek creates cork coasters, furniture, model-train tracks, fishing rods and flooring designed for yoga studios (as well as yoga blocks).

If you're like us, you have an abundant collection of wine corks. Sure, you could save them for the day when you will actually have the time to sit down and construct trivets or bath mats out of the corks. Or, you can donate them to this good cause.

Whole Foods says it's the first national retailer to offer a cork-recycling program. Only natural corks can be turned into the stores' drop boxes -- so keep those synthetic corks for an innovative D.I.Y. project, perhaps?

This past Saturday's New York Times had an intriguing article on how Whole Foods is trying to overcome its nickname, Whole Paycheck. Considering the high food prices sweeping the entire nation, this attempt is crucial for the company's survival. Since its financial peak in 2006, Whole Foods' stock has dropped more than 70 percent. The market for organic foods and specialty foods is in trouble.

A report from TNS Retail Forward produced a survey last month that shows that 20 percent of shoppers have altered where they purchase groceries because of the economy. To make matters worse for Whole Foods, market researching firms, like the Hartman Group, say that consumers are less interested in organic foods.

In this current economic environment, what is Whole Foods doing to change its image as an overpriced grocery store?

1. Offering more discounts
2. Increasing lower-priced store brands
3. Advertising products they sell at a good value
4. Organizing budget-focused store tours
   

Do you think Whole Foods will be able to suppress its nickname Whole Paycheck?

Whole Foods' plan to merge with Wild Oats Markets has just hit a snag.

The Federal Trade Commission is trying to stop the proposed merger, saying that if the two organic foods giants get together it would lead to higher prices and be bad for consumers. But Whole Foods chairman John P. Mackey says in a statement:

"The F.T.C. has failed to recognize the robust competition in the supermarket industry, which has grown more intense as competitors increase their offerings of natural, organic and fresh products; renovate their stores; and open stores with new banners and formats resembling Whole Foods Market."

Whole Foods had announced in February that they were going to buy Wild Oats Markets for $565 million.

There are so many food issues to think about when you hit the market to do grocery shopping.  Store brand versus national brand. Sale versus regular. Organic vs conventional. Locally grown vs imported. Every company is promoting at least one thing (sometimes all things) at a time.With organics going mainstream, and organic farms getting larger and more efficient/industrial, more community and eco-conscious people are turning towards supporting local growers and patronizing farmers markets, rather than blindly opting for organics of unknown origin.

Following this trend and keeping itself ahead of the curve, Whole Foods has just pledged to spend an additional $10 million each year to further support locally grown foods. John Mackey one of the co-founders of Whole Foods said that some stores "would use parts of their parking lots on Sundays to host open-air markets for nearby farms and [all] would redouble efforts to buy from local producers."

The question is, will this move encourage you to shop at Whole Foods, knowing that you are more likely to be supporting local growers/producers that you might not otherwise have access to?

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