Hi Maggie,
Thanks so much for your comment! You're right about Whole Foods being mostly organic. I think part of that is because the term "organic" is more widely understand than "local" or "sustainable", and means more to many customers. There's an overall desire to "do good" that comes across in the stores and product selection, but pinning down exactly what that means can be tough. Their desire (need?) to be consistent in terms of product selection and price figures in as well (as do loads of things I haven't though of, I'm sure).
Thanks again!
-Lee
Lee -
We do not have Whole Foods in NH, however I've been to a couple in MA. My impression was that it was mostly an "Organic" grocery store. Not that that is bad (& certainly better than conventional food business), but I found myself, as you were, looking for the local, sustainable goods. Usually chain stores, regardless of their intentions, have buying protocol that tends towards the unfavorable for the small, local producer. "The Onion" (aka City Market in Burlington) does a nice job of incorporating lots of local products. Our local CoOp in Concord, NH does as well...
I'll be interested to see the rest of the info you find out about Whole Foods!
Great question! My sense is that the good stuff goes to local restaurants, co-ops, specialty stores, and some of the more upscale grocery chains, like Kowalski's and Lunds. The bad stuff? Shoot, I dunno. Frozen meatballs? Fed to animals? I sat through a panel of local organic meat farmers a few weeks back, and they said that it was hard to keep up with the needs of the co-ops and restaurants in town.
The fact that the biggest players don't buy local, organic meat means that there is less incentive for farms to raise it. As a result, the biggest, high-volume farms often produce worse stuff. I think I need to do some research and post on this topic soon.
Thanks a lot for the question and for reading.
[...] offices to carry the product in more stores. In other words, if the Minneapolis Whole Foods thinks Peace Coffee is the best thing going, its team members can make a case to the Chicago office. If the case is [...]
[...] yesterday’s post, about Whole Foods’ Local, Organic Values, I wrote about the core values of Whole Foods and how they influence the food sold at the stores. [...]
Perhaps you ought to make a field trip to Vermont to see how we do food co-ops, our mini versions of Whole Foods with a Vermont "accent". Besides, it is probably already getting to warm in Austin for us northerners!
Hi Maggie, Thanks so much
Lee - We do not have Whole
[...] Worth a read for sure,
Great question! My sense is
[...] offices to carry the
So where does all the
[...] yesterday’s post, about
Okay I'm sold. Vermont it is.
Perhaps you ought to make a
You're missing out, but you