The 20 Most Interesting Facts about Whole Foods

Whole Foods has more often than not been  in the news for both appreciation and criticism. Ever since inception, its founders have constantly tread new paths in their supply chain management, sourcing practices and ethical business model. We have compiled some of the most interesting features of whole foods in some of the points below:

·         Every employee in Whole Foods can see how much money anyone is making. Whole Foods is one of the few large companies in the world to have an “open payroll” policy. This means that anyone in the company can view the payroll of anyone else.

·         Whole Foods products store offers its employees some of the highest salaries in the grocery retail industry. The company not only pays its employees compensation that is far above industry standards, but also offers a substantial health insurance benefits program. After their 800^th hour at work, employees can get a health insurance policy for just $10.

·         One of the most well known facts about Whole Foods is that their founders used to live in their first store, because they were asked to leave their apartment. This was because they had been storing food items in their apartment.

·         Whole Foods is one of the few companies in the world that has had been in the list of Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For”, every year,  for the last 18 years.

·         Austin in Texas is the home of Whole Foods. This is the city where the company had its first outlet. Not only that, this is also where their current flagship store is located. This is the possibly the only store that has an ice skating rink in its roof.

·         Following a huge public outcry that also included the creation of a Facebook page titled “Boycott Whole Foods”, the management decided to phase out it’s sale of rabbit meat from its stores across the US. This is expected to be completed by January 2016.

·         With more than 385 stores across the US, Whole Foods is one of the fastest growing grocery chains in the USA. With one of the most aggressive expansion plans across the country, Whole Foods aims to add more than 100 stores to its chain by 2017. This is presently one of the most ambitious expansion plan of any retailer in the country.

Austinites love Whole Foods and there are no two ways about it. More often than not, they find it difficult to make it to the store. There are some online grocery delivery  services, however, like Burpy.com, who employe highly trained personal shoppers for their customer to shop for the highest and best grade produce and other items at Whole Foods and have them deliver to their customer door. More and more customers are opting for online grocery shopping and delivery services, since they not only get the benefit of expertly handpicked produce, but also the comfort of ordering from even their computers and phones and receiving their orders at any time of their choice.