Posted on 04/29/2014 8:03:41 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Fortune has a puff piece out on Whole Foods Market (WFM, a stock in which I have no interest and no intended interest), the up-scale purveyor of excellent prepared food, overpriced groceries with multiple claimed but unsubstantiated benefits, phony health remedies, and the oxymoronic concept of “healthy indulgence.” It made its reputation by pushing healthier living and selling food that doesn’t contain the pesticides and additives that are often staples of “regular” food.
The Whole Foods approach has worked in that its share price is up about 12-fold since its November 2008 recession-era low versus 130 percent for the S&P 500 index. “Great brands impose a view on you,” WFM consultant Kevin Kelley says, and Whole Foods is no exception. “One of the faults that traditional groceries have is they believe the customer is always right.” Today, Whole Foods has a list of 78 banned ingredients, ranging from aspartame to foie gras to high-fructose corn syrup. You may want a Coke, but you can’t get one at Whole Foods.
However, when I took a look at the ingredients that provided Whole Foods its success, the whole thing became far less appetizing. The Whole Foods emphasis on “natural” foods is obviously silly. There is no such thing as non-natural food. Moreover, at least in the United States, it has no consistent meaning. Indeed, the federal Food and Drug Administration explicitly discourages the food industry from using the term. But that doesn’t stop Whole Foods. After all, it’s working.
Oh that a bit of silliness were the only problem. Despite broad scientific consensus that genetically modified food poses no greater health risks than other types of food, Whole Foods says it will require all its vendors to label products with GMOs by 2018 and suggests (at least by inference) that such food isn’t really good for you. Whole Foods would also have you believe that organic produce (which is, not so coincidentally, much more expensive than “regular” produce) will help you stay healthier, even though a major study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (nicely summarized here) examining hundreds of scientific studies over many years found no evidence of health benefits from organic foods. “There’s a definite lack of evidence,” emphasizes Crystal Smith-Spangler of the Stanford University School of Medicine and an author of the study.
But these issues aren’t all that much to be really upset about. If people want to overpay for something they think will make them healthier, the fact that it doesn’t isn’t too big of a deal. Nobody’s getting hurt and people are stupid all the time. However, the Whole Foods story gets still worse – much worse.
As reported by Michael Schulson in The Daily Beast, Whole Foods pitches homeopathic remedies (such as homeopathic remedies for allergies, homeopathic remedies for colds and flu, Boiron homeopathic medicines and even cures for cancer) as well as other foods and “drugs” that make medical claims that are simply false. Homeopathy is, after all, pure quackery. Whole Foods also sells probiotics — live bacteria given to (allegedly) treat and prevent disease – but it’s a total scam: “If you are a normal human, with a normal diet, save your money. Probiotics have nothing to offer but an increased cost.”
Phony claims such as these are far more damaging than simply pushing “natural” and organic foods. That’s because such fake remedies often cause people to forego substantive medical care that might actually help. For example, such an approach may well have cost Steve Jobs his life, to his obvious regret.
Sadly, it isn’t just customers who have fallen for the Whole Foods hype. “They’re a leading national authority on health and nutrition,” says BB&T Capital Markets analyst Andrew Wolf, “and unequivocally the leading retailer on the link between food and health.” As if.
My friend Josh Brown even fell for the WFM nonsense: “There’s a lesson in the Whole Foods brand that I think carries a great example for my organization and possibly yours as well: The customers are not always right and, more importantly, they sometimes wants [sic] to be told what’s best for them and to have harmful options taken away from within their grasp.” Unfortunately, what customers are told is all too frequently in error and obviously bad for them, as Whole Foods so aptly demonstrates.
Happily, I have every confidence that Josh is doing right by his clients. And I completely agree with Josh’s conclusion: “Zealous advocacy is not fascism, and steering a customer away from something they don’t need or shouldn’t want is just as important as the actual suggestions you are making.” But Whole Foods is far from a good example of “doing [what] is superior and in the clients’ best interest.” In fact, Whole Foods should be a cautionary tale rather than an exemplar.
Maybe there really is a sucker born every minute and Whole Foods will continue to survive and even thrive despite its bogus marketing. But I’d like to think that truth will out, at least eventually.
Bingo! But even at a Farmer's Market, how do you know they are telling the truth?
Not here. The organic sticker is almost a license to steal in my area.
Seems that if you slap an organic sticker on something that gives you the right to double or triple the price.
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Bingo! A simple sticker boosts profits. It no wonder that their share price is up about 12-fold since its November 2008.
That’s a business model you have to love. ;)
I love Whole Foods. Yes, it’s a bit expensive for me now that I’m on a fixed income, but once in a great while I will treat myself. The Whole Foods in my area has some really fresh produce, unlike some of the local supermarkets where fruit and vegetables lay around for days and weeks. And this particular store is perpetually crowded, even at 10 at night. It does a brisk business. Can’t fault Whole Foods for that.
There are limits, but also having lived in the same house for 45 of my 52 years, I can say I know this area well. Very well. I could take you to over half of the farms that sell there on a bike ride.
Yeah, I sometimes spend 5,6 hours and $75 cooking dinner for just my wife and myself, maybe 6-8 courses, two bottles of wine, two Verdi operas or one by Wagner. Other people would spend the same money, time and intoxicants going to a football game, concert or taking the family camping. Since I live in an incredible area for food I don’t even think of Whole Foods as being particularly ‘upscale’ or special, more like the bottom of acceptable quality; but then I try to reverse engineer entire meals from French Laundry the way I figure out bass and guitar parts from King Crimson :-)
I've found some organic veggies & fruits to taste better than non-organic. Of course, the same is mostly true when I buy from a farmer's market, too.
Also, I've been cutting down on processed foods with endless ingredients, preservatives & massive amounts of unnecessary sugar. Whole Foods helps with that.
I couldn't care less about what the other shoppers & employees think, wear, etc.
PFL
There are however highly processed 'foods' such as HFCS which have no food value and which are arguably poisonous.
There is also modern wheat. For all of its benefits as a crop it is no longer the 'staff of life' - modern dwarf-wheat processed into white flour is responsible for chronic digestive and inflammatory illnesses.
Time & treasure well spent. When I make bolognese sauce it is a 7 hour deal. Usually takes 2 bottles of wine - not counting the one in the sauce! I make my own sausage. I don't understand how people can go to McDonalds for 'food'
But knowing the source of foods is so critical.
I wish we had one around here. They have a great variety of pure foods, and are very concerned about freshness of their products. For breads, cheeses and a quality salad bar, the regular grocery stores don't come close. Not for everything, but for some things, Whole Foods meets an important need.
That was as far as I needed to go in order to know that that guy isn't credible. Go peddle that nonsense with the global warming idiots where science is done by consensus at government agencies and government approved schools.
If people want to eat food from plants soaked in Roundup, I will fight for their right to do so. I just don't expect to hear any static from them if I don't.
I believe that grains cause the scaring of the arteries that result in cholesterol buildup and subsequent heart disease. I have cut grains out of my diet. No Grains. No Sugar. No processed foods. Eat only foods that come without a list of ingredients.
And when I say no, I really mean except on rare occasion. I truly enjoy a fine chocolate and an occasional piece of bread. But I dropped 45 lbs and 4 inches of belly fat with my diet.
I have switched over to Whole Foods recently.
The EBT crowd has taken over my local supermarkets and it is hard to watch as the SNAP cards come out for carts of groceries that I have to pay for.
The pay point even has an EBT designation now along with debit card, credit card, etc. That was the breaking point for me.
I haven’t seen an EBT card in Whole Foods yet.
Yes, it’s expensive, but worth the price IMO, and my car hasn’t been broken into as cars have at my old supermarket.
hear, hear! i love your post! i am very much the same way... i like Whole Foods for many reasons... if i were to add anything to my tagline, i would add that i spend money on excellent ingredients... i love to cook, i love to feed my friends and family and i care very much about what i put into my body--my temple... and i love having the freedom to spend my money on such things :)
It reminds me of the 80’s yuppies who just HAD TO move into a downtown loft and shop at the swank stores and grocery outlets in the area.
Really? I mean, I pay less for MORE square footage, I can see the stars at night (without a city-wide blackout) and my produce is mostly from a LOCAL farmer’s market (if not from my own garden...when I have the time to put one out)! I get fresh raw milk not 8 miles from my house and, although I like most of my neighbors, their doors are all more than 150’ from mine (and personally, I feel that is still too close)!
But, hey, they just HAD to have that up-n-coming lifestyle. Whereas, most people that I have met who grew up in that type of environment, are BEGGING to get to at least the suburbs and some even clamor for the rural life!
This point stuck in my craw too. I came back from a vacation last year with severe food poisoning, my cousin, who was with me on the trip, ended up hospitalized. (we were in Vancouver, BTW). I thought my insides were turning inside and out it was so bad.
I finally went to my doctor about 2 weeks later because I still felt terrible. She said my ribs had been thrown out of alignment from the "reversal of fortune" -- she also suggested I take a probiotic and a few tablespoons of Gatorade mixed with water to replace what I'd lost from the complete purging of my intestinal tract. I'd never even heard of probiotics at that time.
I took her advice and with a day felt 100% better and have sworn by probiotics ever since (not Gatorade, though, doc told me it should never be drunk full strength and even then only by athletes who sweat a lot. I can't stand the taste of the stuff so it's not a problem.
Yes, the free market IS wonderful: If you don't like Whole Foods, don't shop there. What could be easier??
as far as grocery shopping, i shop at Wal-Mart for only certain grocery items, like Chobani or Fage plain Greek yogurt, Gold Peak unsweetened iced tea and Rex-Goliath cabernet... going to gourmet markets and farmers markets is more like an event for me that i enjoy... much like someone would enjoy getting mani-pedis, facials or massages...
Sounds like the Atkins Diet to me, which is low carb.
I gave my brother a copy of the last Atkins book for Christmas one year (he acted a bit insulted but as he is about 60 or more lbs. overweight with high blood pressure and sleep apnea, I am VERY concerned). The low-carb diet works wonders for me.
Next time I saw my brother, about 2 months later, he was about 45 lbs. lighter (mostly from losing fluid, his doctor told him, but that is great too)— AND, he was off his high blood pressure meds. He also said he wasn’t falling asleep while driving like he used to and had TONS more energy.
His doc told him he didn’t agree with the low carb diets but to keep up with whatever he was doing because it was WORKING.
the ones i have shopped at have very happy employees... they all seem to love working for Whole Foods... to me, it is evident...
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