"Become Normal"​...Whole Foods?

By Joel Albrizio, President, Adlife Marketing & Communications

"Whole Foods Has Been The Butt Of So Many Jokes Over The Years"

From Whole Paycheck to Nutty & Crunchy and worse, Whole Foods has beed the butt of many shots at grocery humor. Why might we ask? Because Whole Foods has been for so many years that way out there retailer who promoted a grocery reputation built on healthy offerings.

Admittedly overpriced at times, Whole Foods took pride in delivering only the best in organics in almost anything that could be organic. Whole Foods went even further to teach the world about what cage free and grass fed meant.

So Why The Retail Dilemma In 2017 After So Many Successful Years?

The rest of the retail food world has caught up with Whole Foods and its retail food offerings. The world understands organics where almost everyone seems to offer organics. Does everyone sell the quality level of organics Whole Foods provides? That answer is likely no but is the consumer likely to know or be willing to pay the difference.....We think not.

"Whole Food Stock Drops 50% Since 2013...10 Billion In Value Lost"

Thats correct! While most stocks hit record highs today Whole Foods has lost 50% of its market cap in the last few years or in fact over 10 billion dollars in shareholder value. So what happens from here?

"Jana Partners...Activist Investors Step In As A 9% Shareholder"

As all major shareholders in any publicly traded company must do, Jana Partners reported recently a 9% stake in the organic retailers shareholder base. Next, Jana Partners pushed and succeeded in changing board members including a change in the chairman of the board. Jana Partners has also been successful in forcing Whole Foods into a 1.25 Billion dollar stock buyback program. This again increases Jana Partners overall strength in Whole Foods stock holdings.

"Dump The Piercings & Cover Up A Tattoo Or Two If I Were You"

Whole Foods has its own consumer and employee cult like following. The problem is the consumer has begun to shop elsewhere and so both the employees and the offerings must change. Jana Parner's will bring about this change. Activist investor means change. Jana Parner's is all about successful investing and Wall Street.

Whole Foods may for the first time see supervisors in long pants and perhaps a few lees tattoo's and piercings. I softened questioned my colleagues...do qualified supervisors need to have shorts and piecing once aboard to fit in, or does Whole Foods consider this a prerequisite to solid leadership?

"Nationally Known Food Columnist Mark Bittman Joins Whole Foods"

We believe Mark Bittman was not brought aboard for change but for Whole Foods to better understand itself. Once better understanding Whole Foods from within Whole Foods could then project that image to a new more main stream solid retail base.

The "healthy first" food retailer denounces Coke & Pepsi in its grocery aisles while promoting chicken tenders and macaroni & cheese in its hot foods bar. Someone please help us with this one? We get the against GMO philosophy but isn't cholesterol a health risk as well?

Expect Change With Whole Foods...A Focus Toward A Prepared Foods!

To regain retail success Whole Foods with experts like Mark Bittman and a 2 billion dollar investment by Jana Parter's, Whole Foods is likely to see more of a retail food offering within many of the departments. Whole Foods might now find itself in competition more often with restaurants and not the overstored grocery landscape. Change is sure to come at Whole Foods....this will be a change that is fun to watch.

Many have asked why I choose to write about what I see in the supermarket industry today and my ideas. At PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife we believe great ideas and the resulting branding will give new life and direction to any company. So for that reason we chose to open the discussion.

Yes, I understand I probably misspelled something or butchered the English language in a few places, the goal however was to open your minds to new ideas.

Joel Albrizio, President of PreparedFoodPhotos.com & Adlife 

Follow Me On Twitter @joelalbrizio or right here on LinkedIn!

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