a few days before the infamous op/ed.
I just found this article regarding Whole Foods attempt at re-branding.
It seems that the push for "Good Food" is for "Good Business" and not just for "Good Health".
Whole Foods is certainly not hurting. However local farmer's markets and other local initiatives are eating into the bottom line of big-box organic, Whole Foods.
So the idea of its CEO John Mackey to rebrand the business to focus on healthy eating is not a bad one. I applaud the idea that Whole Foods needs to eradicate the junk in the stores and promote health with its customers and employees.
"We sell a bunch of junk," he said, vowing to promote healthier lifestyles for its customers and employees. "We've decided if Whole Foods doesn't take a leadership role in educating people about a healthy diet, who the heck is going to do it?"
However, Mr. Mackey's later comments in the Wall Street Journal only a few days later show that he also thinks that part of his "re-education" of the public regarding healthy eating should include his personal views on health care reform.
Health care is a service that we all need, but just like food and shelter it is best provided through voluntary and mutually beneficial market exchanges. A careful reading of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will not reveal any intrinsic right to health care, food or shelter. That’s because there isn’t any. This “right” has never existed in America
He doesn't believe that good food or health care are the right of people but a commodity to be exchanged. By commodifying health, he strips away much of his central argument about promoting health. He is promoting his business, saying, if you can afford it, health and good food can be yours. What if you can't afford Whole Foods? Chains such as Whole Foods' monopoly of the food commodity makes buying appropriate healthy food difficult and kills those local markets that made it easier to obtain and afford. In this way, Whole Food is no better than any Super Walmart that has opened its doors and destroyed not only smaller discount chains but local drugstores and smaller groceries.
This week's op/ed by Mr. Mackey in the Wall Street Journal shows an employer who undervalues his employees and misunderstands his core customer. At the same time Mr. Mackey rakes in large dividends. Adding millions to his base salary.
True he caps his base pay at 14X the average "32,000" a year worker. He also makes millions from his stock options. Also true however is that part time employees apparently have the right to stock options. I somehow doubt that the part timer makes millions from his stock. I'm still searching the numbers on that.
A few years ago Slate wrote an article about Whole Foods that I think is worth another look.
From Slate:
American populism chafes against the notion of good health for those who can afford it. Charges of elitism—media wags, in otherwise flattering profiles, have called Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck" and "wholesome, healthy for the wholesome, wealthy"—are the only criticism of Whole Foods that seems to have stuck. Which brings us to the newest kid in the organic-food sandbox: Wal-Mart, the world's biggest grocery retailer, has just begun a major program to expand into organic foods. If buying food grown without chemical pesticides and synthetic fertilizers has been elevated to a status-conscious lifestyle choice, it could also be transformed into a bare-bones commodity purchase.
Mind you this article was written 3 years ago. New criticisms of Whole Foods have certainly stuck. One being the current furor regarding Mr. Mackey's entrance into the health care debate.
The problem with Mr. Mackey is that he entered into the debate when it was hot. His ideas have been the same for a long time.
From his 2004 Speech regarding statistics of who is using their Whole Foods PWA (personal wellness account):
45% of 24,390
participants in our plan aren’t using their PWA at all. Well, why not? Because they’re not
sick, they’re healthy. Most people are healthy. And if you do the math it’s mostly high
utilizations that bankrupt these plans. I mean, it is a few people who get AIDS or cancer--
they are the high users. Most people are very healthy.
Perhaps the problem with Mr. Mackey isn't his ideas. They were formed from the people he encounters. Perhaps the problem is just that, his encounters. Maybe he needs to encounter more people who can't afford Whole Foods or health care. Perhaps then he'd understand the need for a viable option.