Whole Foods CEO Talks Future of Food Shopping

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We're here with Jason Biekle.

Jason, so good to have you here with us.

Of course, head of Whole Foods, talk to us about the panel that you participated in. It's all about the future of food retail.

Yeah, I had a great opportunity yesterday to participate in a panel with some other industry leaders talking about where food is going.

And for me, one of the most important areas for us to.

Think about is how do we protect our food systems into the future and making sure that our future generations can enjoy the products that we know and love today.

And as Whole Foods market, you know, sounds kind of dire. Wow, what do we need to protect? Are you're talking to supply or quality or both? Yeah?

Both.

You know.

One of the things that we're currently in a situation of is the nutrient density in our soil today is not in a state to sustain itself for future generations. So the products that we know and love are at

Did you know Jason was a farmer at the age of seven, I believe doing gardens.

We started gardening, yeah, when I was seven, because then you know a lot about a culture of generated vagapolchure.

You also know that trying to do that when a national scale is hard, right, very difficult.

A lot more local, don't you, not necessarily just local.

But a big part of this is making sure that we're doing the work to protect our soil and ensure that it can support.

Regenitive into the future.

And one of the other things that I think is, you know, really challenging for customers is understanding the difference of various clients friendly agricultural practices.

How are you doing that? Are you working with your suppliers, you're working with the farmers, or are you going in directly and doing this yourself.

Yeah.

So the reality is it takes an entire network of stakeholders in this space to help support this work. First and foremosts we're working with our suppliers who are working with their farmers to help support this work as we let organics since our very first score. This is something that's really part of our DNA being able to work upstream and supporting processes that can help take these practices into fruition.

It's interesting like organics, they're starting to mark things right that I think regenerative farming. They're starting to let consumers know that when they buy something that that's the way. One of the things we have to ask you is how is the consumer doing and what is once again the consumer of whole foods.

Yeah, so, I think the consumer right now is wanting a balance of quality and value, and that's something that we've been really focused on as Fool Food's market. One of the things that we're really proud of is the work we've done testing in our price points so we can be accessible to all customers. Since being part of Amazon, this has been a key initiative for us to help

We know customers right now are looking for value, so we've increased our number of promotions.

We made investments in areas like our opening price point and like our three sixty five items, so customers have a great opportunity for value and quality at the same time.

We talk about the private label, the three sixty five, that's been a big initiative and bringing kind of that average price point down in the source.

Yeah.

Absolutely, so for us, this has been a key way to connect with customers. We've continued to expand the number of items across all different parts of our store and also providing choice. So we have three sixty five where you can have a conventional product as well as three sixty five organic, so giving customers choice and options along the way.

How much has three sixty five grown as a business and how does that relate back to demand that that's where you know, you guys great offerings, lots of different offerings. But I'm curiously about the three sixty fiber and it's been around now for a while.

Yeah, it's absolutely and for so many customers it's one of the key reasons they come to Whole Foods Market.

It's a great price point, great quality.

How much has I grown though as a business.

Yeah, we don't share publicly the a lot. It has grown a lot. And what's great is it's grown not just in store.

It's available for delivery, it's available for pickup, and just last year, we've made it available on Amazon comm to have these items shipped directly to your home. So anyone in the United States right now can actually order a three sixty five from products from Amazon dot Com.

I want to talk about the format of the stores.

You obviously have a lot of traditional supermarket type size stores, but you're also been experimenting with smaller format stores, particularly in urban areas like New York City. Is the cost benefit of those smaller stores is that commensurate with what you would get for a larger source, say out in the suburbs.

Yeah.

So we'll be opening our very first full Foods Market daily shop store later this year in Manhattan, and we're really excited about this because it provides a win win for both the customer.

As well as Whole Food's Market.

Ultimately, we're at a point right now where some markets are so saturated.

It's very difficult to put an entire four store. This doesn't support it.

It doesn't support it, and so ultimately customers are looking to still shop at Whole Foods, but it may not be convenient to go, you know, ten or fifteen blocks away if you're in Manhattan, per se.

But if we can.

Drop some of these smaller format stores, it'll help support a fill in shop for our customers. And so if you're looking for some quick grabbing go items or just need a few items, we'll be.

Able to pop in one of these stores. If you want to do a full shop, you could as well.

At the same time, you can go to one of our flagship locations as well, like Columbus Circle and get the full shopping ex Well.

That's what I'm curious.

So for folks who go to those small format if you're used to going to the big format stores, you go into the small one and you see it's less selection here. How do you sort of thread that needle and make sure that the perception of what that customer has seen in that small format store is just an extension of the broader brand and not something on of itself all together.

Well, the most important part is we still carry all the different categories you're going to find at Hopewood's Market. There's just going to be less of the selection and so instead of having thirty different olive oils to choose from or different items, it'll be a curated selection.

So customers can still get all the.

Basics needs that they have and at the same time they can get in get out quick and they having a lot of grab and go options I think are going to be great for customers who are looking either for fill in trips or they just need to have an item on the go to eat right now.

One last question we'd be remiss what to not ask what it's like.

To be part of Amazon.

Do you meet with Andy Jasse, the CEO of Amazon, on a regular basis?

I personally don't meet with them one and one on a regular basis. We did have lunch recently, but we do meet as a team on a pretty regular basis with Amazon leadership to look over business results and future plans.

And it's been great to be part of Amazon.

One of the things that we're really part of is being part of Amazon's worldwide grocery team. Our aim is to have the very best grocery business across the world.

Jason, thank you so much for your time today. We've been really appreciate it. Thanks for having me