From the fairly humble beginning of being a one-store entrepreneur living on the third floor and taking baths in the dishwasher, John Mackey has seen his 1978 Safer Way grocery store grow into an $8 billion a year corporation. As of September 2008, Whole Foods had 264 stores in the United States, six in Canada, and five in the United Kingdom. Whole Food’s is now the leading chain of natural food supermarkets in the United States. The company 's stores average 28,500 square feet in size and feature foods that are free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, and sweeteners. They also offer many organically grown products. Many locations include in-store cafes and juice bars. Whole Foods has also developed a growing line of private label products such as organic pasta, freshly roasted nut butters, oak-aged wine vinegars, and aromatic teas. After the company was founded in 1980 with a single store, it grew dramatically into a chain of more than 130 stores in 25 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. It is a Fortune 1000 company, ranked as the 41st largest U.S. supermarket and the 730th largest U.S. company overall. There are few companies that attract the kind of following Whole Foods and its CEO/founder has both among its customers and the national media. Their corporate website averages more than 50,000 visitors a day. Through a long series of acquisitions, John Mackey has created a niche retailer which enjoys lofty profits in a very price competitive industry that is typically characterized by accordingly low profit margins. Whole Foods had 275 stores, and 50,000 plus team members in 2008 with a goal of 1,000 stores open in the future (Whole Foods Market, 2008a).This ever-evolving, often controversial organic retailer is facing several major strategic issues in both its external and internal…
