Whole Foods CEO John Mackey pens an anti-Obamacare oped in the WSJ. Madcap hilarity ensues.
Regardless of one’s stance on the health care debate, publicly taking a position so incredibly contrary to his core customer demographic is a pretty bizarre and stupid move.
UPDATE: Whole Foods deleted the thread I linked to in “ensues” above. Nice.
You know, it’s not like there’s anything there at WF that we can’t get at the farmer’s market, and the prices at the market are better anyway. I’ll have to take this under advisement with the head of materials selection and procurement (Diane).
Way to reach out to your customer base, John! And it looks as though the thread is gone, with subsequent entries titled “Whole Foods will delete this message.”
They’ve taken down the page.
It is because he runs a business. Of course his comments on his Brit employees should be ignored because they violate the “gee whiz” The Euros have it so much better bullshit arguments that get passed around.
As for Patrick’s comments, you can’t get organic, freetrade, (hippie-tax) at the farmer’s market. All of that lovely produce comes from Central America where evil chemicals are used to, GASP, maximize yields! You could go to the Saturday Yuppie-Markets at Tafia and Onion Creek etc. but they don’t have half the goods you find at Whole Foods, though you will find the hippie-tax.
My main point, Edgar, is that he’s foolish to antagonize his clientele this way. Because, as you put it, he runs a business.
Local organic produce is actually pretty easy to find at farmers’ markets, at Tafia and Onion Creek but also at other markets around town. I’m sure the same is true for Dallas. Sure, it costs a little bit more, but the food’s better. Surely YOU of all people aren’t opposed to paying for quality. ;)