1. How has a commitment to corporate values contributed to Whole Foods’s success?
2. Describe how Whole Foods’s adoption of a stakeholder orientation has influenced the  way it operates.
3. What are some ways that Whole Foods might have neglected certain stakeholders in the  past?

In a period of time when green is on everyone’s mind, it seems fitting that Whole Foods Markets are popping up with their distinctive green signs in neighborhoods across the country. Beginning with their first expansion in 1984, Whole Foods has consistently grown domestically. In 2007 Whole Foods began opening stores in the United Kingdom. While continually opening new stores, the company has fueled its expansion by acquiring other food chains as well. For instance, it acquired one of its largest competitors—Wild Oats—in 2007, and in 2014 purchased four New Frontiers Natural Marketplace stores. The company currently has more than 400 stores located throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods consistently ranks as one of the World’s Most Ethical companies because of its emphasis on organic food, healthy living, customer satisfaction, quality, and sustainability. The firm has also been elected as one of Fortune’s top 100 companies to work for every year since the list was created in 1998. Although customers are considered to be the company’s highest valued stakeholder, Whole Foods adopts a stakeholder orientation that focuses on the needs of all of its stakeholders, including its employees and the community.

Whole Foods spearheaded efforts in the grocery industry to source its food products responsibly and search for innovative solutions to improve its environmental footprint. The company emphasizes healthy living and seeks to contribute to the communities where it does business. However, despite Whole Foods’s significant accomplishments in business ethics, it has not been free from criticism. In pursuit of growth, it has been accused of running local stores out of business and received mixed responses from some consumers. Other ethical issues include antitrust investigations and questionable activity by co-CEO John Mackey.

This case begins by providing brief historical background information on Whole Foods. Next, its mission and values are examined, followed by a look at how the company strives to live out its values to become a good corporate citizen. We also consider ethical issues Whole Foods has faced to demonstrate the complexity companies may experience when engaging in ethical decision making.

In 1978 two entrepreneurs in their twenties used a $45,000 loan to open a small natural foods store in Austin, Texas. John Mackey and his then-girlfriend Rene Lawson Hardy wanted to help people live better. At the time, there were fewer than a dozen natural foods markets in the nation. The couple named their business SaferWay as a spoof on Safeway. The entrepreneurs had a rocky start. At one time they used the store as a residence after being kicked out of their apartment for storing food products. After two years Mackey and Hardy agreed to merge SaferWay with Clarksville Natural Grocery, owned by Craig Weller and Mark Skiles. The newly merged company called themselves Whole Foods Market.

The company continued to face challenges. Less than a year after opening, a devastating flood hit Austin, wiping out Whole Foods’s inventory. With no insurance and $400,000 in damages, the company’s future looked dire. Yet with the help of the community, the store reopened four weeks after the flood. In 1984 the company expanded into Houston and Dallas. Four years later they acquired a store in New Orleans, followed by one in Palo Alto, California, a year later. The company continued to grow during the 1990s as Whole Foods merged with over a dozen smaller natural groceries across the nation. Whole Foods continued to thrive in the early twenty-first century and today earns more than $14 billion in revenue, owns more than 400 stores, and employs more than 87,000 workers (compared to nineteen workers in 1980). John Mackey continues to lead Whole Foods as the company’s co-CEO.