The Business of Food: Big Food, Small Food, by Romain Saulot

SAULOT Romain

Excursion: The Business of Food: Big Food, Small Food

We started this sunny and beautiful thursday by the visit of Whole Foods (located at 1550 N. KIngsbury) with the store team leader Rich Howley. He explained to us more about vegetables and how they are classified. Indeed, in France, all the vegetables come from organic sources but in the United States that is a little bit different: the vegetables are either from GMO sources or organic sources. 
All the seafood is classified the same way. Whole Foods created a color-code (green, red, blue and black). For example, if a fish is classified in the green category, that means that he is abundant and not in extinction. By that way, the customer is able to make the right choice and by this intermediary to preserve the very scarced sort of fish. 

After the tour of Whole Foods, we had to meet employees to know why some products are at the top of the shelves and others at the bottom. I talked with a wine salesrept and he told me that sometimes the brands pay the store for their products placement. And when the brands are not paying, the store put the bestsellers in a way that the customers can easily see them. If that is not the bestsellers, the store put its own brand at the best place. Whole Foods has its own brand called «365 everyday value». 

Whole Foods has also a huge part of its store give to the bakery and the culinary arts (pizza, sushi, salads ...). We lunched there. It was delicious. 
During our lunch, we had a guestspeaker. He told us about networking and gave us some advices to do it. For example, he explained to us that the first time we meet somebody, the best way to start the conversation is to talk about food because everybody knows something about food. For example ask about the best restaurant in town or what is their favorite type of cuisine. 

It was a very interesting day and from now on we are able to understand at best the Whole Foods’ work and the way they organize their stores. 


For more informations about «Whole Foods»:

- http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com