Jason Buechel
Appearances
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Hi, Lynn. Happy to be here today to talk to you.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Well, the first one is around our team members, which I mentioned just a few times, but I'm so proud of the work that they do every single day within Whole Foods Market. And a key part of our relationship with our team members is the connection that they have to the purpose in nourishing people on the planet.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And so I think for all leaders thinking about what is the culture that you're cultivating and creating every single day? My second one is I truly believe a business can only operate to its highest potential and be at its best when it's looking at a stakeholder model.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And one of the things we really try to work through is how do we support all of our different stakeholders, whether it be team members, customers, suppliers, communities, the environment, and figuring out what those win-wins are. And for me, it's always working backwards from the customer. How do we do what's right by them? And at the same time, make sure that we're supporting
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
all of our stakeholders. The last one that I'll mention for a leader, I believe to really live to their best potential, it's making sure that you've got the right work-life balance and that you can authentically be connected to that purpose of your company and ultimately make sure that you're taking care of yourself and setting the example for the rest of the organization.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
It's one of the things that I try to do as a leader and setting that example, I think is so important and something I encourage all leaders to consider.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Yeah, I would say consumers compared to probably any other point in history care more about not only what they're eating, but how their food was produced and what has happened upstream throughout the entire supply chain. And there's more awareness to what food does for individuals and their bodies than we've ever had before.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Lynn, thank you so much. It's just been a joy to be on the podcast. And I look forward to meeting up with you in New York at some point and walk in a store.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And this momentum, I think, is going to continue to change as we go forward. I think we have sort of two polarities that go on. We've got a lot of folks who may not be eating the best foods and are having a lot of processed foods. But as folks, as far as customers who really understand the impact, they're really seeking out.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
what is best for them, their bodies, as well as making decisions for what's right for their families. And we bring that transparency to our customers. We're very clear about the ingredients, the over 550 ingredients that we ban from the products that we carry in our stores. Our products are grown and produced to the animal welfare or the sustainable seafood sourcing that's taking place.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
This point of history, we're probably in the best position for having awareness and folks caring about what they're consuming.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Well, I think for many individuals, this comes down to what is important for them. And so in some cases, you've got individuals who are looking for special diets that might tie to their own personal preferences around an outcome that they're looking to achieve. Or it could be a dietary restriction. It could be on the impact that
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
what they're eating is having related to the environment or how it might impact animal welfare. And so I look at food as something that it's really personal for an individual and the different ethos and the buying decisions are gonna be different for every single consumer.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And I think what complexifies that is when you look at a household, oftentimes there's multiple decision points that have to come together. So there's many different special diets. So there might be a dietary restriction and you might have some individuals who are on a diet to achieve an outcome like losing weight as an example.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Ultimately, it's being able to bring together the information that you can have to help make those choices either as an individual or as a household.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I think we're in a spot right now where not only do we have the greatest transparency, but we have so many different digital ways that consumers can help process some of this information and be able to have the understanding around what they're eating and what outcomes may come. understand the impact that's happening at a macro level based upon the decisions of what they're buying.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And so for folks that really care about animal welfare standards, understanding the differences between actions that are taking place, you know, if you take, for example, eggs, what happens when there's cage-free or pasture-raised processes in place versus the a more industrialized facility and what's the impact that's having to that chicken through the process.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
The same thing could take place as it relates for products that are being grown in fields today. The difference of what's happening with organic and regenerative and what's happening with the environment and the biodiversity that's taking place there versus what might be happening in a more industrialized farming practice.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Well, I think the impact depends upon how that product was produced and grown. And so in the case of a chicken breast, and this is a great example. Recently, I had a chance to visit last year, one of our suppliers, Bell & Evans, and being able to see firsthand the differentiation that they put into place and the care that they have for their chickens.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
through the entire life cycle versus what would happen in a more industrialized production plant. And so seeing this happy chicken through its very birth, through the entire supply chain process, and then seeing the quality of the product that gets to the consumer, there's a difference.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
There's a difference in the taste and there's a difference in that bird's life and all of the different steps that have taken place throughout the supply chain. And so I think as consumers have more information around what is that differentiation? How was that product grown? How was it produced? You have a better understanding of what that impact is.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And I would say also different customers have different inputs that are important to them. It might be, what is the carbon footprint as an example that was taken for this particular product? Or was it using sustainable seafood sourcing practices and helping protect our waterways? And so I think every product tell sort of a story of what that impact is to their surrounding stakeholders.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Great question. One of our top differentiators as Whole Foods Market is the products that we carry and the quality standards that we have in place. I mentioned a little bit earlier the ingredients that we banned, and that's sort of like the first step in the process. So a supplier has to meet our requirements of not carrying those particular products.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
The second step is we have, based upon the category, other criteria that comes into place. And so within our meat standards, ultimately animal welfare is really important. And so we have something that we use. It's a third party category. system called GAP that has different steps in place.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And our suppliers have to meet those requirements to ultimately have their product certified at a particular step. We have a sustainable seafood sourcing practices where, again, it has to be certified by a third party. One of the things I'm really proud of that we've put into place with produce is a new pollinator protection policy.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And for us, it was really trying to help ensure that we are supporting pollinator health and looking at pest management controls within the produce space. And so in different categories, we have different requirements. And the way I like to think about it is we do the homework for our customers so they don't have to. You know, I take things like cage free.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
We were one of the key drivers of helping change that within our industry. And the other thing I'm proud of is we have our base standards that are in place. But throughout the entire store, you're going to see areas where we elevate the standard even further.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
You know, in the case of eggs, the work that we've done with a number of our partners, including Vital Farms, who's based here in Austin as well, in what's happened in pasture raised.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And the work that we do through our Source for Good program, which is something that we're proud of, we certify products where we started in produce, where the products are good for the environment, they're good for the communities they are grown in, and they're good for the workers as well.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
So we actually take a look at the working conditions as well and try to say, how do we elevate the bar in those areas?
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And so this is another way that we can work with our suppliers, not just on achieving what we'd say is the bare minimum or the floor, but ways that we can further differentiate and allow customers to choose in and say, these are products I want to buy based upon attributes that are important for me.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I fully agree. And I was just making some eggs with some family members over Christmas holidays, and I was using Vital Farms eggs, and I get the call out that folks absolutely can taste the difference. Yes.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I believe so. Many of the suppliers that I've had a chance to talk to in this space, one, we pay premiums for many of these products. One of the things that we want to be able to do is showcase the value and the work that's gone into this. And ultimately, there's a premium that comes along for these products.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And part of our transparency is making sure that customers understand that work that goes into this. making sure that animals have been taken care of, the workers have been taken care of, the community has been taken care of, the environment has been taken care of, these regenerative practices have been done, these organic practices have been done.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Whatever the criteria it is, there's a premium that the farmers and producers are getting for these products. At the same time, there's a lot of other wins that come into place as well.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
So talking to so many suppliers where they're able to eliminate and reduce the fertilizer that they need to, to the extra work that has to go into maintaining their acreage, to the work that they're having to do in upkeep and maintenance, when you can do things that are great for the environment.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
and great for the community and your workers, you can create an ecosystem where stakeholders together can sort of win. One of the things that I get excited about as Whole Foods is we try to find these win-win-win solutions. So it doesn't have to be for a customer to win on value. All of these other stakeholders have to lose.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Plastics, as well as just packaging in general, is something that has been a big focus for us in helping reduce not only the waste, but some of what can be the harmful or perceived harmful impacts to consumers as well. One of the things that we've been trying to do is look at ways by which we can reduce plastics across the supply chain.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I think one of the tricky parts that we have here is in general, customers say they want less of it Yet, when you bring offerings to the marketplace, they're not always deciding that they want to purchase those. And I'll give a real concrete example.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
We worked with a supplier in basically helping reduce nearly all of the plastic in packaged salads, which was one of the top areas that we had gotten feedback from customers on wanting less plastic. And so we brought this product to market. We felt it actually kept the quality extremely well. There was just a little bit of plastic so you could still see some of the product.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
But at the end of the day, the consumer still wanted to be able to hold up and see every little piece of lettuce in the process. Even in something like pasta, which is another area we innovated with some suppliers on, folks wanted to be able to see the pasta. And we had alternatives where there was great photography.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
of the product but they were still leaning in the ones that had sort of the plastic window in it so i think the piece that we need to work through is sometimes customers say things that they want but their buying behaviors don't always match up to it as well and so some of it's around the education of why we're doing some of these steps in the first place
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
One of the things that I'm excited about is there's a lot of alternative packaging that's coming to bear that is 100% compostable, plastic-free, but it has the look and feel of plastics. And right now, in some cases, those are a little bit more expensive. And so we need to be working through with our suppliers and how can we help bring these costs down and make it affordable?
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And we can have a win for the quality of the food as well as the environment. earlier.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I think customers are going to be more focused on making decisions that are very personalized for them. I mentioned one of my hypotheses that customers are going to buy based upon their own personal biome in the future. And so I think the ways by which
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
Consumers are going to pull information to help understand what products they want to buy, whether it's relative to that or buying decisions on specialty diets or different things that have transformed through the supply chain and how the product has been produced. I think we're going to find different ways by which technology is going to help fuel and support that.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I think you're also going to see a space where across the entire industry, this isn't just Whole Foods. who are gonna see more and more focus on products that will be certified, regenerative and organic. As more and more consumers, especially as the Gen Z consumer becomes a bigger part of the overall customer base, understanding those impacts is gonna be important.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And I believe the grocery store of the future is gonna have to be able to help share those stories and share that information in a way that we haven't seen before.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
I also think that we're going to have much more of an omni-channel experience where customers are going to buy certain products in store more versus things that they're going to have pantry loaded that will just be shipped to their houses. And we're starting to see some of those trends already. I think we're going to see that increase. as we go into the next several years.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And so you're going to see a lot more focus on ready to consume products physically in stores that customers want to grab and go. You're going to see a lot more focus around the products that customers want to select themselves in store and having more dedicated space to that versus what might be some pantry loading items that can just be shipped directly to your home.
3 Takeaways
Whole Foods CEO on The Future of Food: More Than Taste (#237)
And so I think our actual format changes a little bit.