>> FOOD SPONSOR:
>> Whole Foods Markets -- 3 Cambridge Stores at Fresh
>> Pond, River Street, & Prospect Street.
>> On the web at http://www.wholefoods.com
>
> I hope you devote a few moments of your talk to
> haranguing this loathsome outfit.
>
> Didn't you have a piece on these 'ethical'-type
> companies a few years back?
I wrote an article on Whole Foods "In Love With A Food Hole" that appeared in Punk Planet (many years ago, issue #26).
I got one response from a Whole Foods manger. The weird thing is that he seemed to take the greatest exception to me making fun of their prices (in the article I noted their store brand "Mac&Cheese" was twice the price as other stores with nearly identical quality and mangoes were 5x the price of a nearby high-end produce store with better quality). I was critical of their anti-union stance but did note that many things they offered their employees were progressive for their industry. The manager did not seem to care that I lampooned their "community giving" (at the time 0.01% of sales) or anti-union stances at all.
Anyway, they still standout even in the high end grocery market as somewhat expensive for mediocre quality. But I think their customers in the MIT community like it that way until Whole Foods becomes "too mainstream."
Jim
"The union is like having herpes. It does not kill you, bit it's unpleasant and inconvenient and it stops a lot of people from becoming your lover."
--John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods