Steven L. Robinson wrote:
>Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is frank about that. He recently told The
>Independent (UK), "You can't have it both ways. If you want the highest
>quality, it costs more. It's like complaining that a BMW is more expensive
>than a Hyundai. Yes, but you're getting a better car."
>
That's such bullshit. The markup at WF is huge. In the bay area it's
pretty easy to figure out that it's a huge markup because there are
alternative organic food stores and farmers' markets where the prices
are much lower. The "Whole Foods" phenomenon in the bay area is about
having rich white people have a place to shop. That's all. They're
actually pretty disgusting places -- temples to the yuppy body.
>Many academics and grassroots activists in the sustainable-agriculture
>movement are asking those kinds of questions, doing some hard thinking about
>how society can pay farmers (preferably noncorporate farmers) adequately to
>raise nutritious food in less ecologically destructive ways while keeping
>the end products affordable for all.
>
The farmers don't get shit. Most of the cost goes to maintaining the
corporate structure.
>I asked co-founder Brahm Ahmadi what makes it possible for People's Grocery
>to sell good, natural food that low-income families can afford, while Whole
>Foods can't. He said the fundamental difference is that "they're pursuing
>profit and we aren't."
>
Good article...
Joanna
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