These are the stories of the dreamers and the doers, the farmers, the bakers, the organic soy candlemakers. Whole Foods Market is the sum of our suppliers, our Team Members, and our customers. They are our inspiration.
We’re on a mission: to nourish people and the planet. What does that really mean? Scroll down, and we won’t just tell you, we’ll show you. These are the real people behind the products – a community of some of the smartest, most passionate, hardest-working folks you’ll ever meet.
Welcome to the Whole Story.
Detroit Will Hustle
In the heart of the Midwest is Detroit, a city built on grit and perseverance. For Carlos Parisi, owner of Aunt Nee’s, that began during the great financial crisis in 2007, when his family and others needed money in the wake of mass automotive layoffs and the resulting impact on the community. Parisi and a friend began a salsa company that sold simple dry-mix salsa. It saved two families and indebted Parisi to the community of Detroit.
In this Whole Story, we explore what happens when children of first and second-generation immigrants are given the space and opportunity to write their own narrative and fight to maintain the spirit of Detroit.
Since 1990, Cathy Strange has been instrumental in Whole Foods Market’s success. As a world-renowned cheese expert, she played a pivotal role in identifying food trends and fostering relationships with unique suppliers from around the world. Read on to learn more about her innovative new role at Whole Foods Market!
Ayéya means “life in balance.” By embracing the traditional methods and natural resources of West Africa, Ayéya wants to empower and advance the communities it serves.
How do you preserve a culture when you’re forced to leave the country you call home?
For The White Moustache, it means preserving a painstaking, but loving process rooted in the family’s Persian and Zoroastrian heritage. It means eschewing conventional norms of how we produce food, while enhancing flavor, richness, and legacy.
In this Whole Story, we explore how yogurt and whey reflect a life affected by immigration, community, adaptation, and experimentation.
What exactly are Whole Foods Market’s Exclusive Brand products? Not just any old store brand – we strive to create the highest quality, trend-setting, most delicious products possible, all while meeting or exceeding our industry-leading quality standards!
What exactly is “Sourced for Good”? Created by Whole Foods Market, this program helps support workers, communities and environmental stewardship where our products are sourced.
On the front of Shaquanda’s Hot Pepper Sauce is Shaquanda, a drag persona that encapsulates the upbringing and community of Andre Springer. Springer is a proud New Yorker, Barbadian, performer, cook, and hot-sauce company owner.
In this Whole Story, we explore the intersection of Springer’s identities and how they’re represented in a hot sauce and persona that confronts gender lines, racial stereotypes, and what it means to have spice.
Our food system is massively complex, and it extends around the globe. At Whole Foods Market we believe there’s no better way to learn about these systems than to follow those supply chains back to their source, and to visit producers in person.
In 2018, Elliott Myers approached Ali Bolourchi with the task of establishing aquaculture standards for sturgeon farming. Myers knew something special was happening at Tsar Nicoulai Caviar, and it was the partnership between these two that changed the sturgeon caviar industry forever.
Every product starts in the hands of one person and potentially makes its way into the hands of millions. Along that journey, our Local and Emerging Brands team is behind the scenes, building the pathway to connect these products and the growing communities they serve.
Whole Foods Market has a commitment toward local and emerging brands that has grown and evolved. In this Whole Story, meet two members of the Local and Emerging Brands Team who are helping us evolve to nourish people and the planet.
At Whole Foods Market, we’re pretty excited about regenerative agriculture – farming and grazing practices that improve soil, enhance biodiversity, and increase carbon capture. We work with suppliers, scientists, experts, and other committed organizations to help evolve the growing, harvesting, and production of crops and livestock.
At the heart of our commitment are relationships with farmers and ranchers like Hickory Nut Gap, whose mission is to preserve the soul of their communities through regenerative practices that bring 100% grass-fed beef and pasture raised pork to market.
In this Whole Story, learn about how the relationship between Hickory Nut Gap and Whole Foods Market gives us hope for the future of our communities and the planet.
Small family farms are the foundation of a more sustainable, resilient food system, and Whole Foods Market and Stonyfield Organics have been dedicated to supporting them since the start.
At Whole Foods Market, we have a tremendous opportunity to reduce waste within our stores, minimize our impact on the planet, and support people in need within our local communities. The team at Whole Foods Market Williamsburg has used this program to form a local partnership with City Harvest and help nourish people in New York.
