Whole Foods Market
For Whole Foods Market, it’s been a wild ride from a humble beginning in Austin, Texas with one small store to being the world’s leader in offering customers natural and organic foods in a supermarket format. Today, Whole Foods has more than 280 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Country Natural Beef has been on the same ride from almost the very beginning, and began working with some of the chain’s California stores over 16 years ago.
“Whole Foods Market and Country Natural Beef have done a lot of growing together,” says Becky Faudree, global meat purchasing team leader for Whole Foods Market. “And, they’ve been a good partner all the way through.”
It is so refreshing for them when they can come to a store and meet the rancher who raised their beef, shake his or her hand, and make a connection with where their food comes from.
Country Natural Beef is a signature product in four of Whole Foods Market’s regional divisions, and according to Faudree, the relationship continues to gain strength as both companies continue to grow. “We have a lot of respect for the folks at Country Natural Beef,” she says. “They deliver what they promise and since I’ve been working in this position, we have received nothing but positive feedback,” she adds.
But, for Whole Foods Market the relationship goes beyond just the merits of the product being raised by Country Natural Beef ranchers--it’s the people behind the beef.
“This is a great story. Our customers love that the beef is raised by a rancher-owned cooperative, and that they have a chance to meet those ranchers when they come to the stores,” says Faudree. “Our customers are sometimes under ‘information overload.’ It is so refreshing for them when they can come to a store and meet the rancher who raised their beef, shake his or her hand, and make a connection with where their food comes from.”
For more about Whole Foods Market, visit www.wholefoodsmarket.com
