Someone asked a good question: Do they even have a clue about running a grocery store?
It seems to me that they do not, in fact, this is far from how to run a successful grocery store. I haven't been in this company for a long time, and I won't be here for a long time, but I'm interested in how much has the way WF is managed changed in the last few years?
6 replies (most recent on top)
im surprised amazon even has plans to open anymore wholefoos stores....why bother??? they could open up the amazon fresh stores as the previous poster has mentioned. wholefoods doesnt really compete with conventional grocers in our area. and the amazon fresh model will allow for wider variety of goods such as coca cola,laundry detergents,cheap chewing gum,etc that will benefit margins better than our products..a different labor structure for sure that will be more in line with other grocers--we have bloated regional offices and much higher paid store management and team leaders..gonna see a lot more fresh stores open than wholefoods in the near future...
With all the Amazon Fresh stores scheduled to open why would they worry about Whole Foods stores. There's no organized leadership at the top. You are like a ship adrift in the ocean. Do you see money bringing pumped back in the stores for maintenance and updating. If not maybe that means it's going into opening Amazon Fresh. Now that Bezo is stepping away from his company and just remaining chairman of the board, there's a new man in charge with new direction for Amazon. Maybe WFM is old news.
The biggest problem right now is the move from regions to global. Reach out and ask the same question to your regional leaders and do the same with global and ask your store leadership. You will get many opposing answers. No one is on the same page with in stock. No one has all the info. Whole Foods right now is basically everyone from the top down trying to learn new processes that get changed every few weeks. Global and regional are fighting each other and it's fu----g over the stores hard.
BRAVO to the last two comments. Pretty much sums up the problems at WFM. Thank you!
amazon is all about data....data...DATA.....all quantitative analysis but not a "deep dive" into the qualitative....what makes a successful store and maximizes efficiency...they know how to move product from wearhouses to planes to trucks to your door and how to crunch the numbers surrounding that transaction but grocery store processes flow differently...global and the regional guys need to come and do a tour of stores for a couple of month to study the real logistics and customer experience..and when was the last time you heard of a regional coordinator being held accountable for anything???
No, they don't have a clue and the situation has gotten much worse over the last few years. They've created a store process that maximizes inefficiencies, creates stress and anxiety on the teams, and has led to the lowest morale in Whole Foods history. It's no mystery why Whole Foods is no longer considered a great place to work. They treat their employees like do---o. No appreciation for hard work and good performance, just criticism over the slightest imperfection. Regional expects perfection at the store level yet cannot even perform the simplest of tasks that their own job requires. They wouldn't last a week in a store trying to implement the half-baked programs they've created.