. for the type of food see whole food . for the food cooperative see whole foods co op . whole foods market inc. type public traded as nasdaq wfm nasdaq 100 component s & p 500 component industry grocery store health food store founded september 20 1980 ; 36 years ago 1980 09 20 in austin texas founder john mackey headquarters austin texas united states number of locations 435 september 2016 1 key people john b. elstrott chairman john mackey co ceo walter robb co ceo jason buechel cio revenue us 12.9 billion 2013 2 us 11.7 billion 2012 2 operating income us 883.0 million 2013 2 us 744.0 million 2012 2 net income us 551.0 million 2013 3 us 466.0 million 2012 2 total assets us 5.5 billion 2013 3 us 5.3 billion 2012 2 total equity us 3.9 billion 2013 3 us 3.8 billion 2012 3 number of employees 91 000 1 website www.wholefoodsmarket.com whole foods headquarters in downtown austin whole foods market inc. is an american supermarket chain exclusively featuring foods without artificial preservatives colors flavors sweeteners and hydrogenated fats . 4 it is the united states first certified organic grocer which means it ensures to national organic program standards organic integrity of the heterogeneous products from the time they reach stores until they are placed in a shopping cart . 5 it opened on september 20 1980 in austin texas 6 its current headquarters . as of september 2015 it has 91 000 employees and 431 supermarkets in the united states canada and the united kingdom 1 and has its main produce procurement office in watsonville california . 7 as of 2015 update founder john mackey and walter robb are co ceos of the publicly traded company with john elstrott as chairman . 6 8 9 it became a fortune 500 company in march 2005 and is the 30th largest retailer in the u.s. based on 2014 revenue . 10 11 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 expansion 1.2.1 united kingdom 1.2.2 acquisition of wild oats markets and antitrust complaint 2 product quality 3 rating systems 4 purchasing 4.1 whole trade guarantee 5 efforts 5.1 environmental involvement 5.2 eliminating plastic 5.3 humane treatment of animals 5.4 toxins 6 criticism and controversies 6.1 whole foods rezoning petition regarding protected wetlands 7 awards and recognition 8 labor relations 9 management system 9.1 employee structure and culture 9.2 employee benefits and incentives 9.3 company structure 9.4 subsidiary companies and suppliers 10 365 by whole foods market 11 see also 12 references 13 external links history edit early years edit in 1978 mackey and renee lawson borrowed 45 000 from family and friends to open a small natural foods store called saferway in austin the name being a spoof of safeway . when the two were evicted from their apartment for storing food products in it they decided to live at the store . because it was zoned for commercial use there was no shower stall so they bathed using a water hose attached to their dishwasher . 12 13 14 two years later john mackey partnered with craig weller and mark skiles to merge saferway with the latter s clarksville natural grocery resulting in the opening of the original whole foods market . at 10 500 square feet 980 m2 and with a staff of 19 the store was quite large in comparison to the standard health food store of the time . 15 the following memorial day on may 25 1981 the most damaging flood in 70 years devastated austin . whole foods inventory was ruined and most of the equipment was damaged . the loss was approximately 400 000 ; whole foods market had no insurance . customers neighbors and staff pitched in to repair and clean up the damage . creditors vendors and investors assisted in helping the store recover and the store reopened 28 days later . 15 expansion edit the whole foods market on bowery in manhattan is the largest grocery store in new york city . 16 the produce department of a new whole foods market located in the southern hills area of tulsa ok . whole foods market in boston a bread & circus and whole foods bakery beginning in 1984 whole foods market expanded out of austin by marketing more effectively to women first to houston and dallas and then into new orleans with the purchase of the whole food co. in 1988 . in 1989 the company expanded to the west coast with a store in palo alto calif. while opening new stores the company fueled rapid growth by acquiring other natural foods chains throughout the 1990s wellspring grocery of north carolina bread & circus of massachusetts and rhode island banner retired in 2003 mrs. gooch s natural foods markets of los angeles 17 bread of life of northern california fresh fields markets on the east coast and in the midwest florida bread of life stores detroit area merchant of vino stores and nature s heartland of boston . 18 the company s 100th store was opened in torrance california in 1999 . the company started its third decade with additional acquisitions . the first was natural abilities in 2000 which did business as food for thought in northern california . 19 after the departure of then company president chris hitt and regional president rich cundiff southern california region john mackey promoted a.c. gallo president of the northeast region and walter robb president of the northern california region to co coo and soon after added the titles of co president . this led to the promotion of three new regional presidents and a new era for the company . david lannon became president of the northeast region anthony gilmore became president of the southwest region ron megehan became president of the northern california region . in 2001 whole foods also moved into manhattan . 20 later that year ken meyer became president of the newly formed south region and whole foods market acquired the assets of harry s farmers market which included three stores in atlanta . 21 in 2002 the company continued its expansion in north america and opened its first store in toronto ontario . 22 further continuing its expansion select fish of seattle was acquired in 2003 . 23 in 2005 whole foods opened its 80 000 sq ft 7 400 m2 flagship store in downtown austin . the company s headquarters moved into offices above the store . 24 whole foods market s expansion has increased the need for products and processing plants . in response the company added its 365 everyday value product line and purchased allegro coffee company in 1997 . it also began to acquire seafood processing plants in 2003 . 25 unreliable source whole foods began opening its hawaii stores in 2007 26 and in 2008 it opened a southeast distribution center in braselton georgia calling it the first green distribution center for the company . 27 along with new acquisitions such as the 2014 purchase of seven dominick s finer foods locations in chicago whole foods has also sold stores to other companies . 28 for example 35 henry s farmers market and sun harvest market stores were sold to a subsidiary of los angeles grocer smart & final inc. for 166 million in 2007 . 29 united kingdom edit in 2004 whole foods market entered the u.k. by acquiring seven fresh & wild stores . 18 30 in june 2007 it opened its first full size store a total of 80 000 sq ft 7 400 m2 on three levels on the site of the old barkers department store on kensington high street west london . company executives claimed that as many as forty stores might eventually be opened throughout the u.k. 31 however by september 2008 in the wake of whole foods market s financial troubles fresh & wild had been reduced to four stores all in london . the flagship bristol branch closed because it had not met profitability goals . 32 in the year to september 28 2008 the uk subsidiary lost 36m due to a large impairment charge of 27m and poor trading results due to the growing fears of global recession . 33 however in 2011 global sales grew 8 % each financial quarter as shoppers returned to the chain . 34 a first scottish store was opened on november 16 2011 in giffnock a suburb of glasgow . whole foods market inc. currently operates 9 different whole foods locations in camden town cheltenham clapham junction giffnock kensington piccadilly circus richmond stoke newington and fulham . 35 acquisition of wild oats markets and antitrust complaint edit on february 21 2007 whole foods market inc. and wild oats markets inc. announced the signing of a merger agreement under which whole foods market inc. would acquire wild oats markets inc. s outstanding common stock in a cash tender offer of 18.50 per share or approximately 565 million based on fully diluted shares . under the agreement whole foods market inc. would also assume wild oats markets inc. s existing net debt totaling approximately 106 million as reported on september 30 2006 . 36 on june 27 2007 the federal trade commission ftc issued an administrative complaint challenging whole foods market inc. s acquisition of wild oats markets inc. according to the complaint the ftc believed that the proposed transaction would violate federal antitrust laws by eliminating the substantial competition between two close competitors in the operation of premium natural and organic supermarkets nationwide . the ftc contended that if the transaction were to proceed whole foods market would have the ability to raise prices and reduce quality and services . both whole foods market and wild oats stated their intention to vigorously oppose the ftc s complaint and a court hearing on the issue was scheduled for july 31 and august 1 2007 . ceo john mackey started a blog on the subject to explain his opposition to the ftc s stance . further blogging by mackey was revealed when the ftc released papers detailing highly opinionated comments under the pseudonym rahodeb that he made to the whole foods yahoo investment message board . this became the subject of an investigation when the securities and exchange commission sec noted that regulation fair disclosure law of 2000 may have been violated . 37 38 the sec cleared mackey of the charges on april 25 2008 . 39 on july 29 2008 the court of appeals for the district of columbia overturned the district court s decision allowing the merger . the court of appeals ruled that premium natural and organic supermarkets pnos such as whole foods and wild oats constitute a distinct submarket of all grocers . the court ruled that mission driven consumers those with an emphasis on social and environmental responsibility would be adversely affected by the merger because substantial evidence by the ftc showed that whole foods intended to raise prices after consummation of the merger . 40 as part of its effort to combat the ruling whole foods subpoenaed financial records market studies and future strategic plans belonging to new seasons market a regional competitor based in the portland area . 41 42 in 2009 whole foods agreed to sell the wild oats chain . 43 product quality edit produce in a cary north carolina store whole foods market only sells products that meet its self created quality standards for being natural which the store defines as minimally processed foods that are free of hydrogenated fats as well as artificial flavors colors sweeteners preservatives and many others as listed on their online unacceptable food ingredients list . 44 whole foods market has also announced that it does not intend to sell meat or milk from cloned animals or their offspring even though the u.s. food and drug administration fda has ruled them safe to eat . 45 46 the company also sells