Our Purpose is to Nourish People and the Planet
Whole Foods Market is a dynamic leader in the quality food business. We are a purpose-driven company that aims to set the standards of excellence for food retailers. We are building a business in which high standards permeate all aspects of our company. Quality is a state of mind at Whole Foods Market.
We recognize the interdependence among our stakeholders - those who benefit from or are impacted by our company. Our success is optimized by a win-win strategy, and all of our stakeholders are simultaneously benefitting.
Our Values
We Sell the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Foods
We appreciate and celebrate great food. Breaking bread with others, eating healthy and eating well - these are some of the great joys of our lives.
Our product quality standards lead the marketplace. We focus on growing methods, safety, ingredients, taste, freshness, nutrition and appearance.
We tirelessly develop and introduce delicious and healthy foods that our customers love.
We Satisfy and Delight Our Customers
Our customers are the lifeblood of our business and our most important stakeholder. We strive to meet or exceed their expectations on every shopping experience.
We deliver outstanding customer service through our knowledge, skill, enthusiasm and operational excellence.
We continually experiment and innovate to offer a better customer experience. We create store environments that are inviting, fun, unique, comfortable, attractive, nurturing and educational. Our stores are community meeting places where people can join their friends and make new ones.
We Promote Team Member Growth and Happiness
Our success is dependent upon the collective energy, intelligence and contributions of all our Team Members. We design and provide safe and empowering environments where highly-motivated people can flourish and reach their highest potential.
We strive to build positive and healthy relationships. "Us versus them" thinking has no place in our company. We earn trust through transparent communication, open door policies and inclusive people practices. We appreciate and recognize the good work that our fellow Team Members do every day.
We value the importance of fun, family and community involvement to encourage a rich, meaningful and balanced life.
We Practice Win-Win Partnerships With Our Suppliers
We are part of an interdependent business ecosystem. There are tens of thousands of suppliers that we depend on to create an outstanding retail shopping experience for our customers.
We view our trade partners as allies in serving our stakeholders. We treat them with respect, fairness and integrity - expecting the same in return.
We listen compassionately, we think carefully and we always seek win-win relationships with everyone engaged in our business.
We Create Profits and Prosperity
We earn profits every day through voluntary exchange with our customers.
We know that profits are essential to create capital for growth, job security and overall financial success. Profits are the "savings" every business needs in order to change and evolve to meet the future goals. They are the "seed corn" for next year's crop and the creator of sustained prosperity.
We are stewards for our parent company Amazon, and we have a responsibility to use their capital wisely and frugally with the goal to increase its value over the long-term. We will grow at such a pace that our customer satisfaction, Team Member happiness and financial health continue to flourish together.
We Care About Our Communities and the Environment
We serve and support a local experience. The unique character of each store is a direct reflection of a community's people, culture and cuisine. We celebrate and strengthen each community through employment, investment in local non-profits and a conscious commitment to our local producers.
We leverage our foundations to broaden our community impact. We champion nutritional education for children, food access in underserved areas and microcredit for the poorest of the poor.
We practice and advance environmental stewardship. We balance our needs with the needs of the rest of the planet so that the Earth will continue to flourish for generations to come. Our industry-leading quality standards support sustainable agriculture, animal welfare and ocean preservation. We are committed to reduced packaging, composting and water and energy conservation.
Final Thoughts
Our Declaration of Interdependence reflects the hopes and intentions of many people. We do not believe it always accurately portrays the way things currently are at Whole Foods Market so much as the way we would like things to be. It is our dissatisfaction with the current reality, when compared with what is possible, that spurs us toward excellence and toward creating a better person, company and world. When Whole Foods Market fails to measure up to its stated vision, as it inevitably will at times, we should not despair. Rather let us take up the challenge together to bring our reality closer to our vision. The future we will experience tomorrow is created one step at a time today.
The Declaration of Interdependence was created originally in 1985 by 60 team members who volunteered their time. It has been updated in 1988, 1992 and 1997, and 2018.
