Prove All things – Hold Fast to the Good

By Bill Roberts

I received an e-mail from one of our NADA Board members recently regarding the acquisition of the very popular health food chain, Wild Oats, by the corporate giant, Whole Foods. The reported purchase price was one-half billion dollars. Health food truly has become big business involving big bucks.

Another board member asked me if I would sell my grass fed beef to Whole Foods, drawing reference to their tarnished reputation in Michael Pollan’s book Omnivore’s Delight and subsequent pieces in the New York Times.

I spent considerable time in deliberation before coming up with my answer: “I do not know.” That may not seem very profound. However, the fact is that I have never been in a Whole Foods store and do not personally know anyone connected with the chain, so that is the only honest response. I also have not read Michael Pollan’s book yet so I am not qualified to comment on that either. I would like to believe that if there are breeches in integrity by the very influential chain that they are brought to light to the end they will provoke positive change. If there has been no breech of integrity, I likewise trust the “trial by the media” will not adversely affect the organization.

Rather than focus on the alleged short comings of Whole Foods, I would like this Viewpoint to target on the good that an honest (or “altruistic” as Alan Nation would say) chain like Whole Foods or Wild Oats could provide to our rapidly growing industry of grass fed beef.

I have been closely associated with Wild Oats both in Colorado and Tennessee as a customer and as an acquaintance to some of the principles in the meat procurement segment. In my opinion, they have done an admirable job in marketing and sales for the products they sell. They have consumer confidence because they are sticklers on detail and appear to only deal in quality. Every time I have been in a store, I have visions of how they could propel consumer education and provide a marketing vehicle for producers of grass fed beef.

In my perfect world, such a chain would open their shelves to local producers. They would stage consumer taste and overall satisfaction competitions that would stimulate consumer awareness and education while ranking the producers warranting their attention. A list of qualifying local producers would then be responsible for branding their beef and providing a synopsis of their operation and quality standards.

The consumer benefits by the information they’ve never had before as well as the kind of partnership which they would then enjoy with the producers and the store. Store demands on quantity would dictate how many in the “succession list” participated in supplying that store. Consumer satisfaction and “trial by purchase demand” would dictate who continued in the supply chain.

The result would be truly free enterprise with the greatest reward going to the producer of the most generally accepted-quality product. Supply and demand could even dictate the price of the beef. If Producer A sold out in a day and Producers B and C stayed in stock for a week, the store could raise the price on the beef from Producer A. The market would facilitate positive growth and change.

Periodic competitions could allow room for fledgling producers, who excel in what they do, to enter the supply chain as demand grew within the local store. The increased public awareness would facilitate sales for not just the health food store’s meat. It would broaden the base of customers for those who direct market as well. It is a win-win for all parties concerned. The support in marketing and sales would allow producers to do what they do best, produce.

Obviously this outlet would not fit all producers, especially those who have already built their processing and marketing system and enjoy reaping more of the revenue in the supply line. However, for the younger enterprise or the less integration conscious, this program would be an answer to the dilemma all of us have somewhere along the experience curve of matching production with sales.

I trust the news from the Whole Foods acquisition sparks us all to “Prove all things – hold fast to the good.”

To contact Bill with questions or comments at
roberts@northamericandevon.com