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Hi folks,

I just wanted to truly clarify the GF goings-on at Whole Foods.  I love
working with these people, and wholeheartedly recommend that anyone who
cares about quality GF choices contact the address below, and encourage WF
in their efforts.  Here is the skinny:
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Hi Chris,

The baked goods will eventually get to the West Coast, but Lourdes is
correct in saying that there are not plans for an additional Gluten-Free
Bakehouse.

Currently, we have one facility in North Carolina, and it is nowhere
near operating to capacity.  We are currently only running 5 shifts a
week with 2 ovens.  We have the capacity to go to round-the-clock
operation with 4 or more ovens.

All the product is delivered to the stores frozen, even the NC stores
that are within 15 miles of the facility.  It is only through
efficiencies of scale that we can offer this product, and support this
facility.  There is no way financially we could have a facility that
could deliver fresh-baked goods (not-frozen) to the stores on a daily or
even weekly basis and still be a dedicated, stand-alone facility.  The
volume per store is simply not there, and the logistics of daily/weekly
deliveries over a large geographical area would raise the cost of the
products prohibitively.  Even so, to do this, we would have to severely
scale back the number of products being offered.

This facility bakes the product, packages it, and then immediately boxes
and freezes it.  For the South region, the product is distributed from
this facility.  For other regions, the regional warehouses will order
pallets of product from this facility and store it in the regional
freezer storage, then deliver it to the stores as it is ordered.

We began test baking last July, and part of the testing, and part of our
on-going quality control program is to regularly test the frozen product
for taste, quality, and shelf-life.  We have controls in place that
regulate the amount of time the product spends in the freezer, and to
regulate the shelf-life after it is thawed.

So, the challenges now are:

1) To work out the logistics for each region to be able to receive and
distribute the product through their own distribution systems.  This
includes educating team members on product information and handling,
getting the products into our retail and ordering systems, making
dedicated storage space on the regional level, finding dedicated display
space at the store level, and producing merchandising materials for the
stores level (signage, brochures, etc).

2) Increasing production levels at this facility in order to accommodate
exponential increases in product demand.  We started with 5 team members
baking for 5 stores.  We are now at 13 team members supplying 39 stores.
Within two months we'll be supplying almost 100 stores.

Thank you for your continued support of Whole Foods Market and the
Gluten-Free Bakehouse.  The email response to the listserve posting has
been tremendous, and the team members here are excited to see so much
anticipation for their products.

Just an fyi:  Since email response has been so high, most of the routine
inquiries I receive are being forwarded to the admin assistant for the
Bakehouse for response.  She comes to me with any questions, but at this
point, I really can't handle all the email by myself.  If any other
postings are made, it would be best to direct email inquiries to
[log in to unmask]  This email address was not working
for a short period of time, but it is up now and most inquiries will get
a quicker response directly from that address.

Thanks again!
Teresa
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Chris Gralapp, MA, CMI
Medical and Scientific Illustration
415.454.6567
[log in to unmask]
www.biolumina.com

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