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Good evening everybody. It's been many years since last I posted to
the Celiac List. Finally I'm out of lurking mode and requesting help
from anyone who shops, or would like to shop, at Whole Foods Market,
the largest health food chain in the US.

For a while now Whole Foods has operated a Gluten Free bakery from a
facility in North Carolina. They expanded their range of products to
include a fantastic array of delicious items. I've come to rely on
them in place of the onerous chore of getting my foods through mail
order. In fact, most of the products from the Whole Foods Gluten Free
Bakery are equal to or superior to that which I used to buy by mail.

Unfortunately, there has been a decision made at the corporate level
to discontinue 8 items from their product line. Their current line
can be found here (note that a few of these items are still listed
but are on their discontinuance list):

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/bakery/gf_bakehouse.html

They have already removed the following 8 items from their line:

chocolate raspberry cake
coffee cake
lemon poppy seed cake
almond scone
cheddar cheese scones
blondies (a light variation on the traditional brownie)
blueberry pie
morning glory muffins

My personal favorites are the lemon poppy seed cake and the blueberry
pie. The Blondies are great, but I only eat those in moderation due
to the chocolate chips! The coffee cake is scrumtious.

Why are they discontinuing these items? My wife, Amy, called their
office to find out and was informed that the choice was made at the
Northeast Regional level in response to success in their selling the
product line on the West Coast. When Whole Foods initiated the
product line for the East Coast and vicinity, they where able to
supply sufficient quantities to meet demand. When they expanded to
the West Coast, they discovered that their North Carolina facility
could no longer support the new volume output.

The bakery manager for the Northeast made the decision to cut the 8
items that sold the least, thus narrowing the product line. It is my
belief that not all of these items should be cut. Many of these items
are kept in frozen storage for freshness. Unless you know of this
practice, you will  go to the gluten free rack and find only a
portion of their line. Unless you know of this practice, you will not
know to ask for the items you want. Instead you will pick from the
shelves other items to satisfy your bakery needs.

This fact alone brings into question the accuracy of their decision
making process.  I do not believe that they took into account the
numbers of people who shop at Whole Foods with greater frequency due
to the availability of great bakery products. Reduce the product line
inappropriately and you lose sales as people shop there less. Without
a doubt, we shop there more frequently to stock up on our bakery
products (Amy likes their products so much that she prefers them to
non-gluten free items.. well almost). Of course when we are there we
buy more fresh foods too.. impulse shopping. Decrease the product
line and you decrease your incidence of impulse shopping. In my area
a few of the major supermarket chains now have areas devoted to
gluten free foods. I can go to my local supermarket for vegetables...
even for gluten free foods such as cereals, bakery mixes, cookies and
pasta.

I am sending a personal email to the Northeast Bakery manager of
Whole Foods regarding what I see as a mistake in marketing and in
product choice. Perhaps some of these items truly deserve to be
relegated to the discontinued file. I believe that some of these
items should be reconsidered.. and that Whole Foods would do well to
reconsider in general it's decision to reduce it's gluten free bakery
product line instead of looking for ways to increase it by zeroing in
on what people want. If you don't ask those who are Celiacs, how will
you know what is in demand? If you don't try out new items, how will
you know if a demand can be created?

The person who made this decision is Shimme, the Northeast Bakery
Director. That's the whole name as given by a representative of Whole
Foods. I ran a search and sure enough, he goes by Shimme.

<[log in to unmask]>

Whether you are a Whole Foods customer or not, please consider
sending your comments to Whole Foods. For too many years Celiacs
existed as an unkown minority. Now we are gaining market attention...
we are numerous and a distinct buying population who, when offered a
quality product, become satisfied and secure customers.

Thanks
Gary


--

Gary Roberts <[log in to unmask]>
Dedham, MA...Antique tools, Old Books, Art Pottery, Hong Kong cinema,
what else is there?

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