Whole Foods (NASDAQ:WFM)

Whole FoodsWhole Foods is a publicly traded grocery store chain with 399 stores. The chain’s revenue in millions in 2014 was $14,194 and it employed approximately 87,200. Each Whole Foods carries an average of 32,000 SKUs, with an assortment of grocery items including fresh produce, flowers and gifts, pharmacy items, and health and beauty products. Their stated mission is a series of core values: (1) to sell the highest quality natural and organic products available; to satisfy, delight and nourish customers; (2) to support Team Member happiness and excellence; (3) to create wealth through profits and growth; to serve and support local and global communities; (4) to practice and advance environmental stewardship; (5) to create ongoing win-win partnerships with suppliers; and (5) to promote the health of stakeholders through healthy eating education.

Whole Foods’ Good Jobs Score Overview

Overall
Score
7.5
Overall
Rank
#2
Customer/Employee Scores
Productivity/Customer Scores
Productivity/Employee Scores

 

Whole Foods’ Customer Score

Customer
Score
8.2
Customer
Rank
#5
Additional Customer Data

The Good Jobs Customer component is comprised of ACSI, Consumer Reports, and Yelp scores (see Methodology for more details). Although not part of the Good Jobs Score, the following table provides additional data on customer satisfaction.

 

Whole Foods’ Employee Score

Employee
Score
8.1
Employee
Rank
#3
Whole Foods Glassdoor Rating Trend
Additional Employee Data

The Good Jobs Employee component is comprised of Glassdoor and Indeed scores (see Methodology for more details). Although not part of the Good Jobs Score, the following charts provide additional data on employee satisfaction and level of unionization.

  • The above charts provide additional information as measured by Glassdoor.com. They serve to show Whole Foods’ relative position to its peer-group and do not imply a causal relationship between the dimensions.

 

Whole Foods’ Productivity Score

Productivity
Score
6.4
Productivity
Rank
#2
Sales / SQFT
Sales / Employee
Inventory TurnoverVI
 
more performance data
FY2011FY2012FY2013FY2014
Fiscal year end9/25/20119/30/20129/29/20139/28/2014
Number of employees64,20072,70078,40087,200
Number of stores311335362399
Total store sqft² (m)11.812.413.815.2
Average store size (sqft²)38,04536,94038,06438,000
Revenue (m)$10,108$11,699$12,917$14,194
Gross margin (%)37.70%38.06%38.38%38.11%
EBITDA margin (%)8.13%8.89%9.38%9.15%
Same-store sales growth (%)8.50%8.70%6.90%4.30%
Source: 10-K filings with the S.E.C.

 

Whole Foods’ Co-CEO Walter E. Robb

 
Walter Robb is carrying the title of Co-CEO jointly with Whole Foods’ Co-Founder John Mackey. John Mackey has received a salary of $1 in FY2014. As a result, the below ratio is solely based on Walter Robb’s compensation.

CEO-to-Cashier pay ratio
Pay ratio methodology
We follow a methodology established by the Economic Policy Institute. CEO compensation data is collected from Compustat’s annual executive compensation database and, where needed, extended by companies’ FAB 14A proxy filings with the S.E.C.. Hourly cashier compensation is collected from Glassdoor, with an average sample size of N=293. Annual cashier pay is estimated by multiplying hourly pay by 40 hours/week and 52 weeks.
CEO Approval
This metric, as collected by Glassdoor.com, represents a reviewer’s positive/neutral/negative rating of the current CEO. The CEO approval percentage is the share of reviewers who rate the CEO positively.

 

Whole Foods’ Disclosure Details

The following data are based on SASB disclosure recommendations for the Human Capital dimension in the restaurant industry. They will be updated once SASB provides recommendations for the retail industry.

Voluntary Turnover RateReported
Involuntary Turnover RateNot Reported
Average Hourly Wage (by region)Not Reported
% of Employees at Minimum WageNot Reported
Amount of legal/regulatory fines and settlements associated with labor law violationsNot Reported
Amount of tax credit received for hiring through enterprise zone programs
(these State and Local government programs encourage companies to create jobs in specific geographic area targeted for economic revitalization)
Not Reported

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