Jason Buechel

and great for the community and your workers, you can create an ecosystem where stakeholders together can sort of win. One of the things that I get excited about as Whole Foods is we try to find these win-win-win solutions. So it doesn't have to be for a customer to win on value. All of these other stakeholders have to lose.

and great for the community and your workers, you can create an ecosystem where stakeholders together can sort of win. One of the things that I get excited about as Whole Foods is we try to find these win-win-win solutions. So it doesn't have to be for a customer to win on value. All of these other stakeholders have to lose.

Plastics, as well as just packaging in general, is something that has been a big focus for us in helping reduce not only the waste, but some of what can be the harmful or perceived harmful impacts to consumers as well. One of the things that we've been trying to do is look at ways by which we can reduce plastics across the supply chain.

Plastics, as well as just packaging in general, is something that has been a big focus for us in helping reduce not only the waste, but some of what can be the harmful or perceived harmful impacts to consumers as well. One of the things that we've been trying to do is look at ways by which we can reduce plastics across the supply chain.

I think one of the tricky parts that we have here is in general, customers say they want less of it Yet, when you bring offerings to the marketplace, they're not always deciding that they want to purchase those. And I'll give a real concrete example.

I think one of the tricky parts that we have here is in general, customers say they want less of it Yet, when you bring offerings to the marketplace, they're not always deciding that they want to purchase those. And I'll give a real concrete example.

We worked with a supplier in basically helping reduce nearly all of the plastic in packaged salads, which was one of the top areas that we had gotten feedback from customers on wanting less plastic. And so we brought this product to market. We felt it actually kept the quality extremely well. There was just a little bit of plastic so you could still see some of the product.

We worked with a supplier in basically helping reduce nearly all of the plastic in packaged salads, which was one of the top areas that we had gotten feedback from customers on wanting less plastic. And so we brought this product to market. We felt it actually kept the quality extremely well. There was just a little bit of plastic so you could still see some of the product.

But at the end of the day, the consumer still wanted to be able to hold up and see every little piece of lettuce in the process. Even in something like pasta, which is another area we innovated with some suppliers on, folks wanted to be able to see the pasta. And we had alternatives where there was great photography.

But at the end of the day, the consumer still wanted to be able to hold up and see every little piece of lettuce in the process. Even in something like pasta, which is another area we innovated with some suppliers on, folks wanted to be able to see the pasta. And we had alternatives where there was great photography.

of the product but they were still leaning in the ones that had sort of the plastic window in it so i think the piece that we need to work through is sometimes customers say things that they want but their buying behaviors don't always match up to it as well and so some of it's around the education of why we're doing some of these steps in the first place

of the product but they were still leaning in the ones that had sort of the plastic window in it so i think the piece that we need to work through is sometimes customers say things that they want but their buying behaviors don't always match up to it as well and so some of it's around the education of why we're doing some of these steps in the first place

One of the things that I'm excited about is there's a lot of alternative packaging that's coming to bear that is 100% compostable, plastic-free, but it has the look and feel of plastics. And right now, in some cases, those are a little bit more expensive. And so we need to be working through with our suppliers and how can we help bring these costs down and make it affordable?

One of the things that I'm excited about is there's a lot of alternative packaging that's coming to bear that is 100% compostable, plastic-free, but it has the look and feel of plastics. And right now, in some cases, those are a little bit more expensive. And so we need to be working through with our suppliers and how can we help bring these costs down and make it affordable?

And we can have a win for the quality of the food as well as the environment. earlier.

And we can have a win for the quality of the food as well as the environment. earlier.

I think customers are going to be more focused on making decisions that are very personalized for them. I mentioned one of my hypotheses that customers are going to buy based upon their own personal biome in the future. And so I think the ways by which

I think customers are going to be more focused on making decisions that are very personalized for them. I mentioned one of my hypotheses that customers are going to buy based upon their own personal biome in the future. And so I think the ways by which

Consumers are going to pull information to help understand what products they want to buy, whether it's relative to that or buying decisions on specialty diets or different things that have transformed through the supply chain and how the product has been produced. I think we're going to find different ways by which technology is going to help fuel and support that.

Consumers are going to pull information to help understand what products they want to buy, whether it's relative to that or buying decisions on specialty diets or different things that have transformed through the supply chain and how the product has been produced. I think we're going to find different ways by which technology is going to help fuel and support that.