CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market

April 03, 2001

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Ashley: At your Texas stores, where do you get your shrimp?

John Mackey: We get our shrimp from aquaculture, and typically it could be in the United States, or it could be from foreign countries, and we only work with aquaculture companies that are concerned about the environment.

Amber: What is your greatest achievement?

John Mackey: I suppose the creation and development and building of Whole Foods Market.

Recon: What is the hardest thing about your job?

John Mackey: I think the hardest thing about my job is the way Whole Foods Market views itself philosophically is that we are a business dedicated to meeting all the various stakeholders of the company's best interests. And by stakeholders we mean customers, team members, stockholders, community, and the environment. Sometimes what is in the best interest of one stakeholder may not be in the best interest of another stakeholder, and as the CEO, I have to balance the various interests of the different constituencies and stakeholders to create win, win, win scenarios, and that can sometimes be very difficult to do. Everybody wants something from the CEO.

HungryMan: How is your store different from Central Market in Austin?

John Mackey: I would define Central Market as a perishable foods supermarket. I define Whole Foods Market as a natural products, organic foods supermarket. Our focus is on foods that don't have any artificial ingredients, flavorings, colorings and preservatives, organically grown foods, foods that don't have any pesticides or chemical fertilizers, meat that doesn't have any growth hormones or antibiotics. In other words, Whole Foods Market has very stringent quality standards for the products that we will sell. Central Market does not have, as far as I know, any quality standards.

Stacy: Where is the best place to find pollution free earth in which to grow food for the masses?

John Mackey: We don't know.

Steph: What is your favorite food that you carry in the store?

John Mackey: Based on quantity of food consumed, I would say our Whole Foods Market private label vanilla soy milk, in the dairy case.

Ashley: Where do you get the ideas for the recipes for the prepared food behind the counter?

John Mackey: Whole Foods is a very decentralized company, so the recipes that we sell can vary from store to store and region to region across the company, so many of the ideas for recipes come from the people working in the stores. And the best recipes, and the most successful recipes, get exchanged from store to store, from city to city, from state to state.

Jon: When you were in high school, what career did you plan on having?

John Mackey: I wanted to be a professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association. It didn't work out.

Jon: How do you prepare to be CEO of a billion dollar corporation?

John Mackey: I have no idea; I never prepared for it. I began Whole Foods in 1980 with one store, I opened a second store, third store, fourth store, and so forth, until today we have 122 stores, 2 billion in sales. And so, I've been learning as I went along. I didn't prepare. Life is an adventure, and we learn and grow as we grow through the journey of life, the adventure of life. However, if I was to make recommendations -- my recommendation would be to follow your heart.

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