Where It All Began

     When I arrived in Austin for the BBQ Festival I was unaware that the city was also the headquarters for the multi-national Whole Foods Company.  So I took the opportunity to visit their flagship store at 6th and Lamar.  It was so large and diverse that I had to return twice to take it all in!

But little did I know that the high quality natural and organic market chain had a very humble beginning.  In 1978 a college drop-out and his friend borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open a small natural foods store in Austin.  John Makey and Renee Lawson believed that their community needed a supermarket format for the developing natural foods industry and opened the SaferWay Market.  With little space at the store they had to keep much of their stock in their own apartment.  That resulted in their eviction and they chose to live with their produce at the store.  Two years later they partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Stiles and merged their fledgling store with the Clarksville Natural Grocery and became Whole Foods, opening their doors of a 10,500 square foot market in 1980 with a staff of 19.  Four years later expansion of their concept began with stores in Houston, Dallas and New Orleans and in 1989 Palo Alto, California.  The foursome went on to acquire more natural food chains and expanded their reach into North Carolina, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Florida, Northern California and the cities of Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles.  In 2002 they became an international enterprise venturing across the border into Canada and two years later across the pond in the United Kingdom.

     Today Whole Foods continues to strive to provide the highest quality natural and organic produce while supporting local and global communities.  They also practice and advance environmental stewardship.  Their ongoing mission is stated in their Higher Purpose Statement:

     With great courage, integrity and love - we embrace our responsibility to co-create a world where each of us, our communities and our planet can flourish.  All the while, celebrating the sheer love of food.

     And to think that it all began in Austin.