PURELY GOOD {The Whole Foods Fanlisting}

PURELY GOOD: WHOLE FOODS MARKET: TRIVIA

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey was a 27-year-old college drop-out when he opened the first store with his 23-year-old girlfriend, Rene Lawson
The original Whole Foods Market in Austin had a staff of 19; the company now employs more than 42,000 people worldwide
In 2007, Whole Foods Market had revenue of $6.6 billion (USD)
Each geographic region of Whole Foods has a "forager," who is responsible for finding good local produce and items to sell in-store
Whole Foods went public in 1992 and entered the Fortune 500 in 2005
CEO John Mackey earns a salary of $1 (USD) a year in order to ensure more funds and better pay for employees
The Whole Trade Guarantee, a fair-trade initiative by the company, focuses on fair prices for crops, environmentally-sound practices, and better wages and labor conditions for workers
The company's Whole Planet Foundation is actively involved in many causes, including supporting micro-loan programs in developing countries
Some of the items on the legendary "Unacceptable Ingredients for Food" list include bleached flour, aspartame, nitrates, monosodium glutamate (MSG), saccharin, and artificial food dyes
Unacceptable body care ingredients include aerosol sprays, emu oil, talc, tallow, and salicylic acid
Whole Foods Market runs its own popular YouTube channel (WholeFoodsMarket), which features videos profiling food producers, sharing cooking tips, addressing social issues, and more
Whole Foods operates a gluten-free baking facility near Raleigh, North Carolina, which supplies nearly all of the company's North American stores with gluten-free baked goods
Whole Foods has been awarded Green Power awards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency four years in a row for efforts its renewable energy efforts
Most Whole Foods locations offer free cooking classes for specialty foods and special diets
Whole Foods is one of the few remaining American grocers that regularly provides samples of most types of items to its customers, including in-store and at community events