Touring and Tasting at Whole Foods Market Johns Creek
By Nancy Van Patten, Marketing/Food Writer
Something happened in our store yesterday that made me stop and ponder a bit about why we do what we do here at Whole Foods Market Johns Creek. Our Marketing Team Leader lead a tour through the store in the afternoon. They were a fun and inquisitive group of young ladies in their early teens. We like to feed our customers (full+happy=regulars!) so we offered them some samples. In our Produce department, there was a fresh batch of plump cherries on hand. One young lady hesitated. “I don’t think I’ve ever tasted a real cherry before,” she said. One of the adult guests added “It’ll taste like the juice, only solid.”
She tried it, and she liked it, but-whoa. Never eaten the actual fruit of a cherry? It’s baffling-but at the same time, I understand how that happens. Life whirls by so quickly that many times we don’t have access to farmers, markets and other agricultural venues that we once took for granted. Sadly, it’s easier and more time-effective to process food from its most natural state into something that just tastes like the original product. And sometimes in that process, the taste gets lost in the translation.
This is why we care so much about quality. Years ago we invited third-party auditors into our stores to verify that we purchase, handle and sell organic food that’s of the highest quality possible. We want our tomatoes to smell like tomatoes. And we began disclosure on the Country of Origin (also known as COO) before it became a regulation in 2008. It’s especially important in our Meat and Seafood departments. Many times we can source our meats and fish straight back to the rancher, or in the case of wild-caught fish, back to the trawler that hauled it in from the icy waters.
That’s why you can walk into any of our stores (of course, we hope you come here the most) and ask for a sample of our products. We’ll happily peel you a banana, slice up a dragonfruit or let you bite into an apple, just so you can be assured that you’re getting the best-tasting, highest-quality produce possible. You can arrange a store tour through our Marketing office, where you can learn all about our quality standards and find out all kinds of interesting facts about where our wonderful food comes from. Our online store request form can be found here http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/duluth/files/2010/04/storetour.pdf or you can ask at Customer Service and they’ll be happy to help you out. We do require some advance notice, so we can get all the tasty samples ready and get together a special “something” for you to take home. Best of all, tours fit everyone’s budget-they’re free!
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This is the best way to learn about Whole Foods Market’s exceptional products & services. We also offer “Get Your Health On” tours 2x/month, sign up at the Healthy Eating Center.
[...] of weeks ago about a member of a store tour group that said she’d never tasted a cherry (see http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/duluth/2011/08/10/touring-and-tasting-at-whole-foods-market-johns...) this video clip was especially meaningful. It’s not just young children that can’t identify [...]