Whole Foods is an anomaly.  

On the one hand, they’re a $12.9 billion company.

On the other hand, they shun traditional marketing and advertising. (Oh, except for that little “Values Matter” campaign they launched, which was estimated to cost $15-20 million!)

The big question on many marketers’ minds is: Did the Values Matter campaign work, or was it a colossal waste of money?

Furthermore, will Whole Foods’ resistance to traditional marketing put their long-term fate in jeopardy?

I reached out to Joe Dobrow, who was head of marketing at Whole Foods in the late 1990s, to get his insights on the matter. In October 2014 Joe published an excellent article detailing “several inherent flaws” in the Values Matter campaign.

In the following interview, Joe shares his thoughts on why Whole Foods has been so successful, how they could have improved the Values Matter campaign, and what it was like being in charge of marketing at Whole Foods.

This article was originally published by Alchemy Systems, and is published here with permission.

HACCP Plan reassessments are required to be performed at least once a year. It is not only mandated by USDA and FDA regulations, but also by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) for companies certified under SQF, BRC, FSSC 22000 or IFS. In short, your HACCP plan should be a living document that continually and accurately reflects current operations. It assures your food safety system is kept up-to-date throughout the year.

Reassessments are necessary whenever any changes occur that could affect your hazard analysis or alter any current HACCP plans.

This summer, I attended a conference on leadership called the Global Leadership Summit. I was invited by a friend, who sold me on the idea by telling me that Brené Brown would be speaking.

What I got (in addition to Brené, of course) was 2 full days of inspiring talks that influenced me to want to be a better leader, a better team member and a better person across my entire life. They also gave me the tools to figure out how to do better.

My primary homework now (of course, because who doesn’t love homework?) is to read a lot of leadership books. A LOT.

Inspired to add to my book list, I searched on Amazon for the best books on leadership. And guess what I found… Many of these speakers that I watched at this summit also ended up on the Amazon “best-books” list. That’s because they’re true leaders in their field.

If I learned anything during this conference, it was that their words and ideas are worth the time you’ll put towards learning.

Two fast food restaurants have made waves in the healthy food industry over the last year. Organic and non-gmo waves, that is.

Chipotle took a national stand on GMOs earlier this year, and last month, the first organic restaurant called Amy’s Drive-Thru officially opened.

Take that McDonalds!

Branding your organic food company should be pretty simple right? People want what you have — all you need to do is tell them about it and voila! you should make sales.

In reality, however, branding an organic food company is a unique challenge. You’re selling to a niche market. Organic foods are in high demand, but at the same time, new products are emerging every day to meet consumers’ growing hunger. And often times, large national brands (with existing recognition and shelf appeal) are the ones releasing these new organic product lines.

So how do you, a small and growing organic company, compete?

Most jobs require at least a little bit of negotiations skills.

Procurement personnel, however, live in the world of negotiation day in and day out. Many of the most impactful moments of their careers involve negotiation. To be able to do their jobs well, these skills must be utilized on a daily basis.

To help you do negotiation better, here’s 5 tips (based on real psychological research) to help you do it best and get what you want.

With the new olive oil harvest approaching this winter, prices may go down but don’t expect too much of a decrease. In fact, with current global olive oil levels (including next year's predicted harvest and any supply left over from last year) prices may stay about the same as last year.

At the International Olive Council meeting in September 2015, members discussed the final tallies from the last harvest and looked forward to their expectations for the next harvest.

Projections for 2015/16 are still unsteady and appear to be offered as an estimate but without too much conviction. They expect that production will be looking up from last year, but will not be as good as the year prior. This is, the IOC reminds us, as long as weather conditions don’t change too much between now and the key part of the harvest (December 2015).

This graph is a great representation of the fluctuations in the market over the last 10 years.  

What in the world are GMOs and why do consumers care about them?

Those are two big questions posed to many business owners, marketing managers and purchasing directors in the food manufacturing industry today.  

For many businesses, the storm of consumers talking about GMOs came on so quickly in the last two years that they had to start making strategic business decisions before they really had a firm understanding of what GMOs were, and all of the how, what and why surrounding the GMO debate.

Understanding GMOs from your customers' perspective

Today, we're taking it back to ground zero -- understanding GMOs and why consumers feel so strongly about them in the first place.

In today’s manufacturing enterprise, executives and line of business managers are constantly bombarded with information, making it difficult to weed through all the available manufacturing metrics to figure out what business issues need to be addressed.

In most organizations, procurement is recognized as a fundamental part of business and the most effective way to maintain long-term cost control.

The procurement department is usually thought of “the ones who purchase goods and services”, but really, their function is much more important than that. They are a window into understanding what’s really going on in your every day business operations.

Ernst & Young, a business consultant and knowledge provider, maintains that there are 5 basic things that you should expect from your procurement team. If you don’t have these basics, they argue, there is a good chance that money is being left on the table, strategic business decisions may be made in isolation, or you may not be utilizing the full potential of your procurement team.

As we get settled into this new year, we thought we’d share observations from conversations we’ve had with manufacturers and distributors recently. 

These ten issues are what is keeping them up at night. We believe they are worthy of discussion in 2015 as they are more pressing than ever as competition continues to heat up with current incumbents and the growing competition from start ups.

If you're selling organic products, it's important to undersand why your customers want to buy organic in the first place.  This information will help you market and sell your products even better.

Don't assume that if you eat organic foods, that every consumer has the same reasons for buying organic as you do.  Healthy living, pesticide avoidance, hormone avoidance, a strong environment, a thriving economy, and lots of other reasons can all tie into their decision to buy organic.

If you're selling an organic product, you'll need to understand all the possible reasons that cosnumers buy organic and decide which relate to your business how you want to use them to market and sell your products.

Have you ever wondered what a group full of olive oil suppliers say when you’re not in the room? 

Or how we understand the weight of our own responsibility, as suppliers, to you — our customers?

Or how we look at the food industry in today’s market?

A few weeks ago, Centra Foods was asked to give a talk on “olive oil used in manufacturing” at the North American Olive Oil Association conference. What did we say to this request? Yes, of course! And today I’m sharing an insider’s look at that industry presentation with you. 

The organic industry is steadily growing, and organic foods are holding more and more appeal to consumers that are already buying natural, non-gmo or whole foods.

There’s many different reasons that consumers choose to buy organic, and they have a wide range from personal health matters to much larger scale reasons like ecosystem or water preservation.

If you’re selling organic products (or thinking about developing a new organic or clean product line) it’s important to understand all of the different possible reasons that consumers would choose organic foods over other options that are both cheaper and more readily available.

This market research will help you connect with your consumer and ultimately be more successful at selling your brand.