Whole Foods Market co-founder and CEO John Mackey has announced his retirement and with his departure, the most visible link to the retailer’s entrepreneurial past will be gone.
The retailer began life as an upscale market with strong natural foods and organic bent and demonstrated in its cross-national expansion that, despite earning the nickname “Whole Paycheck Market,” a lot of consumers in the United States would pay for grocery, fresh and frozen food they believed was better whether in regards to health, flavor or both. Amazon acquired Whole Foods in 2017.
Macky will continue serving as Whole Foods CEO until September 2022. Chief operating officer Jason Buechel will then become Whole Foods Market’s CEO.
In a letter to Whole Foods employees, Mackey wrote:
“Honestly, it’s very hard to retire from a company that I have helped to create, nourish and grow for 44 years when I leave. As a co-founder of Whole Foods, I’ve often explained my relationship to the company with a parent-child metaphor. As a parent, I have always loved Whole Foods with all my heart. I have done my best to instill strong values, a clear sense of higher purpose beyond profits and a loving culture that allows the company and all our interdependent stakeholders to flourish. All parents reach a time when they must let go and trust that the values imparted will live on within their children. That time has nearly come for me and for Whole Foods.”
Mackey stated that Buechel was his personal choice to take over as Whole Foods CEO and that Amazon embraced the choice. Buechel joined Whole Foods in 2013 as global vp and chief information officer, Mackey pointed out, and, in 2015, became evp before being named chief operating officer in 2019.
In the letter, Mackey added, “Working together, we have helped tens of millions of people live healthier lives, and it is not an exaggeration to say that Whole Foods has impacted very positively the way many people in America and around the world eat. We have created a very special culture that led to our being named one of the ‘00 Best Companies to Work For’ for 20 consecutive years. I am very proud of the role we’ve played in advancing how food is grown, produced and sourced matters, and fulfilling our higher purpose to nourish people and the planet is what makes Whole Foods so much more than just a grocery store. I’m also proud of the thousands of small local food companies that Whole Foods helped launch in our stores, hundreds of which have grown to be large and successful companies in their own right.”
