Whole Foods’ strategy offers healthy potential
Prepared foods have been a great boon to Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI). Its new “Health Starts Here” initiative plans to offer healthier pre-fab options, limiting add-ons such as refined flour and sugar, added oil and processed ingredients. It will also include nutritional scorecards.
This is an unconventional angle that traditional grocers likely won’t rush to adopt. And huge, sprawling discounters can only go so far with similar initiatives in their grocery sections, since rock-bottom food prices leave little room for such customer-friendly, touchy-feely “frills.”
“Health Starts Here” isn’t Whole Foods’ first foray into encouraging better eating among its shoppers. It has hired healthy eating specialists for each store to provide tips and demonstrations, while adding on services such as wellness clubs and dietary education.
Whole Foods has often been ahead of the curve on emerging trends in consumer tastes and beliefs. Beyond the rise of natural and organic foods’ popularity, it’s also led the pack in bringing vegetarian fare to the mainstream and adopting animal welfare ratings for meat suppliers. Conventional grocers have now begun to offer similar labeling at their own meat counters.
The grocery segment is a low-margin, highly competitive corner of retail. In general, investors should shop elsewhere for healthy profit growth. But thanks to its innovations, Whole Foods, a “Motley Fool Stock Advisor” recommendation, is well worth considering.
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A: It varies somewhat from company to company, but in a nutshell, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a corporation with a board of directors is responsible for seeing that the strategy of the board is carried out. The president and chief operating officer (COO), who are often the same person at many companies, are responsible for executing the strategy.
A CEO typically focuses on overall strategy, communicating with the media, employees, shareholders and customers. She’ll spend a lot of time networking or negotiating with other companies’ executives, meeting with financial partners, and trying to get the public and investors interested in the company and confident about its future.
Meanwhile, the COO/president manages the day-to-day operations. He’ll deal with consultants, customers, and employees in sales, marketing, finance and more. He and the CEO will work with the CFO (chief financial officer) to make sure the firm is financially healthy.
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My smartest investment
Back in 1981, my wife convinced me that we should invest in an aggressive mutual fund that her parents had made a lot of money in over many years. It had provided them with both income and growth. We invested $6,200 and it started growing. I considered selling to realize the profit, but decided to just let it ride. Over the next 18 years, we got $12,500 out of it, and the investment was still worth around $9,000, well above our initial investment. This shows that you don’t have to get into a great investment at the beginning. – K.T., Worthington, Ohio
The Fool responds: That’s very true. With both stocks and funds, many solid performers can reward investors over many decades. Some companies may run into trouble, though, such as when new competitors or technologies emerge. And funds may lose talented managers over time, or those managers may lose their touch. It’s important to keep an eye on your investments to make sure they still seem promising. You want your money invested in the best ideas you can find.