To Our Community And Customers Of Whole Foods From Harlem To Hollywood

First and foremost, I hope you are staying well. As a company, Whole Foods Market is adjusting to the current circumstances that all of us are facing during this unprecedented time. We believe that the service we provide as a grocer is an essential one, and we are committed to continuing to serve our customers in a safe and responsible manner, both in our stores and through delivery.

With information moving quickly, we think it’s important to keep you informed of the measures we’re taking to ensure the health of both our customers and our 95,000+ team members. As you’d expect, all decisions we’re making are being guided by the counsel of outside health and food safety experts, including the CDC and local health authorities.

Along with enhanced sanitation measures and social distancing practices in stores, here are the most recent operational changes we want you to be aware of:

• We have adjusted hours, with stores closing up to two hours early to give our team members more time to restock shelves, sanitize our stores and rest in preparation for the next day.
• We are inviting customers 60 and older into the store to shop one hour before it opens to the general public.
• We have temporarily closed self-serve areas of the store, including our hot bars, salad bars and antipasti bars. Other seated venues in our stores will offer takeout only, and any indoor or outdoor café seating is closed.

If you’ve shopped our stores in recent weeks, you’ve experienced our team members’ dedication and diligence to serving your community during a time of uncertainty. None of this is lost on us, which is why in addition to the changes you’re seeing in our stores, we’re taking extra precautions to ensure our team member’s safety and well-being. That includes measures to compensate and further support them during this unprecedented time, including:

• All part- and full-time hourly team members at Whole Foods Market stores and facilities will receive an additional $2 per hour as part of the announcement Amazon made this week.
• Additionally, all part- and full-time hourly team members at Whole Foods Market stores and facilities will receive double their regular hourly base rate of pay for every overtime hour worked in a workweek from March 16 through May 3, 2020.
• All Whole Foods Market team members who are placed in quarantine or have a confirmed case of COVID-19 have access to the two weeks’ paid time off related to coronavirus that was announced last week.

For more on how we’re taking care of our team members, customers and stores, follow the link below.

Learn More

Thank you for your kindness and patience as our team continues to work hard to serve our customers and communities. Please take care.

Sincerely,
John Mackey

Photo credit: John Mackey Wikipedia.