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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio News.

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Speaker 2: Carol Masterlow with Stephen Carroll. We're live here at the

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Speaker 2: Plaza at the earth Shot Prize Innovations Summit, and really

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Speaker 2: great just talking with Jen in terms of the innovators

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Speaker 2: for the earth Shot Prize looking at things like food

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Speaker 2: waste in particular, and the un has some data about that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Look, this is something that they're stressing

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Speaker 1: that how we eat and how food is preduced is

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Speaker 1: going to be one of the key issues when it

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Speaker 1: comes to tackling what's going on in the future of

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Speaker 1: the climate as well. We're looking towards the Global Business

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Speaker 1: Forum taking place here in the Plaza as well, but

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Speaker 1: we want to talk a little bit about the selling

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Speaker 1: the production of food and where the pressure has come

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Speaker 1: to that and how we think about doing that more

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Speaker 1: environmentally friendly as well. This in the day, we've also

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Speaker 1: had consumer confidence.

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Speaker 2: O that too, exactly right, So we all tie it

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Speaker 2: together with this next guest, Whole Foods Market CEO Jason

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Speaker 2: Beekle is back with us. He's actually at Bloomberg headquarters

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Speaker 2: in New York City, but the last time I spoke

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Speaker 2: with him, Jason was back at Milkin in May. Great

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Speaker 2: to have you here with us. I do want to

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Speaker 2: start with, though, the greening of all of the food

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Speaker 2: that we eat, how it's produced, how it's sold. Talk

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Speaker 2: to us about sustainability issues at Whole Foods, how that

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Speaker 2: is front and center, or what you guys are doing

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Speaker 2: to make it front and center.

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Speaker 3: Hi, Carolyn Steven, So happy to be here. One of

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Speaker 3: the things I'm so proud of is going back forty

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Speaker 3: four years ago and we opened our first store climate. Frankly,

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Speaker 3: agriculture practices like regenitive and organic have been at the

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Speaker 3: heart of Whole Foods market and we've always looked at

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Speaker 3: the environment as one of our core stakeholders and we

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Speaker 3: actually have a core value around it as well. So

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Speaker 3: I'm so proud of the work that we continue to

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Speaker 3: do to lead not only within our industry, but helping

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Speaker 3: drive change across food systems around the world. You know,

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Speaker 3: for us, we look at our food systems are in

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Speaker 3: jeopardy of being able to produce the products that we

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Speaker 3: know and love today for our future generations, and so

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Speaker 3: it's why we're trying to take big steaks in the

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Speaker 3: ground and investing in areas like regenitive to help ensure

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Speaker 3: that we can have the nutrient density and be able

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Speaker 3: to continue to supply our customers with amazing products.

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Speaker 1: What are the benchmarks that you're looking at in this area?

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Speaker 1: What are the metrics that you know, both your investors

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Speaker 1: but also your customers are going to be looking at

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Speaker 1: when it comes to making progress on those goals.

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Speaker 3: Well, one of the things that is great is we're

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Speaker 3: part of Amazon and as part of the Climate Pledge,

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Speaker 3: we have direct goals that we are tied to help

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Speaker 3: support those efforts. And for us, given the fact that

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Speaker 3: this has already been part of our culture and our DNA,

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Speaker 3: it's actually been great to take the work that we're

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Speaker 3: already were doing and just clipping it into some more

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Speaker 3: advanced goals to help advance the work that we're doing.

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Speaker 3: You know, one of those examples is, you know, reducing

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Speaker 3: our food waste. We took a goal of reducing it

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Speaker 3: by fifty percent by twenty thirty, but you know, I've

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Speaker 3: been talking about our teams, we have to do better

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Speaker 3: than that. The reality is is we have too many

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Speaker 3: people who are in need and don't have food access,

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Speaker 3: and we have products that are going in landfills today.

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Speaker 3: So we have to be able to help divert that

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Speaker 3: food as well, and if we're not able to make

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Speaker 3: sure that it's available for human consumption, let's get into

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Speaker 3: programs where it can support animal feed or composting. So

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Speaker 3: for us, it's not even just about the goals that

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Speaker 3: we're setting, but how can we do it quicker because

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Speaker 3: we feel that burning platform and helping drive change.

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Speaker 2: Well, Jason, let me put that question to you, because

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Speaker 2: you know it is certainly part of your DNA in

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Speaker 2: terms of whole foods thinking about sustainability or organic regenerative.

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Speaker 2: But having said that, how do we do it faster?

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Speaker 3: Yeah? Well, I think one of the things we need

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Speaker 3: to do is engage customers and ultimately make sure that

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Speaker 3: they understand the choices that they're making at the shelf

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Speaker 3: and how it's going to impact future generations. One of

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Speaker 3: the things that I'm really optimistic about in this space is,

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Speaker 3: you know, looking at gen Z, we've been doing some

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Speaker 3: customer insight work in this space, and what's exciting is

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Speaker 3: seventy percent of gen z ors say they support climate

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Speaker 3: friendly giger culture, and fifty five percent of them are

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Speaker 3: saying they'll actually pay a premium for that product. And

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Speaker 3: you know, looking at customer insights before, there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of times customers will say one thing, but they do

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Speaker 3: something else, even if a quarter of the folks actually

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Speaker 3: respond accurately. Here, that's progress. And as we can work

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Speaker 3: with more and more suppliers in finding ways to implement

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Speaker 3: you know, regenitive and climate smart agriculture practices, including organic,

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Speaker 3: there's actually upside across the stream. The reality is is,

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Speaker 3: you know that we can actually improve the margins for farmers.

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Speaker 3: We can actually you know, take out costs across the

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Speaker 3: supply chain systems, and at the same time we can

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Speaker 3: deliver a higher quality product that's actually better for the environment.

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Speaker 1: You've also been doing this though at a time when

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Speaker 1: production costs are getting higher as well. And I wonder

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Speaker 1: how much of a HEALTHODS is having to take on

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Speaker 1: trying to control costs for customers and how much more

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Speaker 1: you say, the customers are willing to pay more for

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Speaker 1: sustainable food, but how much more?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that it depends upon the product and

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Speaker 3: the category. And one of the things we're really trying

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Speaker 3: to do is make sure that we can serve customers

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Speaker 3: across a very broad spectrum. You talked about, you know,

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Speaker 3: some of the increasing costs that customers are seeing, and

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Speaker 3: we know that customers have been pinched on inflation not

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Speaker 3: just in food but across all their areas of spending,

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Speaker 3: and so our focus in this calendar year has actually

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Speaker 3: been bringing prices down. So we've invested over twenty five

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Speaker 3: percent of our items across an average store have for

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Speaker 3: seen a price reduction this year. Eight hundred and eighty

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Speaker 3: of those have been three sixty five items, so they've

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Speaker 3: been at the opening price point, if you will, creating

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Speaker 3: a great opportunity for value for customers without sacrificing quality.

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Speaker 3: And at the same time, we've doubled the number of

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Speaker 3: promotions from twenty twenty three to twenty twenty four, and

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Speaker 3: this allows us to have a great offering where we

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Speaker 3: have a good, better, best across every aspect of our store,

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Speaker 3: and so good can be the entry level product where

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Speaker 3: customers can find great value, great quality, and those who

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Speaker 3: may want the best something that is certified regenitive organic,

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Speaker 3: of which we've got a lot of new offerings we've

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Speaker 3: been bringing in under our Whole Foods Market label, and

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Speaker 3: I'll tell you these products. In some cases we've had

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Speaker 3: a challenge of not even having the supply based upon

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Speaker 3: the demand. It's been great because customers who really align

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Speaker 3: with that ethos and want to be able to support

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Speaker 3: those efforts, We're able to divide those products as well.

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Speaker 3: So having that broad spectrum where any customer can have

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Speaker 3: accessibility to whole foods and have great quality product is

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Speaker 3: one of our goals here and at the same time

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Speaker 3: supporting the environment.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Jason, one thing we've got to ask you us

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Speaker 2: consumer confidence, unexpectedly following the most of three years concerns

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Speaker 2: about the labor market. Having said that, I am a

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Speaker 2: consumer who trades down, I'm okay if it's not the

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Speaker 2: brand name right now, and I know you guys have

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Speaker 2: a three sixty five brand name. What are you seeing

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Speaker 2: with consumers? Are you seeing strains? And I know your

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Speaker 2: consumer is a higher income consumer, but what are you

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Speaker 2: seeing with consumers?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's great, great question, and one of the things,

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Speaker 3: you know, sometimes folks think we have just a higher

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Speaker 3: end consumer. The reality is we actually have a really

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Speaker 3: broad spectrum of customers that we've been able to bring in,

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Speaker 3: and a lot of that has to do with the

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Speaker 3: work that we've done and helping lower prices and increase

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Speaker 3: our promotions, and one of the opportunities that I think

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Speaker 3: that we, you know, have in this space is make

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Speaker 3: sure that customers have options. And you know, one of

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Speaker 3: the things that we've seen more recently is customers have

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Speaker 3: leaned in in areas like ground proteins, so you take

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Speaker 3: you know, ground beef, ground turkey, ground chicken, ground lamb.

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Speaker 3: We've seen those items actually increase two fold compared to

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Speaker 3: the rest of meat. But also interestingly enough is we're

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Speaker 3: also seeing increases on the premium products as well, so

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Speaker 3: some of our top cuts of steak. And part of

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Speaker 3: that is, you know, consumers are seeing increased prices at

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Speaker 3: restaurants and so just you know, our store here at

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Speaker 3: Hudson and Yards in Manhattan West this week, I was

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Speaker 3: talking and you know why they were seeing, you know,

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Speaker 3: such great increases in you know, some of their stakes,

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Speaker 3: and they're like, customers are telling us that they can

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Speaker 3: get this steak it's as good, if not better quality,

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Speaker 3: and they're going to go to a restaurant and they're

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Speaker 3: getting it for a quarter of the price. And so

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Speaker 3: pair that with a great bottle of wine at the

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Speaker 3: half price, you know, folks are able to sort of

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Speaker 3: celebrate in house enjoying great food and for other customers

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Speaker 3: it might be trading down to get you a ground protein.

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Speaker 2: Right. Love it. Great color in terms of what's going on,

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Speaker 2: and also great to hear about some of the sustainability

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Speaker 2: issues that I know is so part of the company.

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Speaker 2: Whole foods market CEO Jason Beegle joining us back there

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Speaker 2: at Bloomberg Headquarters in New York City,