Whole Foods Market Announces Reorganization at Mrs. Gooch's

Business Wire, Jan 19, 1996

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 1996--Whole Foods Market today announced a major reorganization of its Southern California Region, which currently operates nine stores in the Los Angeles area under the name of Mrs. Gooch's. John Moorman, president of Mrs. Gooch's, has resigned from the company and its Board of Directors.

According to Whole Foods Market CEO, John Mackey, "It was time for a change in strategy and leadership at Mrs. Gooch's. The region was not producing the sales and earnings growth that we are experiencing in other parts of the company. In addition, the cost structure at Gooch's was the highest in the company. We felt we needed to make some changes in order to get the business growing again and to further integrate the region into the rest of the company. We also have an obligation to achieve a better return for our shareholders on the very substantial investment we made in acquiring Mrs. Gooch's two years ago." Mackey also announced that Richard Cundiff, formerly the president of the company's Southwest Region, is the new Southern California Regional president.

The restructuring plan includes the lay-off or reassignment of approximately one-half of the regional staff at Mrs. Gooch's, which the company expects to result in a significant decrease in regional general and administrative costs. The company will record a charge to earnings in the second quarter for severance and other costs associated with this restructuring.

Whole Foods Market is the nation's largest retailer of natural and organic foods and operates 43 stores in 10 states. The company acquired Mrs. Gooch's then operating seven stores, in 1993. Since that time two new Mrs. Gooch's stores have been opened -- one in Tustin (Orange County) in May of 1995 and a second store in Sherman Oaks which just opened this week. According to Whole Foods President, Peter Roy, the Mrs. Gooch's name will be changed to Whole Foods Market in the near future. "It is an important symbolic move for both our customers and Team Members, paving the way for us to make some necessary changes in the stores."

Whole Foods Market's sales during the 16 weeks ended Jan. 14, 1996 reached approximately $172 million, an increase of 24 percent over sales of $139 million for the same quarter of the prior fiscal year. Comparable store sales increased 9.3 percent. Complete first quarter results will be announced on Feb. 13, 1996.

The company also announced the addition of Fred "Chico" Lager to the board of directors. Chico is best known for his tenure with Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., where he played a key role in helping founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield build a $1 million store front business into a $150 million publicly-held ice cream empire.

Currently still active on the board of directors, Lager stepped down as CEO in 1991 to chronicle the Ben & Jerry story in his book, Ben & Jerry's: the Inside Scoop. Fred Lager was born and raised in New York City. He holds a BA degree from the University of Vermont, and an MBA from the University of Southern California. He is also a director of Working Assets Funding Services, a socially responsible financial services and telecommunications company based in San Francisco.

The company's shares are traded on NASDAQ's National Market System under the symbol "WFMI". The company will host a conference call to discuss these announcements at 12:30 PM CST on Monday, Jan. 22, 1996. To participate, please call 312/461-1489 before the scheduled time.

CONTACT: Whole Foods Market

Peter Roy, 818/501-8484

Glenda Flanagan, 512/477-4455