A few days back, Whole Foods Market opened a mega-supermarket in London. At 80,000 square feet, it is Europe's largest organic food store under one roof.

Aside from boasting over 10,000 organic products and 500 staff, the supermarket has a number of other environmental initiatives in place; including

- 100% renewable energy electricity offset
- Any shrink wrap of pallets etc. is recycled
- 100% post consumer waste plastic bags
- Food boxes made from sugar can and bulrush
- Offers recycling for glass paper and plastic
- Composts any food waste
- Utilizes local products where possible
- Staff uniforms made from organic cotton
- Food court flatware and utensils reused
- Minimizes shipments and delivery vehicle deliveries to the store

It sounds like an amazing market - 1,000 different wines, 17 coffee varieties, fresh flowers, 55 chefs preparing food, self-service bulk foods center with 100 varieties of nuts, oats and grains, a 36 foot seafood counter and 13 eateries in their food court.

Whole Foods Market are a huge chain with 39,000 employees and 195 stores throughout North America and the United Kingdom. I guess it won't be long before they'll hit our shores here in Australia.

Just a word of warning before you make your first visit to a Whole Foods store -  some colleagues of mine in the USA say the chain is also known as Whole Paycheck - because that's what it will cost to do your weekly grocery shopping there. Quality costs unfortunately, but I do detect some "premium" profit margin in their business model, i.e. you pay for the novelty of their approach.

Won't it be nice when the time comes that food no longer needs the "organic" buzz word because all of it will be anyway. That day might be many years away unfortunately, if ever.

The new store is located in High Street Kensington's Barkers building 

Learn more about the Whole Foods Market company