A few weeks back, I posted an item asking everyone for constructive ways on how Whole Foods Tribeca could improve, and the response was impressive: I’m pretty sure no other item has received more comments. Last week, I sent a long email with the suggestions—bringing the most common ones to the forefront—to the store’s team leader, Carter Quigg. I wasn’t sure we’d get more that a perfunctory response. How gratifying, then, to have received this:

Wow! This is awesome! I really appreciate the time that you took to help us improve. The feedback affirms some of our decisions and directs others. I can’t stress how invaluable it is to us.

I have some great news:

Greenwich check-out
We will NOT be putting in a check-ot on Greenwich but our IT Team is currently testing “line-busters” similar to the hand-held iPhones that Apple uses (one of the comments mentioned this exact solution!). The IT Team has done three rounds of testing at our Ridgewood, N.J., store and had near-complete success. These should be hitting our store in October or November. We plan to use them both on the express registers during rushes to keep the lines down and on Greenwich for the last-minute items to which many of the responses alluded. We know that it will be a very popular addition!

Nutritional facts on salad bar
We agree. We are working on the nutritional fact database for all our recipes. Because we have so many different recipes in our locations, we’ve been working on this for some time and will not launch the signage change until we can complete it thoroughly in all of our locations. While it does slow the process a bit, it means the information will be accurate and complete. Plus, as we change recipes seasonally, we’ll be able to keep up. I do not have an exact date for launch but it will be before the calendar year ends.

Service at the seafood counter
Seafood service has definitely been an area for growth in our store. We brought new leadership into the department at the beginning of the calendar year and saw an immediate impact on the quality of seafood in the department. Along with better quality came higher demands from department leadership and we had a great deal of turn-over. We’ve recently invested in bringing some new Team Members aboard who we think are going to serve our community better. We are also sending the Team up to Pigeon Cove [a Whole Foods seafood facility in Massachusetts] in a couple of weeks to see where much of our seafood comes from to deepen their product knowledge. We are hoping this remedies the concerns that both we and your respondents have had.

More cashiers in general
We have more cashiers (130!) than we’ve ever had. We also have approximately 40 Team Members from other Teams that are cross-trained to cashier. We’ll continue to work on this but I believe the aforementioned “line-buster” is going to be the biggest cure for this issue.

The other comments, questions, and issues, I’ve forwarded to my respective Team Leaders and buyers to make them aware of the concerns that came up. Once I have feedback from them, I will be happy to send you an update. I do have a few immediate responses that are sure to bring applause:
1) We don’t care if you take pictures in the store! There once was a time that we discouraged this because many of our competitors were trying to mimic our methods. Frankly, we got over it and realized that most people taking pictures in the store are benign. Snap away!
2) We purchased 60 more carts (30 double-deckers and 30 large carts) a couple of weeks ago so we shouldn’t have trouble with keeping the carts supplied.
3) We just finalized a design to bring the coffee bar downstairs by West Street. It is currently in front of our Regional President for approval. We are really exciting about being able to serve espresso on the first floor! If this gets the green light, we should see this switch before the holidays.

Thanks again. We love being in Tribeca and we love what we do. We’re happy to hear constructive feedback any day of the week!