6 Insider Tips To Upgrade Your Whole Foods Shopping Experience

Whole Foods Market started off as a natural foods store in Austin, Texas, in 1980 before expanding to other parts of the country by purchasing existing independent grocery stores that aligned with the retailer’s principles. It quickly gained a reputation for stocking high-quality items in stores and banning over 300 ingredients it deems unhealthy or unnecessary in foods, including high-fructose corn syrup. At the same time, the chain has gained the nickname of “Whole Paycheck” for how expensive its items are compared to competitors, who have shifted to sell many natural and organic products to draw customers in with lower prices. In 2017, Amazon acquired the company and has been making efforts to create a more affordable shopping experience for customers.

I worked at Whole Foods for nearly 2 years at two separate locations and was a buyer in the specialty department. Speaking to a lot of senior coworkers, I discovered that while shopping at WFM may have become a bit more affordable than it was before the acquisition, some of the perks of shopping there have disappeared under the new administration, especially where it concerns the general customer experience, and the quality and variety of products have also gone downhill. 

Despite this, the company still prides itself on what it claims to be a superior selection of goods, along with a top-notch approach to customer service. Nevertheless, there are some details that employees know that could save you some disappointment — and money. Below are six insider tips I learned from my experience working at Whole Foods Market that will help elevate your experience as a customer.

The Mediterranean bar is one of the most popular features of almost every Whole Foods outlet and is typically found in the specialty section of the store where you buy fine cheeses and accouterments for assembling a cheese board. My interactions with customers revealed that many think that the olive bar, as we often referred to it, had unique, fresher, or higher-quality olives, spreads, and marinated vegetables than you can find in the shelf-stable condiments aisle, and some even believed that we cure the olives in-house.

The reality is that the majority of the olives and pickles found in the self-service bar are supplied by the company Divina, which also supplies jars of these items that Whole Foods Market stocks on its shelves. We would receive huge bags of these items from the distributor and then empty them into hotel pans that we’d place in the olive bar. Once the bags are opened, they have up to a 21-day shelf life, whereas a jar of olives has a much longer time frame for consumption (so long as the jar stays shut), making the latter much fresher.

Furthermore, the olive bar isn’t always the best-maintained part of the store. Employees are required to check the temperature of items periodically throughout the day, but the area is usually messy, and WFM has very little power to stop customers from cross-contaminating items or even sticking their hands into the food. And since it lies within the domain of the specialty department, and most employees are facing away from the Mediterranean bar while cutting cheese or taking care of other tasks, they’re not always paying attention to when it needs a little TLC. Avoid it unless you desire something that’s only available there, like the cult-favorite Dolce K olive mix.

Sometimes you just need a little piece of something, and you may feel a little discouraged looking at the pre-packaged foods, trying to find something the right size. Luckily, Whole Foods Market lets you request a smaller portion of certain items. This will only really work at the meat, seafood, and cheese counters and only with items that employees package themselves. If you want just one octopus tentacle for your Greek-inspired dinner for one, one of the fishmongers can actually make it happen for you; similarly, you can request half of a chicken cutlet or a sliver of skirt steak at the meat counter.

However, this tip is most useful when looking for a smaller piece of cheese. Many Whole Foods stores have guidelines that specify how much a cut piece of cheese should cost — typically between $7 and $11 — although this can vary. If you’re assembling a cheese board, you may not need such large quantities. There is a bin containing smaller bits, but it can often contain less desirable pieces with a lot of rind. Simply hand one of the employees behind the counter a piece of cheese and let them know how much you want. It may take a few minutes to get it to you, as sometimes they need to clean and sanitize their workspace before they can cut it, but they are required to fulfill your request.

Remember that employees cannot do this with pre-packaged foods, and you typically can’t get away with staff cutting a slice of cake for you or selling you an orange segment. A good tip to remember is that if something is priced by weight, you may be able to get the quantity you want.

Whole Foods Market sells tons of kitchen staples and household essentials, but it also sells a lot of novelty products that may include unfamiliar ingredients and flavors. The company wants you to try these more innovative products, and it will even set up tasting stations throughout stores to get customers to sample new items — or those that aren’t selling so well but that employees think you will love once you try them. If you’re friendly with the cheesemongers in the specialty department, they may even cut a piece of cheese for you to try if you’re not certain about it. But even if the staff has you convinced that you’ll love the maple bacon kombucha cookies that just hit the shelves, what do you do if you absolutely abhor them? You simply return them.

While not as generous as Trader Joe’s return policy, Whole Foods Market is pretty flexible when it comes to returns, and you can typically bring back any product as long as you have a receipt, no questions asked. This even applies to beer, wine, and spirits in some jurisdictions. Not many customers I spoke to were aware of this policy and thought it only applied to defective items, but WFM wants you to be satisfied with your purchases, so if that natural wine with the adorable label wasn’t to your liking, you can return a half-empty bottle without any issue. It’s a great risk-free way to try out new items — though you do have a 30-day window to take advantage of it. And if an employee helped you make a selection, inform them that you didn’t like their recommendation, and they’ll help you find something better.

While Whole Foods may look like a one-stop supermarket for all your culinary needs, it may actually prove to be a frustrating excursion for the connoisseur, especially where it concerns international cuisines. There are some categories of items from certain parts of the world that you may find at this chain, like pasta and olive oil. Dig deeper, though, and you may find that a lot of foods that may look like they’re imported are actually made by U.S.-based companies and geared toward American consumers. You may find a can of what looks to be San Marzano tomatoes, for instance, that is actually a U.S.-sourced copy.

It becomes much more obvious when trying to source Asian products, though, as they’re rarely what these communities actually use and can often be watered-down versions of the originals. A perfect example is chili crisp and chili crunch. WFM doesn’t sell the LaoGanMa brand, considered the gold standard by aficionados, and its jasmine rice selections lack the official Thai certification that’s featured on packages of the authentic product. Many of my Asian-American coworkers would avoid these items altogether.

Having spoken to many long-time employees during my stint at Whole Foods, I found that several factors may play into this. Since Whole Foods bans a laundry list of ingredients from its stores, it may be difficult to source traditional items that don’t include them. As well, the company likes to support local producers and appears to give American companies priority. But others have suggested that the change of hands to Amazon has resulted in budget cuts for sourcing products, which means expensive trips abroad may be less frequent now for buyers.

Having been a buyer at Whole Foods Market, I needed to be very aware of what items were on our core list — products we were required to keep in stock at all times. Some of these products are consistent throughout all of the company’s stores. However, the core list can and does vary from region to region. Staple items in the Southeastern United States, for instance, may not be on shelves on the West Coast. Furthermore, some of the merchandise may not even be available to order in certain regions or stores, depending on supply chains.

Having worked in Florida, I’d get inquiries from many customers who spend the winter months in the Sunshine State away from the cold. For them, trying to stock their kitchens with familiar items at a familiar retailer would often prove frustrating as they couldn’t get access to their favorites from back home. They’d argue with me about how it’s stocked at Whole Foods, but after several similar interactions with other customers, I learned to ask, “Where was the store where you found it?” and invariably they’d share that it was on the opposite side of the country.

Please don’t get upset with the staff or even store management. There’s nothing they can do, especially if it’s a hyperlocal regional item. Requesting a special order can be complicated, too, as buyers are required to purchase in bulk and need to remain within budget. In my experience, ordering a 50-pound wheel of an unpopular cheese because one tourist wants to enjoy it on the beach could get the team in trouble.

Every morning before stores open for business, employees are required to examine products for anything that will be reaching the sell-by date the following day and add bright yellow 50% off stickers to these items that read “Enjoy Today.” Technically, customers are supposed to consume these products on the day they buy them, but that’s not always the case. Besides the fact that some products may still be good to eat a day or two after their sell-by or use-by dates, others may actually last a lot longer than that, including some dry products and hard cheeses, like parmesan. Other items, like meat, seafood, and the store’s air-chilled chicken, can be thrown in the freezer and enjoyed later.

But not all of the Enjoy Today items expire the next day. In my experience, we would sometimes order too much of a product, thinking that customers would buy it all up, only to realize that in a week’s time, we may have several cases that needed to be thrown away. Certain stores may authorize department managers to add 50% off stickers to these items several days ahead of when they’re supposed to be pulled from shelves to enable customers to buy up the stock. Always check the dates on such products; you may find things that don’t expire for another week. Another tip to follow is to check the expiration dates of regularly priced items, especially ones with short shelf lives, to see when they’ll be marked down. I’m usually able to stock my freezer with top-quality meats by doing this.