Whole Foods Market — Local services in Kentwood

To sum it up, the honeymoon is over, this location is sad and wounded, and the management team is lacking the key ingredient…love. I stayed silent for weeks, but I must break my silence now because it is not fair to new customers. People travel far for this experience, and they go through many hassles on 28th Street to get here. They expect greatness, and this is not. I speak as a local, and I have visited this location multiple times. My last experience was this Thursday 9/29/2022 at 12:34 pm.

We watched this location be built from the ground up, and we could not wait for it to open. We embraced it with open arms as we do with all new businesses in Grand Rapids. We love our city's culture. We hoped that this Whole Foods location would be the icing on the cake. It would make a statement for West Michigan. However, after multiple visits we have concluded that this location does not meet the brand standards.

We love visiting Eataly and Whole Foods in Chicago. You feel the love and good energy in their products and services. No location will be perfect, but they pretty much have it down to a science. However, this Whole Foods uses a prime real estate location and company name to produce sales with little effort. There is little fruit to bear because little labor or love is put into it. I don’t have to explain all of the issues. My pictures do the talking. These images show what the management team is unable to achieve with their resources.

For the management team: Stop, focus on the moment and be a reflection of what true love can be. If you love the product, believe in the product and educate your team with a presence on the floor, then good results will show. Monitoring the camera’s in the sky will not solve the problem. The hot food buffet does not look appealing. The food selections are not the healthiest, the items are dry, over cooked and not rotated properly. I really question the holding temperatures on your hot buffet. Many of the food items appear to be in the Temperature Danger Zone. You may want to review your temp logs. In addition, you may want to consider using half pans to keep the food hot and fresh. After checking out, my food is usually lukewarm or cold when I sit down to eat in the dining area.

The pizza station is wounded. I asked a team member about the rotation of the pizzas because of the dry presentation. She explained that they rotate every 2 hours if they are not consumed. Rice and Quinoa are a hit or miss, shelves are empty and many team members look unhappy. Some team members look afraid to stock the buffet because they will get questioned. On a brighter note, I will say that team members in the Fresh Fish and Produce areas seem happy. But, self check-out is a mess. The attendants can be rude, and they don’t have answers. One attendant tried to belittle me when I asked for a plastic bag. Instead of answering my question, she proceeded to tell me that the company got rid of those in 2006. I asked her why, and she responded “I don’t know. They don’t tell us this stuff. Do you want a manager?”. She cut me off, but I wanted to let her know that the restrooms were filthy and needed attention.

It saddens me because I gave your location multiple weeks to get the kinks out. When a new location opens up, typically the customers experience the “Wow” factor. The "Wow" factor at this Whole Foods is the sticker shock after weighing poorly prepared items. You may want to reach out to Horrocks and see how they are doing so well. It’s pretty easy. There is love and attention to detail bursting out of the seams of that place.

In the end, How do you feel knowing that what you are doing is wrong? Payroll, labor shortages, truck deliveries, inflation and gas prices are no excuses. We all are experiencing it. As you know, in economics there is no free lunch. And, you are using your company name and abusing your power. Put some love into your team and give back to your customers. Most of us work hard for the little we have, and sometimes a simple smile can go a long way....

Bake at home pizza was VERY good. Staff friendly and caring. Shopped Whole Foods in at least 4 different states around the country (before and after Amazon bought it) for decades. But this store is a MESS! Maybe because it's new, but that really shouldn't be an excuse with all of the corporate experience that should be in play. Cross trained employees with a desire to move quickly and efficiently doesn't exist here.. Very slow stockers, lots of empty shelves. Four employees standing around in cosmetics more interested in their conversations than approaching and checking in with customers. The cashiers and customer service were awesome and the specialty cheeses dept was exceptional. Prepared foods and bakery were basically a nightmare and unkept. The cross training would have been helpful here...They sure needed help with the hot and cold food self-serve buffets which were health dept scarey. Hot soup containers had less than a scoop of soup that were burned on the bottom. Food with sauces looked curdled and food that was left in pans were dried up and unappetizing and looking unsafe to eat. This "fresh" food area should have priority over stocking cold homemade soups. When asked different staff why it looked so unattended the answer was that they were understaffed and even the managers had to chip in. Whatever. Again, the dudes in the cosmetic area should be cross trained in food safety and handling and pitch in. Liability issues with fresh food but not with shampoo. Obvious. Anyone can be taught to keep the bread slicer clean, stir and rotate the buffet dishes, wipe up the spilled dried-on food around the pans.I can't get the image of this area out of my mind and will avoid that area in the future. This does not represent a Whole Foods to us at all. Great that they support local businesses for candles, soaps.See photos of burned, dried out chicken, dried out pasta dishes...old curdled sauces. The pictures make it look better than in person. See Photos of burned, dried out chicken, dried out pasta dishes...old curdled sauces. The pictures make it look better...

The hot food bar/buffet here is AMAHZING! Very pricey though, as expected. I had a $40 lunch there yesterday lol Now granted I did take 1/3 of it home, and it included 1 cookie and 2 brownie-bars (the PB flavor is to die for!) but even still, that's a lot of money. But this is a brand new Whole Foods Market here on my SE side of GR, so I was happy to go and see what all the fuss was about. I'd say the #1 hi-light for me was definitely all the hot food that's ready to eat, you can just buy there, dish out what you want, and eat it at a restaurant-type table! Everything from chicken (baked & fried!), rice, taco beef & shells, at least a DOZEN different kinds (!) of hot soup, a full salad bar, pizza by the slice with lots of variety, lasagna, orange chicken, broccoli, and dozens more hot-food items that I am forgetting. I'm deducting 1 star because of the high prices, but other than that I would absolutely return to this Whole Foods store again! It's next to Guitar Center, in tenant-space that used to be an old office-supply store many years ago (Staples, OfficeMax? can't remember). HIGHLY...