Back-to-School Education Isn’t Just for Kids
Youngsters may be hitting the books again as school resumes, but parents are looking for faster and easier ways to learn about what goes into the foods they buy for their families.
That’s what a recent poll conducted by the Harris Group on behalf of Whole Foods Market showed. A strong majority (87%) of parents with children under the age of 18 say they are concerned about the ingredients in their children's foods, and report spending an average of 27.2 minutes each week reading food labels and/or thinking about the ingredients in their children’s food.
With that in mind, and based on other research showing that shoppers worry less about ingredients when shopping at a retailer they believe has high ingredient standards, Whole Foods is launching a new back-to-school educational campaign. The natural foods chain has tapped nutritionist and author Kelly LeVeque to help raise awareness of its own quality standards for ingredients and sourcing, which have been upheld and enhanced for decades.
The awareness campaign includes messaging on Whole Foods Markets’ social media pages, which will feature virtual back-to-school store tours and other information on its quality standards. A sweepstakes with Whole Foods gift cards as prizes is part of the campaign as well.
“At Whole Foods Market, we believe that customers should know where their food comes from, how it’s grown and what ingredients are used,” said Jamie Yael Katz, senior advisor, quality standards at Whole Foods Market. “As a parent myself, I know how much mental energy can go into choosing food for our kids. Parenting proudly and eating joyfully is much easier and less time-consuming when you know that your grocer has done the ingredient homework for you.”
The first national certified-organic grocer, Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods has more than 500 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The grocer is No. 26 on The PG 100 list, Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, while Whole Foods' parent company, Seattle-based Amazon, is No. 2 on PG’s list.
