Whole Foods Market Honors Top Vendors

Natural retailer announces winners for annual Supplier of the Year awards

5/18/2022

Whole Foods Market announced dozens of Supplier of the Year awards spanning several categories and topics.

Whole Foods Market has announced the winners of its Supplier of the Year awards, giving a nod to vendors that best represented its mission and values in 2021.

The natural grocer recognized suppliers across several categories and singled out three for top honors. Recipients of the most prestigious award include American Tuna, Willamette Valley Pie Co. and Campos Borquez.

Regional winners consist of the following companies and brands:

The Backyard Food Company (North Atlantic)
Talea Beer Co. (Northeast)
Tsiona Foods (Mid-Atlantic)
Murphy’s Naturals (Southeast)
Every Body Eat (Midwest)
Calyan Wax Co (Southwest)
SpudLove Potato Chips (Pacific Northwest)
Barebottle Brewing Co. (Northern California)
Asha Pops (Southern Pacific)
Karaway (UK)
Ruby Jean’s Juicery (Rocky Mountain)

Whole Foods also gave a shout-out to up-and-coming suppliers. Its Rookie of the Year honors went to Mary Ruth’s, the aforementioned Willamette Valley Pie, Juneshine and The Organic Rancher.

Winners were chosen by a panel of Whole Foods leaders, category experts and merchants. In addition to the company-wide awards, each of the retailer’s 11 regions doled out their own Supplier of the Year distinction, chosen by the respective team of “local forager” procurement specialists.

“We’re incredibly proud to showcase the exceptional achievements of our suppliers who work so hard to serve our customers and support our mission,” said Sonya Gafsi Oblisk, chief marketing and communications officer at Whole Foods Market. “Our suppliers are essential to our business. On this 10th anniversary of the awards program, we are particularly grateful for the partnership and dedication of this extraordinary group who continues to raise the industry bar for quality, innovation, and social responsibility.”

Added Will Betts, VP of local merchandising: “I was thrilled to see each of the regional winners for the 2021 Supplier of the Year Awards. It was a year of great growth for the local program in our communities and stores, and it set the stage for some of the incredibly important work that our local program will be doing in 2022. Congratulations to our winners on this well-deserved recognition.”

For a full list of winners, including suppliers who were recognized for raising the bar for quality, demonstrating “disruptive innovation,” excellence in supply chain support, environmental stewardship, purpose-driven empowerment, a regenerative agriculture commitment and service and partnership, click here for company press release.

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon. Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.