全食超市的扩张之道

    消费者们可能会抱怨这家高端食品杂货连锁店的商品价格（甚至给这家超市冠以“全薪光”的绰号），但没有人会抱怨它带给自己的回报，或者说该公司提供的食品。全食超市（Whole Foods）在《财富》杂志（Fortune）最受赞赏食品药品公司排行中名列榜首。这家超市已经从1980年的一家商店发展成如今价值117亿美元的公司，过去十年经历了公司发展历史上的辉煌期。近几年，这家食品杂货连锁店已经超越了标准普尔（S&P），并且一直走在提供可持续的绿色农产品和有机生活方式的前列。如今，“全薪光”的绰号可能要成为过去了。公司计划，把在美国的店铺数量增加到现在的三倍，而为实现这一目标，公司将降低商品价格，并且向部分非高端区域扩张。截至2015年，公司预计将开设65家新店，包括明年春天开业的底特律分店。

    全球最受赞赏公司排名：28

    总部：奥斯丁

    员工人数：72,000

    业务：经营食品杂货连锁，主要提供天然食品和有机食品。

新型的街头小店

    全食超市目前拥有342家连锁店，并且提供许多客户定制服务。任何时候，每家店铺都会有20%到50%的商品不会与其他连锁店重复。区域运营模式为在当地采购商品创造了条件，比如密歇根的蓝莓或者威斯康辛的切达干酪，每家店铺的规模都各不相同，外观也是各有千秋。富国银行（Wells Fargo）分析师凯特•温特表示，这种有针对性的经营方式正是公司的“秘密武器”。

更高的薪水，更优秀的员工

    高管收入不能超过公司平均工资的19倍，联合创始人每年得到1美元，而非高管拥有公司93%的股票期权。成果：公司员工离职率仅有7%，为业内最低水平。联席CEO沃尔特•罗布称：“我们非常珍爱公司价值。”

通过质量进行竞争

    经过五年多的测试，公司最近推出了新的肉类与家禽类产品质量标准。对管理条例的不断完善，以及对更加明确的贴标签制度的推动，意味着清洁产品将以其对环境的影响作为依据，来进行评级，禁止使用人工防腐剂或人造香味料，没有任何牛肉、猪肉或家禽肉会来自圈养动物。温特报告称：即便最低品质“也远远高于传统食品杂货店（的标准）。”

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Customers may grumble about the prices at the high-end grocery chain (even nicknaming the place "Whole Paycheck"), but no one is complaining about the returns. Or, for that matter, the food. Whole Foods, No. 1 on Fortune's list of most admired food and drug stores, grew from a single store in 1980 into an $11.7 billion company, with most of its growth occurring in the past decade. The grocery chain has handily outstripped the S&P in recent years, and it's leading the charge toward sustainable, green products and organic living. Now even the Whole Paycheck moniker may fall by the wayside. The company plans to nearly triple its U.S. store count, and to do so it is lowering prices and expanding into some not-so-high-end areas. By 2015 it expects to open as many as 65 new locations, including one in Detroit next spring.

    World's Most Admired Rank: 28

    Headquarters: Austin

    Employees: 72,000

    The business: Operates a network of grocery stores, focusing on natural and organic products.

A new kind of corner store

    For a chain with 342 locations, Whole Foods (WFM) does a lot of customization. At any one time, 20% to 50% of a store's offerings are different from what's available companywide. A regional operating model paves the way for local offerings -- think Michigan blueberries or Wisconsin cheddar -- as well as wide variations in the size and look of stores. That targeted approach is the company's "secret sauce," says Kate Wendt, an analyst at Wells Fargo.

Better pay, good workers

    Execs can't earn more than 19 times the company average, the co-founder gets $1 a year, and non-execs get 93% of company stock options. The result is 7% turnover -- among the lowest in the industry. Says co-CEO Walter Robb: "[We] really make love to the company values."

Compete on quality

    Recently the company rolled out new quality standards for meat and poultry that took more than five years to test. Evolving regulations and a push toward clearer labeling mean cleaning products are rated on their environmental impact, no artificial preservatives or flavors are allowed, and no beef, pork, or poultry comes from a caged animal. The lowest quality "is still far above traditional grocery [standards]," Wendt reports.