Hello Blake,

Is it true that the Whole Foods Market chain was founded in New Orleans? Where was their first store?

Dear reader,

The Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market chain, which operates over 500 stores worldwide, was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980. But there are also local connections, including a New Orleans-based chain of stores called Whole Foods Co., which later became part of the larger company. Peter Roy, the president of the local company, also became CEO of the internationally known Whole Foods chain.

Whole Food Co. opened in October 1974 in a building at the corner of Cohn and Adams streets that had been built in 1903 as a grocery store. Originally owned by the Hecker brothers, the building later housed Fontana’s Fine Foods. In 1974, the Fontanas leased the 1,400-square-foot store to Kathleen O’Connor and Jon Maxwell, who opened a natural foods store called Whole Food Co. The Times-Picayune described it as a “cozy little club with a bulletin board for announcements of yoga, meditation and karate classes.”

According to the book “Natural Prophets: From Health Foods to Whole Foods,” O’Connor and Maxwell were introduced to the fledgling business by their friends Patricia Roy and Michael Bushnell. Soon after, Roy’s 18-year-old brother Peter began working at the store. A few months later, he bought their 15 percent share of the business for $800.

Within a few years, Peter Roy became president of the company and oversaw its expansion. The store adopted a cooperative model and offered annual memberships for $10 that allowed customers to order fresh produce. By 1978, the store was generating more than $1 million a year, according to a company history.

In 1981, Whole Food Co. opened a second location in New Orleans at 3135 Esplanade Avenue, now the site of Canseco’s Market. In 1987, the original Cohn Street location was sold to managers Claudia Dumestre and Linda Van Aman, who renamed it Eve’s Market.

In 1988, the Esplanade Avenue store was sold to Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. Peter Roy became president of the entire company for the next decade. In June 2017, Amazon purchased Whole Foods Market for $13.7 billion.

---