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by C. Jeanette Tyson
I want Betsy
Foster’s job. That would be VP of Purchasing and Distribution for Whole
Foods Market, which, from humble one-store origins right here in Austin, has
become the world’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods. Betsy is
responsible, with help from buying teams across North America, for 146
stores full of things both good and good-for-you.
I like to think she’s out there reading labels so
I don’t have to.
I also like to think of her traipsing through the
olive groves of Tuscany, herding goats in the shadow of the mountains of
Sonoma County, climbing the small, winding path to the Croatian fig grower
who makes that fabulous spread. (To clarify, Betsy hasn’t actually been to
Croatia. Yet.) It would require sacrifice, yes, but I think I could do it.
Oddly
enough, this is close to something Betsy once said to herself. She was
living in California, working in the petroleum industry, when she began to
re-evaluate.
"I had one of those life checks. What do I
really want to do?" she said.
The answers were: something with food; something
integral to the community; and, oh yeah, make the world a better place for
children. Just a matter of opening up the classifieds, right?
Betsy will be the first to admit the stars lined up
for her nicely: her husband, Jay, was transferred to Austin, there was
an ad in the paper, booming economic times encouraged her move from IT to
purchasing.
Now, ten years later, Betsy finds herself in a
unique position. Instead of struggling to give equal time to the different
parts of life, as so many of us do, she takes home to work and work to home
and never the t’wain separate.
Elizabeth, her seven-year-old, has been called on
to evaluate sugar cookies (big-time thumbs-up). She’s already been to
London on business and has been invited to working dinners. Griffin, at
three, has reported being less than impressed with a new toothpaste. Jay is
learning how to compare labels though Betsy still fields the occasional
calls from Aisle Five. Snack time at school becomes both a laboratory for
Betsy and a chance to educate both children and teachers.
"I’m always telling vendors what I want to
see them do for kids or not do for kids. My vendors hear about Elizabeth and
Griffin even if they haven’t met."
Betsy is also involved in the ongoing development
of the Whole Kids line, started in 1994. As you may suspect, it’s as much
for moms as kids.
So, ahem, why does the Whole Kids peanut butter
have sugar in it?
Betsy quickly pointed there’s only three grams of
sugar and no hydrogenated oils or fats and it’s organic, but went on to
remind me that Rome wasn’t built in a day. "The goal was for moms to
be able to get kids to eat this, to convert kids that currently eat other
stuff. In order to get them to make that shift, they needed sugar. The kids
have already been trained on that."
Imagine Betsy crusading for the creation of turkey
lunchables with no preservatives or artificial flavorings. (Elizabeth’s
idea, actually.) Or charging down the hall waving a box of frozen enchiladas
and ranting about the fat content.
"It’s important to me. That’s where I’m going
to make a difference is on the kids’ side because that’s where we still
have an opportunity to change the way the world eats." You have only to
look at the obesity statistics to see how many of us are deep in ruts dug
with our own forks.
A little work, a little motherhood, I like the
sound of that. Then Betsy tells me a story.
"We own a coffee company called Allegro. I
went there on what we call an origin trip, actually going to the farm, the
single estate that produces coffee. We were in Costa Rica. I had been
struggling with whether to keep this company or to sell this company."
Once there, Betsy was struck by the commitment of
the farmers to their crop, their workers and the environment. She saw the
workers’ children sitting in the school that Whole Foods had helped build.
(Soon there will be computers and internet access.) She saw their pride in a
good harvest, the emotional investment of the people. And she saw less
fortunate farmers all around them, bulldozing farms they couldn’t afford
to keep running.
Betsy decided not to sell.
"You’re making a difference. Proceeds on
those sales that we give back make sure this is sustainable, the family
farming, great coffee, but the environment, all those pieces, helping build
another level of quality of life for the next generation. That is really
changing the world."
Ok, now that’s what I call a good day at the
office.
Then she quietly added, "then you really
go back and question everything else you’re doing."
Maybe I want Betsy’s job because she can so
easily see how her intelligence and passion and motherhood are brought to
bear in big and definitive changes. Nothing is parsed out, all is of a
whole. Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet. The circle of life.
Or maybe that’s just me being lazy. I bet there’s a way to work for
this without working for them. It’s just hard. Not that I’m telling you
anything new.
(So Betsy, if you still need someone in the deli…)
__________
C. Jeanette Tyson is AustinMama's beloved foodie-in-the-field. Got a tip, suggestion, idea or feedback for A Little More on Your Plate?
Send it to Jeanette at: foodie@austinmama.com
