whole foods market marketing plan meal kit industry

Whole Foods Marketing Plan: Culinary Meal KitsStrategic Marketing – MRKT 5500

By: Joshua Neeper & Michael BrooksFebruary 9, 2017

Culinary Meal Kits P a g e | 1

TABLE OF CONTENTSMarketing Plan Introduction 2Objective 2Target Market 2

Overview, Defined Target MarketsUnique Selling Position 5

Ingredients, Packaging & Delivery, Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos, Chefs, Cookware, Craft BeerValue to Customers 9

High Quality Ingredients, Seasonality, Sustainability, Locally Sourced, Convenience, CaringSWOT Analysis 10

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, ThreatsCompetitor Analysis 13Pricing Strategy 15Promotion Strategy 16

In-Store, Digital, Direct Mail, Public Relations, Branded Gifts, Causes & Charity, GroundMarketing Objectives 20

Brand Management, Charity & Foundation Support, Sales, Organic Awareness, Market Presence, Social Media, Growth

Budget Evaluations 22Marketing Budget, Enrollment Goals, Sale Forecasting

Metrics 23Digital, Website, All Others

Action Items / Timeline / Tactics 27Necessary Events & Resources

Author Notes & Disclaimer 29Bibliography 30


MARKETING PLAN INTRODUCTIONThis marketing plan will outline various avenues of marketing and new product

offerings that Whole Foods Market will use to advertise their new, Culinary Meal Kits, while providing insights and analyses into their three top competitors in this space, areas of opportunities and ending with budgeting and sales.

Furthermore, this marketing plan will provide distinctive insight into this newly trending market that is competing directly with traditional grocery stores and takeout joints, an estimated food industry size of $1.3 trillion estimated back in 2015 (Dunn, 2015).

The meal kit industry might be relatively in its infant stage but this trendy, progressive movement has established relevancy and has even received recognition from Technomic Inc, food industry analyst, where they have estimated the United States’ meal kit industry could grow by an estimated $5 billion over the next decade according to (Severson, 2016). This marketing plan will provide insight and financial data that will establish certain metrics and performance standards to be met in accordance with their current capital returns outlined in their 2015 annual report.

Department: Marketing and Business Development

Name of Campaign Culinary Meal Kits

Campaign Manager Director of Marketing

Subject Matter Outlined Marketing Plan

OBJECTIVETo start and incorporate a culinary meal kit service for Whole Foods Market and it’s

already established grocery delivery service in select progressive cities before expanding nationally. In addition to the meal kits, this marketing plan will also incorporate differentiating unique product and service offerings that will include cookware inspired by James Oliver, weekly cooking videos from a list of celebrity chefs and a monthly craft beer subscription that pairs recipes with the unique flavors of craft breweries and their seasonal brews.

TARGET MARKETOverview

Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits target market will consist of Whole Foods Market’s current customers, potentially attracting customers from their top 3 competitors and gaining new customers in the following segments: young singles, women and families between the ages of 25-65. These segments of customers are comprised of three different generations: millennials, generation x and baby boomers. Characteristics between these three segments might vary but they all share the following attributes listed below. Data is supported by (MRI+).


Education

Graduated college Holds post graduate degree

Occupation

Business Financial Management Sales and Office Professional Services

Income

$75,000 - $149,999

Interests (Magazines, Cable, Internet)

Cooking, Food and Wine Health, Fitness and Sports Politics and Current Events Environment and Animals Home and Garden History and Culture Travel and Leisure

Below are common attributes specific to Whole Foods Market Brand:

Interest in consuming only certified organic, locally sourced and natural foods. Prefer natural grocery stores to commercial supermarkets. Typically, college educated individuals that reside in affluent areas i.e. higher income,

and in a lot of instances live in progressive cities. Interest in the environment and sustainability. Enjoys socializing and cooking to the point where they partake in weekly and monthly

dinner clubs. Their ability to travel has allowed them to appreciate the culinary arts, experience new

cultures and cuisines, while enjoying adventure and learning new things.

Generally speaking, these segments of the target market have a favorable image of Whole Foods Market which has increased their brand loyalty, proven by Whole Foods Market’s financial reports with sales and growth experiencing a rate of 8-15% each year (Foods, 2017). This target market has proven that consumers in these segments are willing to pay a little more to indulge in higher quality ingredients that Whole Foods Market offers.

According to their 2015 financial annual report, they stated that one of their strategic initiatives was launching their first national brand campaign (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). Whole Foods Market’s financial performance has been relatively steady and is generating results for their shareholders. Their national footprint is expanding year over year with the past two years, opening 38 new store locations two years in a row (Whole Foods Market, Inc, 2015). However,


there is upside potential that Whole Foods Market should capitalize on in respect to gaining more market share, adjusting to relevant market place trends and reducing potential threats.

Defined Target Markets

Age Group: 25-65 comprised of single professionals, women, couples and families that already shop at Whole Foods Market.

Geographic Locations:

Austin, Texaso 5 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017). o Population: 931,830 per (census.gov, 2015).

Denver, Coloradoo 4 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017). o Population: 682,545 (census.gov, 2015).

Seattle, Washingtono 3 store locations (Whole Foods Market, 2017).o Population: 684,451 (census.gov, 2015).

These 3 cities were chosen based on similar attributes pertaining to political status, population, number of stores, social aspects and their progressive nature.

UNIQUE SELLING POSITIONWhole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will adopt a similar business model as some

of its competitors but is differentiating by offering an elevated level of quality of ingredients, sustainable packaging, ability to customize their service by number of people and days per week, instructional chef recipe videos, one weekly celebrity chef instructional video allowing the consumer/user to cook with their favorite celebrity chef, ability to buy Whole Foods Market’s specific kitchen ware inspired and designed by Jamie Oliver, and a monthly craft beer paring subscription allowing consumers/users to pair a wide array of year-round and seasonal craft beers with their Culinary Meal Kits.

Ingredients

Ingredients in these Culinary Meal Kits will consist of certified organic, locally sourced, natural foods that the defined target market desires and which Whole Foods Market is recognized for.

Ingredients will be seasonal, adding the value, “eating with the seasons”. Addressing the target market’s interest in supporting sustainability, each box will include

short biographies of the farms where their ingredients were sourced from. An example of this is follows on the next page. Derived from (Market, n.d.).


Packaging & Delivery

Packaging will be reusable. Culinary Meal Kits will be delivered in reusable cold chain containers. These containers will be left out and picked up when the next week’s or scheduled delivery is made; thereby eliminating unneeded waste and leading the way on responsible supply chain management practices.

Cold chain containers will be utilized to their fullest potential allowing room for the Culinary Meal Kits, craft beer and other grocery items a consumer decides to purchase for their week of grocery shopping. An example of cold chain container is listed below, provided by (Images, n.d.).

Delivery will be free.

A new partnership with Jackson Kayak and its Orion cooler division will be explored with the goal of Whole Foods Market switching current suppliers. They will collaborate to create an eco-friendly, reusable cold chain container that will be made in America.


Recipe Cards vs. Cooking Videos

The competitor analysis section will show that all the top competitors are only using recipe cards. To increase the user experience, Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will allow consumers the “free” option to cook their recipes with the chefs that inspired the recipe with an interactive cooking video that every recipe will have.

Interactive cooking videos will be accessible via phone, tablet and computer; allowing the consumer/user to pause and play the video at any time.

Theses interactive cooking videos will be comprised of Whole Foods Market’s chefs with the addition of one recipe per week and its instructional cooking video performed by a celebrity chef.

Chefs

Whole Foods Market will collaborate with the following list of celebrity chefs that will choose one recipe of their liking and provide the consumer/user with the instructional cooking video. One celebrity chef will be showcased once a week.

Giada de Laurentiis Andrew Zimmerman

Rocco DiSpirito Jamie Oliver

Bobby Flay Padma Lakshki

Anthony Bourdain Robert Irvine

Andrew Zimmerman and the associated recipe for him will be showcased as the, “Bizarre Culinary Meal Kit” representing his unique show for bizarre foods around the globe. This will be monitored and structured as an entry level take on bizarre foods.

Each of these celebrity chefs bring a unique level of expertise, personality, experience, food pallets, culture and most importantly, a long list of followers. These followers will be viewed as a potential list of customers, allowing Whole Foods Market to gain insightful demographic information on potentially new customers, shaping Whole Foods Market’s future marketing strategies and plans.

The collaboration between Whole Foods Market and these celebrity chefs are mutually beneficial as both parties will gain new followers, exposure and customers. This type of endorsement would achieve a lot of recognition in the press and social media. Furthermore, this new collaboration would allow Whole Foods Market to augment national attention to their three foundations: Whole Planet, Whole Kids and Whole Cities. Rather than directly compensating these celebrity chefs for their service, a portion of the profits from the particular meal in their video demonstrations will be donated to one of three foundations created by Whole Foods Market focusing on the planet, kids and cities.


Cookware

Cookware is not just another opportunity to upsell but an avenue to generate interest and increase conversions with existing customers and unique online visitors. Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will utilize Jamie Oliver in this space. In his cooking television appearances, he utilizes cast iron and stainless steel cookware along with wooden utensils. These products appeal to the target market because they avoid toxic non-stick residues and are overall better in quality. His creativity, personality, and the causes he supports, such as healthy children’s lunch programs, will be reflected in the promotional strategy section in this marketing plan. This target market possess the characteristics of caring where their food comes from and supporting causes they care about.

Craft Beer

Consumers who shop at Whole Foods Market possess another unique characteristic but the correlation must be carefully made with insightful understanding of their customer demographics and buying habits, while capitalizing on industry trends that continue to increase in progressive cities. Segmenting the different generations that shop at Whole Foods Market tells us that trendy, progressive and local are attributes each of these segments are attracted to. Blue Apron, a competitor that is examined in the competitor analysis section of this marketing plan offers a unique selling position by offering a monthly wine subscription.

Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits will allow customers to join a new monthly craft beer subscription where the craft beers are locally paired with their Culinary Meal Kits. Customers who shop at Whole Foods Market tend to have more disposable income. With this being a characteristic, a typical Whole Foods Market customer will go to the liquor store to buy preferred wines. Craft beer will allow this new service offering to increase sales, appeal to existing and new customers, and differentiate themselves from their top competitors.

The craft beer industry has been increasing every year and is worth noting. In 2012, (Nichols, 2014) reported, “The Brewers Association, a trade group of small and craft brewers, released a report last month celebrating the $33.9 billion contribution that the craft brewing industry made to the United States’ economy in 2012 and ranked the top five states by 2012 economic output.” The top 5 states and their economic impact included: 1) California at $4.7 billion, 2) Texas at $2.3 billion, 3) New York at $2.2 billion, 4) Pennsylvania at $2 billion and 5) Colorado at $1.6 billion (Nichols, 2014).

The most relevant and recent craft beer statistics into the states where the Culinary Meal Kits will launch in the beginning are displayed on the following page, provided by (Brewers Association, 2015).


Colorado

Texas

Washington

These tables and graphs represent the progression of craft beer since 2011. There has been an increase in demand, production and sales every year since 2011. By offering a monthly craft


beer subscription, this will give Whole Foods Market a competitive edge and a unique selling position to capitalize on this trend and increase customer’s online shopping cart.

VALUE TO CUSTOMERSHigh Quality Ingredients

Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kits, customers will be provided with wholesome, nutritious certified organic proteins and fresh produce in which competitors have not provided on a national scale. Whole Foods Market’s economies of scale with organic offerings is a strong value to customers as well as a competitive advantage.

Seasonality

“Eating with the seasons” will also be an added level of value. Seasonality appeals to Whole Foods Market’s target market in terms of flavor, sustainability and creativity. Vegetables allowed to ripen in their natural growing season tend to have a more developed and natural flavor. Seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms decreases need for prolonged refrigeration and less transportation, keeping money in local economies. Customers will be able to choose recipes containing the ingredients they prefer. Although, some produce will be available year-round, the ones contained in the chart will be highlighted by the season. Proteins such as poultry, beef, pork and fish will be available year-round.

- Summer -

Heirloom tomatoesEggplantPeppers

CucumbersMelons

- Fall -

Squashes Pumpkin

Brussels sproutsCabbage

CauliflowerSweet Potatoes

- Winter -

PotatoesOnionsCarrotsBeets

Artichokes

- Spring -

AsparagusGreen onions

SpinachCollard Greens

Snow Peas

Sustainability

In addition to supporting sustainable farming practices, an added level of sustainability will be provided in our delivery and packaging. All Culinary Meal Kits and groceries will be packed and delivered in reusable cold chain packaging containers; ensuring freshness while eliminating waste. Cold chain packaging containers will be picked up the following week or when the customer’s next delivery is made.


Locally sourced

Ingredients will be sourced from the region for the specific market. Short biographies on small postcards will be in the boxes that highlight the farmers that grew and raised the food and who their purchases are supporting.

Locally sourced ingredients are nothing foreign to Whole Foods Market as they maximize their efforts in every region they operate in.

Convenience

Flexibilityo Consumers will be allowed to incorporate their Culinary Meal Kits with their

weekly online grocery delivery service with the ability to cancel and/or suspend their service anytime; allowing for flexibility with their weekly schedules as well as vacations or unexpected events that may arise.

Time & Stresso Consumers will no longer have to worry about trips to the grocery store; saving

time and reducing stress.o No more worrying about what cook or how to cook a meal with step by step

recipes and instructional videos that allow a consumer to follow the chef while preparing their meals and having fun in the process.

Caring

Caring is huge part of Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles. Therefore, Whole Foods Market will incorporate their care into these new Culinary Meal Kits by giving back 3% of sales from each meal kit to one of three foundations that Whole Foods Market operates. All funds will be directed to impact each of the 3 city’s communities and not allocated to other national interests or geographic locations. Buying local and supporting communities is not just a competitive advantage but it allows consumers to impact their communities by choosing which foundation they would like Whole Foods Market to concentrate on in their communities.

SWOT ANALYSISStrengths

Brand

The Whole Foods Market brand and the quality consumers associate them with is the main strength of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal kits. Additionally, to all ingredients being certified organic, none of the 3 main competitors are offering exclusively locally sourced, seasonally inspired ingredients in their meal kits and reusable packaging offers the added value of sustainability.

When consumers think Whole Foods, they immediately associate the brand with the best quality ingredients. This allows Whole Foods Market to attract a broad customer base that is loyal and


results in repeat, habitual purchases. Whole Foods Market standards includes strict farming, manufacturing, fishing and ranching standards. They also only sell cage free, free range eggs. They have hundreds of ingredients on their ban list that include artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors. Currently, no other natural grocer has all their stores 100% certified organic (Dalavagas, 2015).

Favorable Industry Trends

As the strongest brand among natural retailers and organic food offerings, Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kits has an impressive advantage to succeed in this capacity if implemented and executed correctly. Consumer relationship consciousness between healthy eating and overall health will continue to drive Whole Foods Market and their Culinary Meal Kits, especially in the younger generation. The younger generations’ concern with how food is produced, sourced and what impact it has on the environment is what Whole Foods Market is about. These concerns by the younger generation continue to fuel Whole Foods Market’s revenues and services of this type (Dalavagas I. , 2015).

Established Supply Chain Relationships

Whole Foods Market currently has strong relationships with the producers that would be supplying the Culinary Meal Kits due to the fact that these same producers are supplying the inventory in their stores. Easy acquisition at bulk prices will keep profit margins for this service healthy and sustainable.

Product Offerings

Consumers will have the flexibility and ability to consolidate all their grocery shopping needs. From toothpaste, to personal care items to a wide array of foods, consumers will save time by not having to visit different websites and/or stores. Current competitors do not have that shopping experience.

Technology

Whole Foods Market makes it easy to shop with their already established phone App available on iPhone and Android platforms. Keeping track of grocery lists, purchasing history, delivery schedules and instructional cooking videos increases the consumer experience in ways that the competition cannot.

Fair Pricing

Pricing is a critical factor that will be outlined further in the pricing strategy section. Whole Foods Market will adopt a fair pricing practice that will operate under flat rate prices per serving, no matter how many servings or family size. This will ensure that a single person providing for him or herself will be paying the same price per serving as a family does.


Weaknesses

Late Market Entry

In 2016 the meal kit market was on pace to eclipse 1.5 billion dollars in sales per (Chamlee, 2016) . Blue Apron, the biggest competitor, was seeking a 2 billion valuation for funding, which many analysts agree that they are valued at that level according (Chernova & Demos, 2015). Converting existing meal kit customers will cost money as Whole Foods Market builds value with these new Culinary Meal Kits.

Price

While Whole Foods does offer superior quality ingredients, their prices reflect that in their stores and will in the Culinary Meal Kits. Although the target market consists of high income individuals and families, some are deterred by the prices and feel that even though the ingredients are the best, the prices might not match that value in consumers’ minds.

Opportunities

Specialty Diets

The Whole Foods Market brand is identified with healthy, nutritious ingredients which infers a belief that these Culinary Meal Kits could potentially offer meal kits catered to specific segments of the population that require specialty diets, such as those battling diabetes and obesity. Employing Registered Dieticians that can formulate recipes that cater to these specific ailments and offering them an option could present itself as a lucrative opportunity.

Utilization of 365 Whole Foods Brand

Currently, Whole Foods Market has opened three “365 by Whole Foods” stores in California, Oregon, and Washington. These stores are smaller and provide a more streamlined shopping experience that offer natural and organic products at a lower price point. These stores appeal to the more price conscious millennial. The opening of these stores in less progressive and less populated areas will allow Whole Foods Market to expand its customer base and Culinary Meal Kit service.

Children’s Lunches

5 bagged, nutritious lunches per week contained with the meal kits would add another level of convenience that other competitors do not offer. These school lunches would be the typical sandwich, chips, fruit and beverage items. The products in these lunches are products that are already sold in the stores and could easily be assembled and added to the Culinary Meal Kit service and online shopping carts.

Threats

Potential Natural Food Grocer’s Market Entry

If Sprouts, Trader Joes or small regional natural grocers entered into this market it would mitigate the added value of being an exclusive supplier of certified organic, locally sourced,


seasonally inspired meal kits. Also, these natural foods retailers come to market with lower price points which could cause subscriptions to decline, thus raise the churn rate.

Current Competitors Changing Sourcing Standards

Companies like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are beginning to offer locally sourced, organic ingredients which would make it difficult to convert or acquire new customers in this market since their price point is lower.

Negative Publicity

In addition to the negative association of Whole Foods Market’s high prices, by some, any additional negative publicity could hurt sales of the Culinary Meal Kits. For instance, if one of their suppliers were to have been found to be practicing unsustainable or cruel farming practices and it were leaked to the media, this could potentially have negative effects on sales of this service. To mitigate this, Whole Foods must continue to practice the strictest of sourcing standards.

COMPETITOR ANALYSESTop 3 competitors are listed below in order of price (high to low).

1. Plated2. Hello Fresh3. Blue Apron

Summary Analysis

Not one competitor targets single individuals. Not one competitor offers flat rate pricing across the board. All competitors offer a max of 4 servings per 4 meals per week. Hello Fresh is the only competitor that has an App for IOS or Android mobile phones. Plated is the only competitor that uses YouTube. Competitors do not offer instructional cooking videos, 100% organic offerings or craft

beer.

Plated

Value Selling Points (Plated.com, n.d.) Raised Without Antibiotics Sustainably Caught Fresh & Seasonal No Added Hormones Sourcing Organic Artisanal Ingredients

Shipping Prices


$6.00 delivery charge for 2 servings twice a week. Free shipping for all orders higher than 2 servings twice a week (Plated.com, n.d.).

Add-ons No upselling opportunities. No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other

grocery items. Gift cards.

Digital Advertising Avenues Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Instagram.

Hello Fresh

Value Selling Points (Hello Fresh, n.d.) Pick a plan that fits your lifestyle. Pause, modify or cancel subscription anytime. Select from variety of weekly recipes. Get quality ingredients at your doorstep. Access your account anywhere including computer and phone App for IOS and Android

users. Free shipping nationwide except Hawaii and Alaska.

Shipping Prices Free shipping.

Add-ons No upselling opportunities. No miscellaneous items are sold outside of meal kits i.e. spices, knifes, wine and other

grocery items. Gift cards.

Digital Advertising Avenues Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Blue Apron

Value Selling Points (Blue Apron, n.d.) Our chefs and farmers work together. We send you a higher quality food at a better value. You cook incredible meals from scratch. Creating better standards, regenerating our land, eliminating the middle man and

reducing food waste. Farm fresh, seasonal produce, meat with no added hormones, sustainably sourced

seafood plus recipe cards, how-to videos and the story behind our ingredients. No commitment. Skip or cancel anytime. Free shipping.


Shipping Prices Free shipping.

Add-ons Plenty of upselling opportunities. Monthly wine subscription that allows a customer to receive 6 premium wines per month

including 3 reds, 3 whites and free shipping for $10.00 per bottle (Blue Apron, n.d.). Under, Market, customers can buy everyday kitchen necessities including some spices,

pots, pans, cooking utensils, knifes, aprons, bowls, dish ware and wine glasses (Blue Apron, n.d.).

Gift cards.

Digital Advertising Avenues Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

PRICING STRATEGYPricing will be determined on market positioning that follows the considerations below.

100% organic offerings Customized plan that allows consumers to buy 1-7 meal kits per week that are designed

for a single person up to a group/family of 10. Straight forward flat rate pricing will ensure a single person pays the same price per meal

as an individual in a group or family of 10.

The following page shows current pricing levels from the 3 main competitors on 2, 3 and 4 servings based on 4 nights per week. Competitor pricing data was derived from their websites. See bibliography for references (Blue Apron, n.d.), (Plated, n.d.) and (Hello Fresh, n.d.).


Blue Apron Plated Hello Fresh Whole Foods$0.00

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

$250.00

Price Levels for 2, 3 & 4 Servings 4 Nights Per Week

2 Servings 3 Servings 4 Servings

This chart displays Whole Foods Market’s Culinary Meal Kit’s pricing and positioning within the market. Whole Foods Market will use flat rate pricing set at $15.00 per serving per person. The considerations mentioned before the chart and the current price levels of the top 3 competitors allow an established price level to be set at this rate. This is consistent with Whole Foods Market’s brand as it is priced slightly higher than their competitors.

Whole Foods Market will use the average price of the 3 options of servings per week plus an adjustment for the craft beer subscription to determine relative yet, conservative expectations and sales goals. This price will be set at an average of $200 per weekly spend. Food average is $180 per week plus $20 for craft beer subscription. This baseline will most likely change after 3 months but will be used as an evaluation metric during the 3-month interim of this marketing plan.

PROMOTION STRATEGYThis section is very critical and will outline various components in a marketing mix to

successfully execute the promotion strategy and/or “pull tactics”.

In-Store Promotion

Hanging Ceiling Banners Promoting Culinary Meal Kits

Two 2.5 x 6ft full color vertical stand banners that advertise Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits will be strategically set in the prepared food section as well as the entrance/exit of each of the twelve locations, totaling 24 banners. The cost for this promotional strategy will be $1,050.00 for all twelve locations (VistaPrint, n.d.).


Promotional Postcards

Post cards to supply our promotional booth, set in the prepared food section of the store, and given to customers at checkout will also be printed. Post cards will consist of 100% post-consumer waste, 100lb premium matte, 7 x 5 size. Each store will be provided 5,000 post cards for a total of 60,000. Total cost will be $4,530 (VistaPrint, Postcards, n.d.).

Door Greeters – Educate & Enroll

An in-store booth near the customer entrance of Whole Foods will be designated to educate current Whole Foods Market customers of new Culinary Meal Kit service. This booth will consist of one employee specifically designated to educate customers about the service and enroll them on the spot. He/she will provide post card flyers that outline what the Culinary Meal Kits include as well as pricing for the service.

Booth will be open from 11am – 7pm, 7 days per week, 8 hours per day. Tactic cost will be $3,360 per month, per store, broken down as $15 per hour for

combined 2,880 man hours per month. Booth operations will cease, when total enrollments reach/surpass targets outlined in the sales budget and metric/expectations sections.

The total, per month, for all TWELVE locations will be $43,200.

Printed Grocery Bags

120,000 100% recycled post-consumer waste paper grocery bags, 10,000 per location, advertising Whole Foods Culinary Meal Kits will be printed and used as the primary grocery bag at checkout. At a cost of .21 cents per bag the cost of this promotion strategy will be $25,200 for all twelve locations (PrintGlobe, n.d.).

In addition to single use paper bags we will also have reusable grocery bags printed. These reusable bags are popular among our target market and the advertising will be seen in their homes as well as when they bring it to places like the farmer’s market. 6,000 of these bags at $1.69 each, 500 per store, will total $10,140 for this promotion (Products, n.d.).

Discounts given to customer’s groceries in-store the day they sign up. (15% discount on their groceries that day, subject to $300 total check-out cost). This promotion will run for only one month. Target sign-up per store is 200 for the first month per location, totaling 2,400 enrollments. Cost of this will be a max of $108,000 (2,400 enrollments x $300 grocery cart value x 0.15%).

Digital Promotion

Press release on website promoting new services and offerings. Designed to generate buzz/attention from the store level to the stock exchange.

Press release on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and Snap Chat.


Banner ads on website home page, promoting new service.

Email Drip Campaign

Emails sent to current subscribers offering a 15% promotional discount as well as an additional 15% discount on their weekly orders if they refer somebody within the first 60 days of launch.

This promotion will be closely monitored and discount will be applied for 3 months and subject to terms and conditions set forth by the legal department.

Current email subscribers target enrollment goal is 100 per store location. Anticipated cost will reflect target of weekly spend per consumer of ($200 x 100 enrollments x 12 locations x 15% discount), $36,000.

Referral discount cost will reflect a success rate of 3 referrals out 100 current subscribers; 1,200 current enrollments will = 36 referrals at an estimated cost ($200 weekly order x 36 enrollments = $7,200 x 15% discount = $1,080.

Social Media Manager Hire

$65,000 annual salary plus quarterly bonuses. Duties include: coordinate and manage Whole Foods Meal Kits promotion as it is

concerned with Whole Foods’ social media accounts, email list, website, and blog. This will include promoting the service to Whole Foods Market’s 4.85 million Twitter followers, 2 million Facebook followers, current newsletter recipients, and WholeFoodsMarket.com’s blog followers. Weekly coordination of celebrity chef cooking demonstrations.

One month prior to the launch of the meal kit service, the Social Media manager will provide digital materials concerning services offered, pricing, and how to enroll. Once the program is launched the Social Media Manager will continue these informational offerings in addition to updating followers and recipients of current seasonal meal kit offerings as well as any news and reviews concerning Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kit program.

Target goals will be outlined in the sales and metric section.

Direct Mail Campaign Promotion

Whole Foods Market will not utilize Direct Mail Campaigns as a promotional strategy. This is decided as an effort to reduce Whole Foods Market’s carbon footprint during the manufacturing and/or production of paper mailings.

An added benefit of this decision allows Whole Foods Market to allocate more funds towards other promotional efforts.

Though Direct Mail Campaigns can produce results, this would only be utilized as a last effort if sales are experiencing a wide gap between reality and established metrics and expectations. In the event this promotion is utilized; direct mailings would only encompass the store locations’ zip code of operation.


Site selection of existing store-front locations have already been established to serve the customers that Whole Foods Market targets. Expanding this service to all zip codes in a city would increase operational cost in terms of delivery resulting in a decreased profit margin.

Public Relations Promotion

CEO and Director of Marketing will promote this new service by invitation to CNBC, stock market channel during the power lunch hour the day of the announcement.

In the morning of the launch, the Director of Marketing, CEO and all associated chefs will go on live television with the Today Show, to promote the new service and offerings and conduct a live cooking demonstration from all the celebrity chefs.

Duration of trip will be 3 days and an estimated target budget for all travel arrangements is $100,000.

o 8 chefs, CEO, Director of Marketing, Public Relations Officer and 3 assistants.o Total attendees, 14.

Invitation to CNBC and the Today Show will be the duties of the CEO and Director of Marketing, to reach out directly and make arrangements.

Branded Gifts Promotion

A full set of new cookware inspired by James Oliver will be given to the first 100 subscribers for each store location. 12 stores in three markets equates to 1,200 cookware sets valued at a retail value of $700.00 per set. A 200% retail profit margin will be applied to determine the cost of this promotion. $175 per cookware set (which is the estimated company cost) multiplied by 1,200 total cookware sets equates to $210,000 promotional investment.

This will generate immediate sales within the market and will allow Whole Foods Market to deduct the cost of this promotion on their taxes using the current tax code. This promotion will be subject to terms and conditions outlined by the legal department.

Causes & Charity Promotion

The entire promotion strategy and this service will adopt a similar marketing and sales strategy that Subaru has done for several years with their Share the Love initiative which allows the buyer/consumer to choose the charity/cause they would like the company to donate money to with the purchase of every new car. Whole Foods Market has established and founded three foundations that were discussed earlier.

The promotion will allow every new subscriber and continued user to choose one of the three foundations they would like Whole Foods Market’s foundations to support in their city. Whole Foods Market will allocate a percentage of sales to the foundation of their consumers’ choice. The percentage of sales will be set at a rate of 3%. 100% of funds generated in these markets will go directly to Whole Foods Market’s foundations where they will benefit those cities directly and not on a national basis.

This promotion will allow Whole Foods Market to gain local attention and become more of the fabric of the communities they operate within. This will also be monitored closely and have continued oversight from the legal department.


Cost of this promotion will be considered an indirect marketing cost and a cost of doing business that will operate with the goal of raising funds for three foundations. Amount of funds raised will be considered the cost of this promotion.

Ground Promotion

Each location’s store manager will fill this capacity by visiting and meeting with property managers at high rise condos, loft communities and upscale apartments promoting this new service to their residents. This promotion tactic will be used to eliminate other forms of marketing that require investments. Furthermore, this relationship building approach will allow Whole Foods Market to become more vested in their communities, while appealing directly to the defined target markets that live these communities. No investment is required for this promotion but will generate new business and enrollments.

MARKETING OBJECTIVESThe meal kit market has been increasing every year and as noted in the beginning of this

marketing plan, its anticipated to surpass $5 billion in the coming years. This section will outline the overall objectives of this marketing plan.

Brand Management

Brand management is critical as well as the continued efforts to maintain image, market dominance and staying relevant with existing and new customers. Maintaining the brand also coincides with increasing brand loyalty. This objective is designed to stay relevant with customer buying trends while appealing to customers’ emotional state in supporting local sourcing, healthy eating and charity/foundation support within their local communities.

Doubling down on brand loyalty will allow Whole Foods Market to attract new customers but maintain existing customer base while preventing/curving any current or future loss of customers.

Charity & Foundation Support

Increase support and raise funds to support the three foundations that will directly impact the consumers’ communities. This is a very direct objective with the added benefit of appealing to consumers’ hearts and giving them the opportunity to dramatically impact their communities. This objective will be at the mercy of 3% of sales. Estimated revenue goals will be outlined in the budget, sales and metrics & expectations sections.

Sales

Achieve 6,000 plus Culinary Meal Kit orders on a weekly basis by end of 3rd month. Generate $60 million plus in annual revenue across 3 cities.

Organic Awareness

Increase awareness of the benefits of eating organic, caring about where food comes from and sustainable farming and fishing practices.


Establish Presence in The Meal Kit Market

Become one of the top three brands in this market among consumers and the only one that offers a monthly craft beer subscription and 100% organic offerings.

Social Media

Drastically improve number of social media followers by at least 5 million and become number one against competitors using Google + and YouTube.

Growth

Achieve all goals, targets and expectations to provide groundwork for potential regional launches and a national launch.


BUDGET EVALUATIONS

MARKETING BUDGET

Category EstimatedQuantity Cost per Store Estimated

Subtotal Notes

In-Store PromotionCeiling Banners (2 per store) 24 $87.50 $1,050.00 Post Cards (5,000 per store) 60,000 $377.50 $4,530.00 Door Greeters (1 Employee per store @ $15/hr) 2,800 $3,600.00 $43,200.00 Paper Grocery Bags (10k per store) 120,000 $2,100.00 $25,200.00 Reusable Grocery Bags (500 per store) 6,000 $845.00 $10,140.00 15% Cashier Discount with Enrollment 2,400 $9,000.00 $108,000.00

Total $192,120.00 Digital PromotionCorporate Social Media Manager Salary 1 $5,416.67 $65,000.00E-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200 $3,000.00 $36,000.00E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36 $90.00 $1,080.00

Total $102,080.00Public Relations PromotionNew York City Arrangements 14 $8,333.33 $100,000.00

Airfare, hotel, meals & misc. cost for Total $100,000.00

Give-Away PromotionCookware Sets 1,200 $17,500.00 $210,000.00

Total $210,000.00Charitable Donation PromotionWhole Kids $4,489.33 $53,872.00Whole Planet Foundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00Whole Cities Foundation $4,489.33 $53,872.00

Total $161,616.00$765,816.00

Marketing Budget Plan - 1 Quarter

3% of sales, monthly revenue goal set at

$161,616

ESTIMATED MARKETING GRAND TOTAL

This marketing budget accounts for the anticipated investment required. Furthermore, the duration of this marketing budget will be enacted on day one of the launch and last for three months. Grand total of $765,816.00 is subject to change depending on the charitable donation promotion. Immediate fixed investment is set at $604,200.

Enrollment Goals – By end of First Quarter


Category Target Enrollments Notes

In-Store PromotionDoor Greeters 1,080 3 per day, 30 days per monthCashiers 1,800 5 cashiers/store, 60 enrolls/day

Total 2,880 240 per storeDigital PromotionE-Mail Drip Campaign (current subscribers) 1,200E-Mail Current Subscriber Referral Promotion 36

Total 1,236 103 per storeGround PromotionStore Manager Visiting Property Managers 900

Total 900 75 per storePublic Relations PromotionThe Today Show & CNBC Power Lunch 1,200

Total 1,200 100 per storeGrand Total 6,216 518 per store

Enrollment Goals - 1 Quarter

This table represents the promotion tactic and the desired results. Enrollment goals are defined as individuals enrolling in the Culinary Meal Kit program. A grand total of 6,216 enrollments is the target goal for this marketing plan. 6,216 enrollments across 12 stores in 3 cities is used as a target in order to achieve realistic revenue results.

Sales Forecasting

Weekly Monthly Annual Population Saturation Rate, $ per Person

Austin - 5 Store Locations $518,000 $2,244,667 $26,936,000 931,830 $28.91Denver - 4 Store Locations $414,400 $1,795,733 $21,548,800 682,545 $31.57Seattle - 3 Store Locations $310,800 $1,346,800 $16,161,600 684,451 $23.61

Total $1,243,200 $5,387,200 $64,646,400 2,298,826 $84.09

Sales Forecast - Desired Results by end of Month 3 of Quarter Revenue Stream (Based on $200

weekly average spend per Enrollee at 518 orders /week/store)

METRICSIn collaboration with marketing objectives, some of the metrics will reveal new

marketing objectives and/or augment/emphasize certain results and trends that need to be monitored, controlled and adjusted.

Digital Metrics

Below is a snapshot of Whole Foods Market’s current social media outlets and following.


Social Media, website analytics and email marketing will be monitored using the following metrics across each of the media outlets and compared to monthly/quarterly/annual differences.

Follower increase and/or decrease. Increase and/or decrease in shares, likes, comments and posts. Total downloads, average clicks, revisits per month, unique visitors and click through

rates.

These metrics, insights and analytics will provide critical information that will be used to adjust messaging and content while providing insight into potential cities of duplication and measuring effectiveness. The social media manager that will be hired to head up this portion of the marketing plan will need to meet and/or surpass the following expectations, targets, goals and/or results.

Increase followers for each social media outlet to a total as follows:o Twitter: 6 million (1.1195 million increase)o Facebook: 3 million (1 million increase)o Instagram: 3 million (1.1 million increase)


o Pinterest: 500,000 (182,700 increase)o Google +: 400,000 (144,120 increase)o LinkedIn: 500,000 (314,068 increase)o YouTube: 500,000 (434,714 increase)

A $100,000 bonus will be paid to the new social media manager if he/she achieves the following follower targets after one year.

o Twitter: 10 milliono Facebook: 6 milliono Instagram: 6 milliono Pinterest: 1 milliono Google +: 1 milliono LinkedIn: 1 million or 3 million in place of Google + and YouTubeo YouTube: 1 million

Without knowing current SEO information and/or software specifically used by Whole Foods Market, below are some of the results gathered by Net Valuator (Valuation, n.d.), (subject to daily changes). This data is presented in a comparison format and used as competitor analysis tool to establish more metrics and expectations set forth by this marketing plan.

Metric Whole Foods Market Blue Apron Plated.com Hello Fresh

Traffic ReportDaily Unique Visitors 130,601 50,962 13,902 6,569Daily Page Views 1,044,808 305,772 83,412 32,845

Total 1,175,409 356,734 97,314 39,414Social EngagementFacebook Shares 6,084 4,661 579 582Facebook Likes 5,473 3,633 446 344Facebook Comments 4,803 6,355 531 422Twitter Count (Tweets) 3,450 not listed 2 6LinkedIn Shares 214 41 21 8Delicious Shares 715 44 14 12Google + 15 753 24 33

Total 20,754 15,487 1,617 1,407Estimated ValuationIncome per Day $1,045 $612 $167 $82Estimate Worth (website domain) $1,128,600 $440,312 $120,240 $49,200

Total $1,151,129 $440,924 $120,407 $49,282

Website Analytics

This information infers that Whole Foods Market dominates in several areas however, Facebook comments and Google + are very weak compared to their competitors, specifically Blue Apron. These are very technical metrics and can be analyzed in numerous ways. The underlining metric(s) in addition to the established ones for the new social media manager, is to simply increase/improve/optimize all digital promotion metrics in the most effective way.


Increase web page visit time. Increase job cart size during checkout by advertising craft beer subscription and the new

Culinary Meal Kits and free delivery. Increase conversion rates by 10% from unique visitors. Increase unique visitors specific to Austin, Denver and Seattle. Increase social engagement, as mentioned earlier. Promote and increase awareness of the 3 charitable foundations that Whole Foods

Market is contributing 3% of revenue towards in these 3 cities.

All Other Metrics

Other important metrics that will be measured and analyzed are provided by (Volpe, 2013):

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) : Will be measured month over month for three months and recalculated at the end of month 3. The current marketing budget has an expectation to achieve a CAC of $123.20 with charitable contributions and a CAC of $97.20 without charitable contributions.

Marketing % of CAC (M%-CAC) : This number should be a relatively high number since the sales function does not require a high attention to outside sales or a large sales force. As the budget stands, M%-CAC and current marketing strategy this calculation will not be calculated. If the marketing plan succeeds and meets expectations listed later, this calculation should be performed on a regional basis and national basis as it will allow further insight to determine applicability as it may apply to the following scenarios:

Spending too much on marketing. Sales costs decrease because target/quotas are missed. Spending more on marketing increase quality of hits/leads, resulting in a decrease in

other expenses.

Ratio of Customer Lifetime Value to CAC (LTV:CAC) : This calculation is not only critical but necessary for reoccurring/repeat revenue streams, while accounting for the churn rate/cancellation rate. A good rule of thumb for this calculation is understanding that this marketing plan’s ROI is crucial to the CEO, board of directors and stock holders. Since this marketing plan is designed to create a new revenue stream, it’s expected to have a high ROI and LTV:CAC ratio. This will be monitored very closely to ensure that if expectations, goals and targets are met or surpassed quickly, the success could indicate that an increase in marketing funds might be appropriate to eliminate growth restraints. By not adjusting or increasing the marketing spend, it could make life easier for competitors to increase market share.

A healthy churn rate/attrition rate would be 1-3%.


CAC Payback Time : This is another calculation that will provide insight into market penetration, ROI and will assist in monitoring goal, target and expectation progression. As the budget stands, the CAC Payback Time period will be well within 6 months for the average customer spending $200 per week. Further analysis will be necessary after implementation to appropriately determine gross profit margins.

Marketing Originated Customer % : Whole Foods Market will need to strengthen their analytics team to keep a close eye on this calculation. It’s important to understand where new customers come from and what marketing avenues contributed to the acquisition of a customer. This calculation will provide insight into which marketing avenues are working the best. An anticipated percentage should range between 85-95%.

ACTION ITEMS / TIME LINE / TACTICSNecessary Events & Resources

Analysis of action items reveals approximately 57% of budget will be allocated in the months leading up to, and within the first month of the launch of Whole Foods Market Culinary Meal Kits. Although this is a considerable percentage, the funds are needed on the front end to create brand awareness, build brand value and educate customers about the service.

For these reasons the purchase of in-store promotional products, hiring of a social media manager and the initial email drip campaign 1-2 months prior to launching the service are crucial. The hiring process will begin two months from the launch date and will be completed within one month of launching the service. This will allow the social media manager ample time to acclimate into the new position and begin implementing social media awareness strategies, executing the email drip campaign to current customers and creating buzz on the wholefoodsmarket.com website and blog.

Within the first few weeks of the launch, $310,000 is allocated toward cable television news appearances and cookware promotion. These strategies are necessary in the first few weeks to entice customers to sign up and get the enrollment process underway. Which in turn, will lead to the customer referral promotion to take off. In the following months, allocated funds taper off as initial buzz has been created and remaining funds are delegated to sustain enrollment numbers in preparation for national and/or regional launches.

Action Item 2 Months’ Prior

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Total

In-store promo products (banners, postcards, bags)

$40,020 $40,920

Hire Social Media Manager $65,000 $65,000


Email Drip Campaign $6,000 $10,000

$10,000

$10,000

$36,000

Referral Promotion $360 $360 $360 $1,080Cookware Promotion $210,0

00$210,00

0Enrollment Discounts $36,00

0$36,00

0$36,00

0$108,00

0Cable News Appearances $100,0

00$100,00

0Charitable Donations Promo

$53,872

$53,872

$53,872

$161,616

Ground Promo (Rolled into Store Manager

Salary)

$0 $0 $0 $0

In store representatives $14,400

$14,400

$14,400

$43,200

Totals $111,920 $424,632 $114,232 $114,232 $765,816


AUTHOR NOTES & DISCLAIMERThis marketing plan outlined various marketing avenues that we believe Whole Foods Market should explore and implement. We also understand that this marketing plan acts as a basis for a more in-depth look in the market research that Whole Foods Market would need to conduct before implementing and executing.

Our research performed, contains vital information that could allow Whole Foods Market to develop a new marketing strategy, new revenue streams and dramatically augment their 3 charitable foundations on a local level. It’s our belief that this marketing plan coincides with Whole Foods Market’s culture and operating principles that have defined them and have contributed to their success.

All our research indicated that this trend is rapidly growing and will continue to grow year over year. Whole Foods Market possesses the footprint, supply chain, economies of scale and funds to implement Culinary Meal Kits into their operations. Research indicates and we believe the upside potential is in the billions of dollars not for only the Meal Kit industry but for Whole Foods Market’s bottom line. The downside for Whole Foods Market would be to ignore this trend and/or not allocate the necessary funds to successfully launch this new division in an aggressive manner.

Whole Foods Market has taken a very small step in the meal kit industry with their acquisition of Purple Carrot back in late October early November of 2016. However, it’s our opinion that Whole Foods Market has not gained traction with this acquisition as there has been no regional or national marketing strategies developed/executed since then and other contributing factors, not to say they are not working on them currently.

We believe that Whole Foods Market needs to act quickly since they have indicated an interest in this market before competitors like Blue Apron acquires more customers or potentially new market entries from national competitors such as Sprouts and Trader Joes or regional competitors such as HEB Central Market in Texas and Amazon Fresh in Seattle which is expanding throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Joshua Neeper, 254.717.9298Masters Business Administration, Supply Chain Management - February, 2018Bachelor of Science, International Business Associate of Applied Science, Business Management

Michael Brooks, 315.570.8970Masters Business Administration – November, 2017Bachelor of Technology Horticulture Business Management, Food CropsBachelor of Business AdministrationAssociate in Science, Culinary Arts


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