Secrets Of Whole Foods You'll Wish You Knew Sooner

Whole Foods is known for its eco-friendly approach. It debuted a new policy to nix plastic bags back in 2008.

The ban on plastic bags at checkout helped change the culture of grocery shopping, and Whole Foods shoppers embraced the recycled paper bags that the store stocked instead.

In 2008, Whole Foods stores across the U.S. and Canada cracked Parmigiano Reggiano wheels at the same time to set a Guinness world record.

The chain successfully held the record for the "most Parmigiano Reggiano wheels cracked simultaneously." 176 Whole Foods stores cracked almost 300 wheels at the same time.

The first Whole Foods store in Austin, Texas, was heavily affected during a 1981 flood due to water coming from overflowing creeks.

Around $400,000 worth of goods was destroyed. It took 28 days for the store to recover, which was only done with the help of community members who wanted to see the store succeed.

The same outlet in Austin that suffered flooding in 1981 now has an ice skating rink on the roof, where visitors can go whether they're shopping inside or not.

Visitors can pay a small daily fee of $10 to get on the ice. Whole Foods keeps the rink open from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and is also available for party rentals.

Whole Foods began in 1978 as a labor of love for Founder and CEO John Mackey, who sold it for $13.7 million in 2017. He now draws an annual salary of $1.

Even after the sale to Amazon, Mackey is there to do his day job because he believes in the mission and vision of the store, not to collect a paycheck.