Whole Foods 2014 Annual Report Download - page 14

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David Lannon has served as Executive Vice President of Operations of the Company since February 2012. Prior to that, Mr.
Lannon had served as President of the Northern California Region since December 2007 and President of the North Atlantic
Region from March 2001 to December 2007. Mr. Lannon has held various positions with the Company and with Bread & Circus,
Inc., which was acquired by the Company in October 1992, including Store Team Leader, Director of Store Operations and Vice
President of the North Atlantic Region.
Kenneth Meyer has served as Executive Vice President of Operations of the Company since February 2012. Mr. Meyer also
served as President of the Mid-Atlantic Region from October 2004 to February 2012. Mr. Meyer has held various positions with
the Company and with Fresh Fields Market, which was acquired by the Company in August 1996, including Store Team Leader,
Vice President of the Southwest Region, and President of the South Region.
Available Information
Our corporate website is www.wholefoodsmarket.com. We make available through the Investor Relations section of this site,
free of charge, the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, including annual reports on Form 10-K,
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, interactive data, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statement, Section 16 filings, and all
amendments to those reports. We also make available our corporate governance documents, Code of Business Conduct, and
Board of Directors committee charters and policies. We have included our website as an inactive textual reference only.
Information contained on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Report on Form 10-K.
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
Business and Operating Risks
Our growth depends on increasing sales in comparable stores and on new store openings, and our failure to achieve these goals
could negatively impact our results of operations and financial condition.
Our continued growth depends on our ability to increase sales in our comparable stores and open new stores. Our operating
results may be materially impacted by fluctuations in our comparable store sales. Our comparable store sales growth could be
lower than our historical average for many reasons including the impact of new and acquired stores entering into the comparable
store base, the opening of new stores that cannibalize store sales in existing areas, general economic conditions, increased
competition, price changes in response to competitive factors, possible supply shortages, and cycling against any year of above-
average sales results.
Our growth strategy includes opening new stores in existing and new areas and operating those stores successfully. Successful
implementation of this strategy is dependent on finding suitable locations, and we face competition from other retailers for such
sites. There can be no assurance that we will continue to grow through new store openings. We may not be able to open new
stores timely or operate them successfully. Also, we may not be able to successfully hire and train new team members or integrate
those team members into the programs and policies of the Company. We may not be able to adapt our distribution, management
information and other operating systems to adequately supply products to new stores at competitive prices so that we can operate
the stores in a successful and profitable manner.
A failure to maintain the privacy and security of customer-related and business information could damage our reputation and
business.
We receive, retain, and transmit certain personal information about our customers, team members and suppliers and entrust that
information to third party business associates. Our business, which operates primarily in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., heavily
depends upon the secure momentary storage of data associated with cashless payments as well as the secure transmission of a
significant amount of confidential information over public networks. Additionally, the use of individually identifiable data by
our business and our business associates is regulated at the national and local or state level in all of our operating countries.
Privacy and information security laws and regulations change, and compliance with updates may result in cost increases due to
necessary systems changes and the development of new administrative processes. A compromise of our security systems or
those of our business associates that results in our customers’, team members’ or suppliers’ information being obtained by
unauthorized persons or a breach of information security laws and regulations could adversely affect our reputation with our
customers, team members and others, as well as our operations, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and could
result in litigation against us or the imposition of penalties. In addition, a security breach could require that we expend significant
additional resources related to remediation, including changes in the information security systems, and could result in a disruption
of our operations, particularly our online business.
Disruptions in our information systems could harm our ability to run our business.
We rely extensively on information systems for point-of-sale processing in our stores, supply chain, financial reporting, human
resources and various other processes and transactions. Our information systems are subject to damage or interruption from