Whole Foods Market® is No. 19 on FORTUNE's 'World's Most Admired Companies' list - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

Whole Foods Market® is No. 19 on FORTUNE's 'World's Most Admired Companies' list

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SOURCE Whole Foods Market

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Whole Foods Market ranks No. 19 on FORTUNE magazine's 2013 "World's Most Admired Companies" list. The only grocer on the list, the company is also named as the Most Admired Company in the food and drug store industry, leading the top ten list of retailers in the category.

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"The health-food pioneer continues to rack up record sales, and has plans to nearly triple U.S. its store count," reported the magazine, noting that Whole Foods Market "earns high marks from customers (and analysts) for quality that keeps its patrons loyal…"

Whole Foods Market is ranked in the top ten for innovation, social responsibility, employee retention and product quality. The only company from Austin to make the list, Whole Foods Market is one of three Texas-based companies included in the top 50 this year.

The list and related stories appear in the March 18 issue of FORTUNE, available on newsstands now and at www.fortune.com.

METHODOLOGY 
The Most Admired list is the definitive report card on corporate reputations. Our survey partners at Hay Group started with approximately 1,400 companies: the Fortune 1,000 -- the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue and non-U.S. companies in Fortune's global 500 database with revenue of $10 billion or more. Hay then selected the 15 largest for each international industry and the 10 largest for each U.S. industry, surveying a total of 687 companies from 30 countries. To create the 57 industry lists, Hay asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their industry on nine criteria, from investment value to social responsibility. A company's score must rank in the top half of its industry survey to be listed.

To arrive at the top 50 Most Admired Companies overall, the Hay Group asked the 3,800 respondents to select the 10 companies they admired most, from a list made up of the companies that ranked in the top 25% in last year's survey, plus those that finished in the top 20% of their industry. Anyone could vote for any company in any industry, which is why some results may seem anomalous.

Libba.Letton@wholefoods.com
512-542-3031

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