As part of its 10th annual Supplier Awards, Whole Foods Market recently honored Driscoll’s of Watsonville, Calif., for “Raising the Bar for Quality,” an award the Austin, Texas-based retailer said it bestows upon “suppliers that help advance Whole Foods Market standards and take an actionable part in moving the industry.”
This year’s award recipients also have displayed innovative manufacturing or agricultural techniques, Whole Foods added.
“Being named Whole Foods Supplier of the Year for Raising the Bar for Quality means a lot to us,” Casey Rose, Driscoll’s senior director of sales and product business, told The Packer.
“We have so many teams that are committed to delighting consumers from research and development to supply chain, to growers and harvesters, and our sales account teams. When our customers and our berry growers are aligned, we accomplish great things together.”
For its 2021 Supplier of the Year Awards, Whole Foods presented 30 awards to suppliers in the Unites States, United Kingdom and Canada. Awards recognize suppliers that exemplify the company’s mission and core values, and are presented in categories such as Outstanding Innovation, Environmental Stewardship, Purpose Driven Empowerment, and the company’s top category, Supplier of the Year, according to a release.
“The Whole Foods award acknowledges the hard work that so many teams within Driscoll’s put into the clamshell that ends up on their shelves,” Rose said. “We have been able to connect our teams together to understand the dynamic around quality challenges as it may pertain to a specific berry or producing region.
“Being transparent with one another, collecting their feedback, sharing best practices — all those factors establish an opportunity for us to set expectations,” Rose continued. “It is the collaborative agility between our organizations that works.”
