Mary Meisenzahl/Insider
- Whole Foods is laying off several hundred corporate employees, CNBC reported Thursday.
- The layoffs are part of a reorganization to streamline the grocer's regional and global structures.
- Amazon has been adjusting its grocery strategy, including Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh.
Amazon-owned Whole Foods is laying off several hundred workers, continuing the recent job cuts at Amazon and its divisions.
The cuts will affect global supports teams as well as employees who manage the grocery chain's regional operations, CNBC reported Thursday, citing a memo from Whole Foods' executives to employees. The layoffs are part of a reorganization that will take place over the next two months, according to the memo. The cuts will affect "less than half of a percent" of Whole Foods' global workforce, CNBC reported, citing a Whole Foods spokesperson.
A Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed the memo and the layoffs to Insider.
"We are evolving our operating structure and making adjustments to some corporate teams, so we can better support our stores as Whole Foods Market continues to grow and expand its reach to serve more customers," the spokesperson said.
Under the changes, Whole Foods will lay off workers on its global operations team. The company will also shed positions that manage different regions of its business. Whole Foods currently divides its stores into nine regions based on geography, but it will reduce that number to six, according to the memo.
Positions at Whole Foods stores and distribution centers aren't affected by the layoffs, according to the memo.
The layoffs and reorganization will "further simplify our operations, make processes easier, and improve how we support our stores," according to the memo.
The layoffs add to tens of thousands of jobs Amazon has already cut at its corporate headquarters and other parts of its business.
Amazon's grocery strategy has been in flux over the last year. The company has closed stores and paused some openings for its Amazon Fresh chain, which sells groceries using a smaller store format and lower prices than Whole Foods does.
Whole Foods, meanwhile, has continued to open new stores over the last several months. CEO Jason Buechel said in January that he wants the supermarket chain to open 30 new stores a year — roughly three times the number it opened in 2022.
Amazon has made several changes to Whole Foods since it acquired the grocery chain in 2017. Among them are cutting prices on frequently purchased grocery items and giving corporate teams more say over matters once delegated to regional staff.
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