Grass-fed beef pioneer hosts opening of Whole Foods Market store

Grass-fed beef pioneer hosts opening of Whole Foods Market store
Will Harris of White Oak Pastures hosts opening day cook-out

by Sustainable Food News
January 7, 2010

Will Harris of White Oak Pastures

Will Harris, owner of sustainable grass-fed beef producer White Oak Pastures, is hosting an opening day cook-out at a new Whole Foods Market store in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. The 45,000-square-foot store, which features a 28-seat, in-store pub, the company’s seventh in the Philadelphia market, and opens Jan. 12. The Harris family has been raising cattle at White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga., for the marketplace since 1866. It is the largest certified-organic farm in Georgia. The store features display and merchandising units that are developed with reclaimed hardwoods and recycled-content tiles as well as repurposed factory tables. White Oak Pastures starred in a new documentary co-produced by the Austin, Tex.-based retailer of organic and natural food products.

VIDEO: To watch the documentary, click here.

The company’s processing plant is a zero-waste facility, and uses a digester to transform waste into organic fertilizer, and a 30,000 gallon septic system to recycle wash-down water. Whole Foods, the world’s largest retailer of organic and natural foods, now sells White Oak grass-fed beef in stores from Miami to Princeton, N.J., to Columbus, Ohio. The Cold Point Pub will rotate six beers on tap. Shoppers can also take their meals upstairs to the store’s seasonally open, outdoor roof deck.