Whole Foods is changing the way it does business with suppliers, and some local and regional brands say it's having a crippling impact on their business.
The grocery chain is charging brands more money for prime shelf space and in-store product demonstrations and taste tests while also requiring them to pay ongoing fees to third-party companies for food-safety audits and photographs of their products.
Whole Foods has also dropped minimum-shipment guidelines that prevented stores from making tiny orders of just one or two cases of goods and stopped paying shipping fees for some goods, according to a company email on the changes. Several suppliers told Business Insider that they were losing money on shipments as a result. Two suppliers said they had refused to fill orders when shipping costs exceeded the cost of their goods.
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