Errol Schweizer currently consults with NYC EDC on the public sector grocery initiative. He is a former vice president of grocery at Whole Foods, is on the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems, and runs an industry newsletter called The Checkout Grocery Update and a podcast called Grocery Nerds on Heritage Radio Network.
A grocery industry expert argues that as our food supply becomes increasingly consolidated, expensive, and even dangerous, socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s publicly subsidized grocery plan takes bold steps to provide good, affordable food.
Errol Schweizer, a former national vice president of grocery at Whole Foods, argues in Jacobin that the private sector is responsible for ever-rising grocery prices and can’t be relied on to fix the problem. Our food system needs a public option.
Will Amazon disrupt groceries? How did Walmart take over food sales? Is Zohran Mamdani’s public grocery plan too small? Why is the market increasingly polarized between Erewhons and dollar stores? An ex–Whole Foods vice president gives us an industry tour.