Although sales are up by 17% for Fresh & Wild Ltd, the UK unit of Whole Foods Market, the company has reported ₤7 million loss for the year to September 30, 2007. A slowdown in the organic food boom and a trend towards discount shopping, are creating difficult times for the retailer, which has a reputation for being expensive with poor value credentials.

While Whole Foods Market works as an occasional destination store, in terms of every day shopping, there is too much competition from the usual suspects nearby - Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Waitrose. Premium private labels are now commonplace in all supermarkets, which is reducing Whole Foods' advantage as a premium food retailer.

Some analysts feel that there is too much working against Whole Foods for it to really get off the ground:

• It is still a young business in the UK.
• With only 6 UK locations, it is unable to trade in huge volumes.
• Then, for good measure, toss in the current economic climate.

With all of these factors stacked against it, the struggle for Whole Foods' large-scale luxury food concept to succeed in the competitive UK grocery sector is far from over.