Whole Foods to Open Health Resort in Austin, Texas

Whole Foods grocery store known for its organic, high end produce and gourmet food is opening a health resort. The Huffington Post reported that the facility is projected to open in Austin, Texas where the company is headquartered.

"We have the perfect vehicle for this," Whole Foods co-founder John Mackey told USA Today. "Think of it as a center where people would go for a day, a weekend or a week for healthy lifestyle education."

Plans are for the resort to open in downtown Austin, where the company plans to expand their headquarters. Currently Mackey said to USA Today that the company is negotiating for real estate and on the search for the perfect hotel chain to operate the health resort in.

"While hit hard early in the economic downturn, the 346-store Whole Foods chain has come roaring back, with its sales and stock price up handsomely. The move into the health resort business would mark a continuing evolution from selling healthy food to promoting an active lifestyle," reported USA Today.

Mackey added to USA Today that it is an experiment and that " you never know if experiments will be successful or not."

The idea came from an in-house program in Whole Foods stores to improve lifestyle habits for its employees. It is focused on reduction of blood pressure and cholesterol and weight loss.

"I've seen it improve the lives of hundreds of our team members," Mackey said to USA Today.

Whole Food's website says of the company that they "seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture. Add to that the excitement and fun we bring to shopping for groceries, and you start to get a sense of what we're all about. Oh yeah, we're a mission-driven company too. "

The company started in Austin in 1980 with one grocery store and expanded throughout the country. "The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. At the time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States. We have grown by leaps and bounds since our first store opened," says Whole Food's website.