Visionary – Casey Coyle

Store Team Leader, Whole Foods Market

Site Staff Vision

Photo by Ethan Kaminsky

The Coachella Valley’s strong interest in healthy living made it the perfect place for Whole Foods Market to open a new store. Coming here also ended up being the perfect move for Casey Coyle and his family.

 

“This is a beautiful area — probably one of the most beautiful in the world — and this is a great place for anybody to relocate,” he says. “There’s a lot of giving and caring people in the Coachella Valley. It’s very rich with art. The food scene is very diverse. And the weather is gorgeous.”

When Coyle first heard that Whole Foods was opening up a store in Palm Desert and he was offered the position as store team leader, he didn’t know much about the area. Since then, he has discovered that “this is a great community,” Coyle says. “With the influx of people you get throughout the year that come from other countries, it’s a very culturally rich place.”

There is also huge demand locally for a Whole Foods Market, something he says customers have made clear. “There were people actually brought to tears because we were coming — they wanted a source of good, healthy food,” Coyle says.

Coyle notes that the city of Palm Desert and its residents have welcomed the certified organic grocery store with open arms. He says the excitement stems from Whole Foods’ mission to create a venue with community ties that also serves as a destination for people to visit and learn about good food.

“You see well-trained staff that’s passionate about the food that they sell,” Coyle says. “That’s really what sets us apart.”

The number of job applicants in the valley — 1,700 — who are eager to join the Whole Foods team impressed Coyle. “It’s very apparent from just the amount of people that applied for jobs that people are hungry to work here,” he says. “We’re looking for people who are passionate and who have good service skills, and that’s abundant here in Coachella Valley.”