John P. Mackey, co-founder and long-serving Chief Executive of Whole Foods Market. Starting out of his garage in Austin, Texas, where he opened his first health food store in 1978, John Mackey built Whole Foods into a national organization, with outlets in major markets across the country. The launch of Whole Foods’ 365 private label demonstrated that store brands could not only offer superior value in dollars and cents, they could also become emblematic of the values that defined and connected the Whole Foods Chain to their core customer base.