Christie Administration Helps Grocer Hire New Jerseyans

The Christie Administration applauded the grand opening of a Whole Foods Market on Route 9 South, where the state Department of Labor and the Monmouth County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) assisted the grocer in recruiting, training and hiring 206 people to staff the new store.

“This culminates a successful partnership Whole Foods developed earlier this year with business representatives at my department and in the Monmouth County WIB to recruit more than 200 people and have them in place, working at the store in time for this grand opening. This is another success story for a strategy we have been using in New Jersey to get people employed by focusing on the needs of private sector employers,” said Labor Commissioner Harold J. Wirths.

The Labor Department and WIB worked with Whole Foods on a strategy that involved referring unemployed people and people looking to change jobs to group interviews, where the grocer narrowed down the most qualified employees for individual interviews. Among the candidates referred to Whole Foods were workers who were anticipating being laid off from another grocery store in the region.

Marlboro is now home to the 11th Whole Foods Market store in New Jersey, and the second in Monmouth County. The grand opening started with company’s traditional bread breaking ceremony, and it was followed by an array of tastings, vendor samplings, sales, giveaways, and other events that were open to the general public.

Whole Foods, one of the nation’s largest natural and organic foods supermarket chains, will dedicate five percent of its opening day net sales to the township Shade Tree Committee to support the development of a community garden in the township. The 40,000-square-foot store is located at the intersection of Route 9 South and Newman Springs Road.

Staffers with the Labor Department and Monmouth County WIB were among those who attended an official ribbon-cutting for the store this morning.

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