Whole scale organic food invasion

An organic food fight is set to erupt early next month when America's greenest retail giant opens its doors in the UK.

Whole Foods Market, the $7bn (£3.5bn) behemoth of the wheatgerm world, has created an 80,000sqft foodie extravaganza in London over three floors of the former Barkers department store in Kensington High Street.

More outlets will follow in the capital and across the UK, as the US natural food chain tries to cash in on Britain's £13bn-a-year posh food addiction.

Fuelled by the sight of celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow trotting home from farmers' markets, our obsession with quality, locally sourced and preferably organic food has soared. IGD, the grocery industry think-tank, estimates the premium food market will be worth about £20bn by 2011.

Whole Foods, which was started three decades ago by a college dropout, John Mackey, promises to create an industrial-sized version of Borough Market in south London, the culinary stamping ground of chefs from Jamie Oliver to The Independent's Mark Hix, when it opens on 6 June.

From encouraging shoppers to try before they buy to paying them 5p for each carrier bag they supply themselves, Whole Foods claims its shopping experience will be like no other. It promises exquisite blue cheeses sourced from Neal's Yard Dairy among other top quality lines. In the US, this added value has come at a price, earning Whole Foods the nickname "Whole Paycheck".

But David Lannon, the group's regional vice president looking after the UK, has pledged to compete with the likes of Waitrose and Marks & Spencer on price. "We're not going to be the highest priced," he says.

Industry insiders are split over whether Whole Foods' arrival will spell disaster for farmers' markets and organic grocery stores or do them a favour by helping to grow what is still a niche market.

The prospect of competing against Whole Foods has sent the UK's grocers into overdrive, overhauling their own premium food offer. All the top chains have relaunched their own organic lines, which are seeing annual growth of more than 40 per cent. Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer have all also started offering organic vegetable-box schemes in an attempt to take a bigger bite out of the £1.6bn market.

Some Whole Food sceptics believe the company will struggle against such entrenched competition. Lord Melchett, policy director at the Soil Association, the organic certification body, warns: "The UK is a completely different ballgame from the US."

Jamie Mitchell, managing director of Innocent, the smoothie makers with a conscience, says: "They don't have the white space they had in the US when they started. But they know the market, and I have little doubt it will be a phenomenal success."

John Mackey: Whole Foods Market

The group's founder, chairman and chief executive is a vegan who lives his own ethical dream, recently reducing his annual salary to $1. Has built up the world's biggest natural food retailer over the past three decades, recently buying his biggest US rival, Wild Oats.

Renee Elliott: Planet Organic

Buying organic produce was a muddy business before Planet Organic opened its doors in 1995. Renee Elliott, an American who has advised the Government on GM issues, plans to expand her London-based chain into the provinces during the next two years.

Lady Bamford: Daylesford Organics

A former air hostess who is the wife of Sir Anthony Bamford, head of the JCB empire, Lady Bamford is the brains behind one of the country's fastest-growing organic businesses. She started the company, which recently opened an outlet in London's Pimlico, more than 20 years ago to feed her children on organic fare.