Amazon's Grocery Chief Blames 'Ridiculous' Red Tape For Holding Back Initiatives At Whole Foods: 'We're Wasting Time'

Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN grocery chief, Jason Buechel, blasted the division's internal bureaucracy as "ridiculous" during a staff meeting last week, saying layers of approvals are stalling efforts to meld Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go into one operation.

What Happened: Buechel, vice president of Amazon’s Worldwide Grocery division and CEO of Whole Foods, told employees last week that multiple levels of approval inside the unit are "ridiculous" and "actually holding back some of our initiatives."

"The feedback I've gotten from team members is that we're wasting time," he said, according to Business Insider. "It's taking too long for decisions and approvals to take place."

Buechel said his team has already flagged slow-moving spending and transaction policies that differ between Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh and is streamlining them to ensure “administrative details" waste less time. The changes are part of "One Grocery," an initiative designed to fold Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go under a single operating playbook.

Cutting bureaucracy is also a company mandate from Chief Executive Andy Jassy, who has pared management layers and urged workers to report needless rules.

Why It Matters: The shake-up comes with job losses. A state filing reported by Geekwire shows Amazon eliminated 125 frontline roles after closing an Amazon Fresh store near Seattle this week. Amazon said affected employees can transfer to nearby locations.

Buechel called eliminating "overlapping work" his top priority for the year and hinted that some resources will "pivot" as plans solidify. He added that bringing Whole Foods staff under Amazon's pay and performance programs should create "a more consistent experience" across grocery teams.

Despite the turbulence, Amazon insists it is "more optimistic than ever" about the $800-billion grocery market. The Jeff Bezos-owned company continues to experiment with new supermarket formats even as it pares back cashier-less tech and trims payroll.

Price Action: Amazon shares were up 2.42% to close at $217.12 on Thursday. The stock's 52-week range lies between $242.52 and $151.61, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Benzinga’s Edge Stock Rankings indicate Amazon has Momentum in the 44th percentile but Growth in the 97th percentile. How does it stack up to other major grocery chain stocks, such as Kroger and Walmart?