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Mackey writes: “While we clearly need health-care reform, the last thing our country needs is a massive new health-care entitlement that will create hundreds of billions of dollars of new unfunded deficits and move us much closer to a government takeover of our health-care system. Instead, we should be trying to achieve reforms by moving in the opposite direction—toward less government control and more individual empowerment.”

I applaud Mackey's intentions and involvement in the public forum. But it seems he has forgotten who his customers are. If the store's liberal-leaning customers decide to shop elsewhere, it hurts Whole Foods sales and then Mackey's other important customers: shareholders.

At the other end of the spectrum, the two Houston's restaurants in New York are fighting calorie-posting laws on the basis that the two restaurants have different menus and use local purveyors. Sure, this might cause some customers to ask, “What is Houston's hiding?” But many customers of the steakhouse see their meals as a luxurious treat, and they don't want to know calorie information.

Yum Brands Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Jonathon Blum penned a letter, signed by 21 restaurant chains, to the House Committee on Energy & Commerce saying that Section 325 of the America's Affordable Health Choices Act is unfair because menu-labeling rules exempt “more than 75 percent of the restaurants in the U.S.”

You could read the letter as sour grapes: “If we have to do it, so should they.” But there's also a clear call to consumer needs. Blum writes: “Consumers will benefit most if this information is widely available for all their prepared food purchases, not simply those at a minority of venues that are part of chains of 20 or more. A recent national opinion poll found that 71 percent of U.S. adults believed that all restaurants should list calories on their menus.”

This is the type of message that pleases company stakeholders and conscientious customers alike.