Whole Foods, Others Hit With Class Action Over Fresh Bread

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Whole Foods, Inc., Acme Markets, Inc., and Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. were each hit with false advertising class action lawsuits by the same three New Jersey residents alleging that they have deceived their customers by claiming they make fresh bread in the store, a claim that is only partially true, they say.

Plaintiffs Chan Mao, Martchela Popova Mladenov, and Mladen Mladenov filed their fresh bread class action lawsuits in a New Jersey state court Tuesday.

“Specifically, plaintiffs allege that defendant engaged into deceptive, false, misleading, fraudulent and unconscionable commercial practices in the sale, marketing, and advertising of bread and bakery products,” all three class action lawsuits state.

The plaintiffs are proposing a class of New Jersey residents who bought bread or other baked goods from Wegmans, Whole Foods and Acme on or after Dec. 14, 2008. The Wegmans and Acme class action lawsuits are also seeking subclasses of individuals who made their bread purchases with a credit card or debit card.

The Whole Foods class action lawsuit is seeking to represent a similar subclass of credit card and debit card shoppers, including those who shopped through Whole Foods “shop online” program.

They claim that all three grocery stores make claims about the bread and other baked goods that are sold in the bakery section of their grocery stores, which they say are made fresh in the store.

For example, the New Jersey residents claim that Acme includes signs that say “Fresh Bread, Baked in Our Store Daily,” “New! Baked In-Store Donuts” and “Baked Fresh in Our Oven.” Wegmans has in-store signs that make similar claims such as “Store Baked Rolls.”

Whole Foods has signs that say “Made In House Bagels and Rolls” and “Made in House Bread,” the Whole Foods class action lawsuit states.

In addition, the packaging on the Whole Foods in-store baked products contains “uniform language” stating: “The Whole Truth and Nothin’ But . . .  We Bake Daily, Using Only the Freshest Ingredients, Including Cage-Free Eggs, Natural Butters and the Best Quality Unbleached, Unbromated Flour Available.”

The plaintiffs explain in their false advertising class action lawsuits that these statements led them to believe that “they were buying products that were freshly made in store from scratch.”

However, they allege that in fact the baked products “were frozen, delivered to its stores, and then re-baked or partially baked in store,” adding that the three grocery store companies made these claims with an “intent to mislead customers.”

The New Jersey residents claim that three grocery stores have violated The New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act and Breach of Express Warranty.

They are asking for injunctive and declaratory relief as well as damages suffered as a result of the alleged false statements.

The fresh bread class action lawsuits all say that the proposed class includes more than 10,000 individuals for the main class and 5,000 for the proposed sub-class.

All three false advertising class action lawsuits were filed by the same firms: Angelova Law Firm LLC and Lassen Law Firm, both located in Marlton, New Jersey.

Counsel information for Whole Foods, Wegmans and Acme Markets was not immediately available.

The Fresh Bread Class Action Lawsuits are Chan M. Mao et al. v.  Acme Markets Inc., Martchela Popova Mladenov et al., v. Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and Mladenov et. al. v. Whole Foods Inc., in the Superior Court of New Jersey. Case numbers were not immediately available.