We are excited to announce the latest recipient of a loan through our Local Producer Loan Program: Townshend’s Tea Company ! Townshend’s is the first loan recipient in Oregon, where they were recently featured in The Oregonian.

Matt Thomas is the owner of Townshend’s, which has two teahouses, one in Portland and one in Bend. In addition to his sales at the teahouses, he has been selling tea at our area stores since 2008. The Local Producer Loan will help Townshend’s with its expansion plans, providing funding for new equipment, a larger production facility, and additional warehouse space in Portland. For those of you who love kombucha, you’ll be happy to know that the loan is specifically going to support the expansion of Townshend’s line of Brew Dr. Kombucha. Handcrafted in small batches with organic ingredients, Brew Dr. is available in four flavors: Nutritonic, Superberry, White Rose and Clear Mind. Brew Dr. is even available on tap at our Fremont and Pearl District stores in Portland! Wow!!!

A terrific example of a local producer, Matt started selling his tea in the Bend Whole Foods Market store and now has his product in all of our Oregon stores. We are proud to support this great producer!

Mark and Brian Nicholson are third-generation operators of Red Jacket Orchards in Geneva, New York, which grows apples and summer fruits. Red Jacket is a recipient of Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans to local producers.

The Nicholson brothers spoke with us about their farm and how their Local Producer Loan is helping both production and the environment.

Okay, so we all know that local products are cool – but they can cool you off, too! A yummy locally-produced frozen dessert is just the thing during the hottest parts of summer, and the products made by recipients of our Local Producer Loan Program don’t disappoint. Organic ice cream, non-dairy ice cream, sorbet… you name it, our loan recipients make it. From California to Colorado to New York, these local icy treats are a hit. So go grab a pint and support your local producers!

Mudslinger’s Freestyle

San Francisco, California

Product: Non-dairy ice cream

Independent ice cream shop MaggieMudd carved out a niche with their popular non-dairy desserts, unique in that they use not only soy milk as a base, but also coconut milk. In our stores, husband and wife team Michael and Changying sell their non-dairy products in both pints and ice cream cake form as Mudslinger’s Freestyle.

Three Twins Organic Ice Cream

San Rafael, California

Product: Organic ice cream

Started in August 2005 as a scoop shop, Three Twins has since become certified organic, added second and third retail locations, and started wholesaling to restaurants, as well as to Whole Foods Market. And yes, there really are “three twins:” founder Neal Gottlieb, his brother, and his brother’s wife (also a twin!).

Boulder Ice Cream

Boulder, Colorado

Product: Organic ice cream

Boulder Ice Cream has been selling to Whole Foods Market for over ten years! In that time they have gone from a scoop shop on the Pearl Street Mall to pure wholesaling – you can now find their ice cream in four regions. Their Local Producer Loan helped launch an organic line.

Wine Cellar Sorbets

Brooklyn, New York

Product: Wine sorbet

You read that right – wine sorbet! With a product just as amazing as it sounds, Wine Cellar Sorbets was one of the first Local Producer Loan recipients. In fact, they have received a second, which has helped them expand into an additional three regions.

Video credit: Marc Hamel and Ha Lam

Since Whole Foods Market has stores all over the U.S., as well as in Canada and the U.K., I rarely get the chance to meet the individuals that receive loans through our Local Producer Loan Program. They meet with representatives from their respective regions who visit their businesses, check out their products, and help them through the loan process. Every once in a while, though, I have the opportunity to meet face-to-face with a loan recipient, and it’s always something that reminds me what a great program it is.

So when we recently gave a loan to Progress Coffee, a café and coffee roaster located right here in Austin, Texas, of course I took the opportunity to go visit. Joshua Bingaman started the café in 2004, and Progress started selling their fair-trade, organic coffee beans to our flagship store late last year. In line with their green values, the hand-roasted coffee beans are delivered to our store on bicycle! Joshua’s going to use the loan to purchase equipment which will help them increase their volume and sell to additional customers.

I am so proud to announce that Whole Foods Market has recently hit a total of $2.5 million in loans through our Local Producer Loan Program! That’s over a million dollars a year for the past two years in financing to help local farmers and food artisans expand their businesses. That’s a lot of change!

When we launched the program in 2007, the state of the economy was very different. Yet despite the nationwide tightening of credit from banks and credit cards, Whole Foods Market has continued to make low-interest loans to help producers grow their businesses. The numbers speak for themselves:

Number of loan recipients: 41
Number of states with loan recipients: 18
Average loan: $52,292

We’ve also been able to work with a wide variety of producers. Products include kombucha, potting soil, ice cream (regular & non-dairy), organic produce, wine sorbet, raw chocolate, grassfed beef, and raw, vegan, gluten-free granola.

Here’s a breakdown:

Agricultural products: 17
Artisan/processed food: 23
Body care products: 1

We’re also pleased to have worked with many women business owners! Eight of the businesses that have received loans are owned by women, with an additional nine co-owned by women.

One of the more interesting aspects of Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program is the ability to apply for additional financing at a later date. If a loan recipient continues to grow after receipt of a loan, they can apply for a second loan to help them with their business activities. Five of our producers have taken advantage of this aspect of the program, with great results. Two have even received third loans!

We are excited to have hit this milestone, and we want to hit even more – we plan to provide up to $10 million in loans through the program. Think you or someone you know might help us hit $3 million? Check out our website to learn more about the program and to find out how to apply.

One of our most recent loan recipients definitely fits in the “unique product” category: Coracao Confections. Daniel Korson and Matthew Rogers make incredible chocolate… raw chocolate! These two young chefs have been perfecting their chocolate-making skills for several years, and they have managed to turn raw cacao into smooth, yummy vegan chocolates in flavors like Coconut Dream, Caramel Cup, and Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cup.

Check out the video to see Matt making some Coracao Confections chocolates and let us know what you think!

One inspiration for some of our producers’ love for food is their family history. Italians are well-known for great food and enthusiastic eaters, and our Local Producer Loan recipients are no exception. Elisa Gambino, Philomena Aceto and Jim Blumetti were all inspired by their Italian roots and took some time to talk about their products and their passions.

Via Elisa Fresh Pasta

Elisa Gambino

Product: Fresh Pasta

What’s your family history with Italian food? My parents were first-generation Americans and before moving to the U.S. my grandmother was the baker in her small town in Italy. As a child my mother had a wood-burning stove in her backyard. My mother learned to bake from my grandmother and we always had the best pizza and other baked delights at home. So I think it was this experience that made me appreciate the wonder of a good dough!

What made you decide to start your food company? I started my food company because I could not find any freshly-made pasta here in Atlanta, and I thought that if I made wonderful pasta, people would enjoy it and become loyal customers.

What’s your fondest food memory? My fondest food memory was when I was a teenager and we moved to Rome and I enrolled in school there. I could not believe how wonderful the school food was; we had fresh pasta, fresh fruit salads, pork roast, roasted vegetables. Everything was made from scratch in a real kitchen where they made real food. I actually looked forward to the school lunches. It would be difficult to find children here in the U. S. that could wax poetic about their school lunches.

Which is the favorite of your products you make? I love everything we make or I would not make it. My favorite dish to serve when we have guests is a trio of freshly made tortelloni. I serve porcini tortelloni, roasted squash tortelloni and lemon tortelloni with brown butter and sage.

What has Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program meant to you? The loan program made it possible for us to make our pasta faster without sacrificing the quality. We bought a super-speedy cutting machine with our loan. Whole Foods Market treats their vendors with respect, from paying their invoices on time to taking care when they display our products; they are the ideal customer.

Philomena Food Company

Philomena Aceto

Product: Italian breads

What’s your family history with Italian food? Well, I grew up in an Italian family where we cooked everything fresh, and we always had lots of traditional dishes. Meals were a big deal for us.

What made you decide to start your food company? I felt like I could do better than what was out there, and I have!

What’s your fondest food memory? That would have to be our Christmas dinners – the eggplant parmesan and stuffed artichokes. The homemade pasta – yummy!

Which is the favorite of your products you make? Our breads. Both stuffed and artisan, they’re a real quality product.

What do you enjoy about working with Whole Foods Market? I like working with Whole Foods Market very much. I have met a lot of great folks, and I have made some great friends. They are always so supportive when I am in the stores.

Blumetti’s Gourmet Foods

Jim Blumetti

Product: Pasta sauce

What’s your family history with Italian food? I am of Italian decent from both my mother and father’s side of the family. Both were first-generation Italian-American. My grandparents operated a small corner grocery store as I was growing up, where my entire family helped to make Italian-style items for sale along with everyday grocery and produce.

What made you decide to start your food company? By the time my own children were born, they had no connection to their Italian side of the family. All of my relatives had passed on, and the grocery store was a very distant memory. I wanted to give my children a sense of this rich history and the culture that was uniquely theirs.

What’s your fondest food memory? Helping my grandmother in the kitchen prepare foods for our very large family, extended family and the grocery’s store guests who would come to buy our products.

Which is the favorite of your products you make? All of my sauces are my favorite in their own way. Each has something in them handed down directly from my grandparents and great-grandparents. But I do tend to get stuck on a different flavor for a period of time, then move on to the next. Right now I’m in my “Artichoke Portobello Marinara” mode and loving it!

What has Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program meant to you? The loan program was the only way we could have brought out 3 new sauce flavors at the same time as quickly as we did. Whole Foods Market has been extremely supportive of our personal challenges as a small business with patience and concern for our growth and stability.

Laughing Giraffe Organics of Phoenix, Arizona, is one of the best examples of what our Local Producer Loan Program can do for a producer’s business. Justin Baumgartner took his product from a farmer’s market to a few stores to almost half of the country in about a year and a half! We’re proud to have been a part of this remarkable achievement.

Justin spoke with us about his product and what his relationship with Whole Foods Market has meant to his business.

Boulder Ice Cream has been selling ice cream to Whole Foods Market for about ten years! This long-time partner has used its Local Producer Loan Program funds to finance the expansion of an organic line.

Glennise Humphrey spoke with us about Boulder’s history and future plans.

Buzzn Bee, a local Florida honey producer, was the first recipient of a loan through Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program. Beekeeper David Rukin has been selling to us for years, and he considers his relationship with Whole Foods Market to be a true partnership.

David spoke with us about his experience with beekeeping and his future plans with Whole Foods Market.