I grew up thinking eggs came from those baby blue and pink Styrofoam packages that lined the refrigerated shelves at the supermarket. Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot since then! Much of my recent schooling came from local companies who sell high-quality eggs from free-range hens. Companies like Phoenix’s Egg Farm, our Local Producer Loan Program’s most recent loan recipient.

Phoenix’s Eggs is the only licensed egg farm within the Portland, Oregon city limits. The husband and wife team, Souriya and Sophin Khamvongsa, did not set out to become chicken farmers. It all began when they started eating free-range chicken eggs fresh from a farm.  The difference in taste was remarkable. They made a pact with each other that from that moment on they would only eat farm-fresh eggs. Eventually, they began raising a few chickens of their own to provide eggs for their family, including their son, Phoenix! Word spread, as often happens when you start producing delicious fresh food, and the Khamvongsa’s extended family, friends and neighbors started requesting some fresh eggs, too. Eventually, in 2010 they decided to expand their operation and go into business.

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Originating in Indonesia, tempeh (say, “TEM-pay”) is traditionally made through a natural culturing and incubation process that binds soybeans together in a cake form. It’s become increasingly popular in the US over the last several years.  As a result of its popularity growth, we’ve seen some fantastic local vendors creating tempeh for sale in their regions.  In fact, Smiling Hara Tempeh, located in Asheville, North Carolina, impressed us so much with their delicious product that we recently gave them a Local Producer Loan to help them grow their business and get their product in to more of our stores.

Owners Sarah Yancey and Chad Oliphant started Smiling Hara (which translates to “happy belly”) in 2009 with the intention of providing an organic, unpasteurized and locally sourced tempeh to customers in the Southeast.  In fact, their tempeh contains only three ingredients: beans, distilled vinegar and the live culture Rhizopus Oligusporus.

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The Local Producer Loan Program was created to help small, local vendors grow their businesses. Sometimes, we have the opportunity to help a start-up get their product out the door and onto our shelves. This was the case with Quinn Popcorn. Simply stated, Quinn is microwave popcorn reinvented. Recently, conventional microwave popcorn has been in the news due to the concern that chemicals in the lining of the bag may get into the popcorn during the popping process. Once the founders of Quinn Popcorn learned about this, they set out to create a delicious and better version of a beloved snack favorite.

Husband and wife team Coulter and Kristy Lewis launched Quinn Popcorn shortly after the birth of their first child . . . Quinn! Kristy’s passion for cooking and food combined with her desire to get things done makes her the perfect person to start a food company. In fact, this is a life-long dream come true! Coulter’s training as an engineer is the ideal complement to the team.

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An ancient cultured beverage with origins in the Far East, kombucha tea has been revered for thousands of years as “the Elixir of Life” and “the Tea of Immortality.” It’s made by fermenting tea and sugar with a kombucha culture, resulting in an effervescent drink.

Sarah Schomber and Jeannine Bucher, two moms from Asheville, North Carolina, met through their kids and serendipitously realized that they both brewed kombucha at home using a similar recipe.  They found it to be an excellent alternative to conventional soda. So they teamed up and after a year of experimentation, created their own unique recipe. The bold tasting fermented drink was so popular with family and friends that they brewed a little extra to sell at the local farmers market and their business, Buchi, was born. With kombucha fans clamoring for more, they transformed an old warehouse into an eco-conscious brewery and became the first woman-owned commercial kombucha brewery in the southeast.

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One of my favorite local products comes out of San Diego, California from a deli called “Good On Ya.” The founder, Kristen Fillat, started Good On Ya after an 11-year stint on the United States National Field Hockey Team. As a former Olympic athlete, eating healthfully was a critical part of Kristen’s life and she wanted to share healthy, natural food with others. She opened her first deli in 2001 and eventually expanded to three locations. Kristen and her team noticed that their customers were looking for a healthful take-away breakfast option, so they started carrying a variety of nutrition bars. But after finding themselves a little nonplussed with the available options and nutritional content, they decided to create their own organic breakfast bar.

Kristen and her team created a delicious product that follows a simple but profound motto: “Every Ingredient Matters.” This means that each ingredient included in their USDA certified organic bars serves a nutritional purpose. There are no fillers. It’s a protein bar, a fiber bar, a snack bar, an energy bar, a nutrition bar. It’s food!

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Working on the Local Producer Loan Program gives me tons of opportunities to hear about local food systems across the country. Last month, I had the privilege of working with MOOMilk, an Augusta, Maine vendor that supplies organic milk to our stores in Maine.  MOOMilk is made up of 10 organic dairy farms along with the Maine Farm Bureau and the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. These groups joined together because they are passionate, not just about producing quality organic milk, but also about supporting local family-run farms and maintaining the culture of the dairy industry in Central Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In their business model, the farms that make up MOOMilk are part owners of the company and 90% of the profits are returned directly to the dairies.
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In the infamous words of Julia Child, “With enough butter, anything is good!” And that couldn’t be more true when it comes to our most recent Local Producer Loan recipient, Epicurean Butter. Their compound butter is designed to make you feel like a Julia Child in your own kitchen. Compound butter, also known as “finishing butter,” is unsalted and blended with a variety of seasonings. It‘s generally used to top meat, fish and vegetables or to finish a sauce. Epicurean’s flavor-infused compound butters (both sweet and savory) allow you to bring a restaurant quality preparation to your table.

Is your steak feeling a little lonely? Give it a dab of Black Truffle Butter. Does your scone need a pick me up? Some Orange Honey Butter should do the trick. And if your baguette seems a bit boring, Epicurean’s award-winning Roasted Garlic Herb Butter will surely give it some sass. Their products combine grade AA butter with all natural flavors, producing a high quality, unique product that makes cooking a joy for the novice and advanced chef alike.

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Every product has a story, and Brad’s Raw Chips is a classic tale of success! Over four years ago, founder and creator, Brad Gruno discovered the health benefits of eating raw. He lost over 40 pounds and enjoyed a level of energy he hadn’t experienced in many years. Despite the advantages of a raw diet, one thing he really missed was the crunch of a good snack. So Brad began making raw chips in his kitchen to satisfy that craving and, as it turns out, his friends really liked them too! A business was born and Brad starting selling his chips at farmer’s markets. Eventually, he approached his local Whole Foods Market with his product and started selling his snacks in a few stores. Apparently, our customers like a raw snack product with a good crunch too, because now the chips are selling in most of our stores on the East Coast. They are growing so fast that they need to move into a larger facility and are using the proceeds from their Local Producer Loan from Whole Foods Market to purchase equipment for their new home!

You can get your crunch on with 14 different varieties of Brad’s Raw Chips, including classic kale chips, sun dried tomato crackers, and sweet potato chips. All the chips and crackers are dehydrated below 115 degrees so they still get a fantastic crunch while preserving the foods’ nutrients and enzymes. Brad’s Raw Chips are available in most Whole Foods Market stores along the Eastern Seaboard.

Our local producers are total rock stars. Their creativity, ingenuity and absolutely delightful products are a constant source of inspiration for us. Judging by sales, we know they are a favorite of yours, too! Helping them do more became a goal for Whole Foods Market a few years ago and as of this month, we’ve funded more than $5 million in low-interest loans through our Local Producer Loan Program to help them grow their businesses.

To celebrate the $5 million mark, we’re giving away a basket filled with culinary treasures from several of our loan recipients! This is your chance to experience some of the fabulous products made by passionate small producers that aren’t available in your neck of the woods. Just post a comment below by October 21 telling us what your favorite local product is and why, and you’ll have a chance to win! We’ll choose one lucky commenter at random to receive the basket.

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Americans love their popcorn! I can’t remember watching a movie without it. Popcorn balls at Halloween and flavored popcorn at Christmas are fond memories too. I never knew there was much difference from one kernel to the next, but there is! Our most recent Local Producer Loan recipient, Tiny But Mighty, taught me that not all kernels are created equal.

The popcorn (or maize) from Tiny But Mighty is native to North America and can claim the “heirloom” title because the genetic make-up of their product is virtually identical to the corn that covered this part of the world for thousands of years. In the 1850s, Native Americans shared this unique corn with a pioneer family who enjoyed it for generations. However, by the 1970s it was all but forgotten until a family member discovered the last remaining popcorn in a fruit jar. He planted a handful of kernels and popped the rest!

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