Buzzn Bee: Play Now | Download (385)

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.

 Blumetti's Gourmet Foods: Play Now | Download (414)

Blumetti’s Gourmet Foods of Rockwall, Texas, was one of the first recipients of a loan through Whole Foods Market’s Local Producer Loan Program. They are also one of the program’s biggest success stories. Since receiving the loan, Blumetti’s pasta sauces have expanded to two additional regions. They are also providing the sauce for all store-made pizzas in the Southwest region!

Jim Blumetti spoke with us about his company and its relationship with Whole Foods Market.

It’s not news to anyone (except The New York Times, apparently) that local food has hit grocery stores in a big way, due to ever-increasing consumer demand. Whole Foods Market is no exception. In fact, we were out in front of the curve!  Although we’ve always had a strong commitment to local products, we made a more concerted effort in the past few years and have seen the amount of local product in our stores increase dramatically as a result.

In the fall of 2006, we hired our very first Local Forager, a Team Member whose sole position is to source local product – in this case, in our North Atlantic region. Since then other regional foragers have been hired, numerous store Team Members have added local foraging to their job duties, and throughout the company we’ve seen our renewed focus on local purchasing impact the way we do business. All this while we continue to focus on our Quality Standards and our commitment to bringing our customers the highest quality food available.

Here are some of the things we are doing:

• increasing local product throughout our stores, and improving signage to help our customers find local products
• putting more energy into promoting local products, including bringing local producers in for demonstrations, hosting “Local Days,” and featuring local producers on our website
• hosting farmer’s markets at our stores in certain areas
• holding company-wide workshops which allow Team Members to discuss the challenges local purchasing presents and to share best practices
• bringing together local producers at vendor seminars, where we explain how Whole Foods Market works and give producers the chance to get their products in front of buyers
• increasing communication internally to help our local vendors grow as they see fit
• funding our Local Producer Loan Program, which provides low-interest loans to our local producers

Of course, I’m particularly proud of the last one, since I run the program! The recent New York Times article on local food even featured one of our loan recipients, Red Jacket Orchards. They have supplied our stores for about eight years now, and we are so pleased to have been able to help them purchase high tunnels, which shelter the delicate fruit they grow during inclement weather.

So next time you are in one of our stores, check out the local offerings. And let us know if you have a favorite local product that we need to know about!

The best part of my job as administrator of our Local Producer Loan Program isn’t giving out loans to our small producers – it’s watching loan recipients use those loans to grow their businesses. In the year and a half since we launched the program, Whole Foods Market has provided loans to 29 small producers of products ranging from grassfed beef and honey to wine sorbet and body care products. They are some of the hardest-working, most passionate people I’ve had the pleasure to meet, and it’s always so inspiring to see their plans come to fruition.

One of our most exciting success stories is Laughing Giraffe Organics, a (very!) small company from Phoenix, Arizona that makes raw, vegan, organic, gluten-free granola and macaroons… that taste amazing! Justin Baumgartner started selling his product at a farmers market in 2006, where a local Whole Foods Market team member noticed him and asked about getting the product in our stores. That was the start of a great relationship. Due to its popularity and Justin’s entrepreneurial drive (would YOU call each store individually to make sure your product is in stock?), Laughing Giraffe soon expanded to more stores and then region-wide. After receiving not one, but TWO small loans, the products are now available in our Southern Pacific, Rocky Mountain, and Southwest regions. The products also recently were accepted by United Natural Foods, one of our primary distributors, a move which will allow access to Whole Foods Market stores throughout the western half of the United States. Did I mention that he managed this while he and his wife were caring for a newborn?

Anyone who knows Justin knows what a hard worker he is, and we are so thrilled at his success. He was recently featured on the front page of the business section in the Arizona Republic, a wonderful recognition of his passion and dedication to great food made for people, by people.

As Justin would say, be well.