(John Foraker, President of Annie’s)

At the 2015 Natural Products Expo East trade show in Baltimore, I was invited to a private dinner with a handful of other journalists, hosted by Annie’s and General Mills.

At the time, there was an incredible amount of acrimony between Big Food and the organic community, primarily over GMO-labeling. Most, if not all, of the major food companies had contributed hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to defeat GMO-labeling campaigns in various states throughout the country, and organic consumers were furious. Read more »

I deal with organic food entrepreneurs all of the time, and one thing that I can say for certain is that building and managing these start-up businesses is no easy task.

Aside from the fact that it may take several years to reach profitability (it took Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg 9 years to get there!), you have to deal with rising food costs, a distribution system largely controlled by one major player, and the constant worry of food safety. And, of course, that doesn’t mention all of the other things like sales, marketing, public relations, legal, recruiting, and accounting,

Most entrepreneurs are tackling this industry for the very first time and have to figure out the nuances and complexity of the food business as they go. Invariably, many mistakes are made.

Understanding the challenges that these start-ups face, a company called AccelFoods has just launched to solve these exact problems. Read more »

Last year, I met with Jonathan Grayer, the new controlling shareholder of Organic Avenue, and one of the things that we discussed was the quality of food at his company. Much to my surprise, he was incredibly forthcoming and acknowledged that several of Organic Avenue’s items were not up to par.

He told me that his goal was to offer raw and cooked vegan food that would appeal to a mainstream audience and that also tasted really, really good.

Aside from already having revamped the salads, which are now excellent, Organic Avenue recently launched its first line of quinoa bowls, and I have been beyond impressed.

The three red quinoa bowls are the following:

SWEET YAM & CELERY

Very hearty and filling. The sweetness of the yams ties everything together really well. When I am hungry, this is what I go for. Read more »

Yesterday at Natural Products Expo West, the biggest organic trade show of the year, Whole Foods made a HUGE announcement.

The company said that by 2018, all products in its U.S. and Canadian stores must be labeled to indicate whether they contain genetically-modified organisms (GMOs).

The importance of this announcement cannot be underestimated. Why? Read more »

I interact with a countless number of early-stage, organic food companies and I can tell you one thing – running these businesses is not an easy task.

Aside from the tight profit margins, increasing food costs, and extensive paperwork dealing with organic certification, raising investment dollars is a very challenging endeavor.

These are not high-flying technology companies, which attract the lion’s share of angel investment money. Furthermore, most investors don’t understand the intricacies of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies.

Fortunately, a San Francisco-based start-up called CircleUp is helping to address this fundraising problem. Read more »

When I found out the other day that New York City-based Organic Avenue became USDA certified organic, I got pretty excited. (Yes, these things seem to excite me.) But why was I so happy?

There are several reasons.

– As far as I know, there is no other company in the U.S. that sells unprocessed, unpasteurized, pressed juice that is USDA certified organic. So, this is the first of its kind. Read more »

I was at the Tribeca Whole Foods in New York City this morning to hear a presentation by John Mackey, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of the company.

The crux of what John Mackey discussed was healthy eating and how the overarching philosophy of Whole Foods is to improve people’s health by emphasizing a plant-based diet.

He also talked about some other very interesting initiatives, including opening stores in inner cities and a status update on the Wellness Clubs. Read more »