John Roulac, founder of Nutiva, the world’s leading organic brand of hemp, coconut, chia, and red palm superfoods, announced today that he is stepping down as CEO, a position he has held ever since founding the company in 1999.

Aside from being one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the organic industry, he is also one of the most longest tenured CEOs. So, his decision to pass the baton to CPG veteran Pankaj Talwar, who has held senior management roles at Goodman Fielder, Bimbo Bakeries and Procter & Gamble, and received his MBA from Harvard Business School, comes as a real surprise.

Under John’s leadership, Nutiva has certainly thrived, being named as one of Inc. magazine’s fastest-growing companies in America for seven years. Yet, his contributions extend far beyond bringing superfoods to supermarket shelves. Read more »

(Co-Founders Jarrett McGovern and Grant Gyesky accepting their award at BevNET Live. Photo courtesy of Nathan Brescia/BevNET)

In all honesty, I am not a huge coffee drinker. So, when it comes to the up-and-coming trends in the coffee world, I am definitely not ahead of the curve.

Yet, when I was at BevNET Live recently and watched RISE Brewing Co. win the 13th Annual Beverage Showdown, it was clear that I was missing something. And I knew that I had to take a closer look.

After I did, I thought to myself that this could very well be the next big organic beverage success story to come out of New York City. Read more »

In what is just more confirmation that the world is moving towards organic food, Papa John’s, the third-largest pizza delivery company, announced that it has launched an organic pilot program in its locations in Lexington, Kentucky.

Customers in this market are now able to order pizzas that feature four freshly-sliced, organic toppings: Roma tomatoes, green peppers, yellow onions, and mushrooms.

While major restaurant chains, including Papa John’s have made serious efforts to clean up their menu by removing artificial colors and flavors, the decision to offer organic ingredients has not been widely embraced just yet.

That is why this announcement by Papa John’s is so significant. Read more »

UPDATE: THE RON FINLEY PROJECT HAS BEEN FULLY FUNDED AND SAVED!  THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT!

If you are a frequent or new reader of my blog, I ask you to please do two things:

1) Watch the video above about Ron Finley, the ‘gangsta gardener’ in South Central LA.

2) Read the below and help save his operation in Los Angeles. He is under a very serious threat of eviction, and we must do whatever we can to help save him. Ron is one of our own, and it is imperative that he continue with his very important work.

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Over the past week or so, there have been emails circulating throughout the organic industry from John Foraker, President of Annie’s, about Ron Finley. Read more »

(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 »