My Email with Eli

Friends,

Below is an email response from Eli Lesser-Goldsmith, owner and general manager of Healthy Living Market and Cafe.  This is a new store that is coming to Saratoga Springs in the Spring, and it is only the second of its kind.  This store, when I first read about it, seemed too good to be true.  This email made me more than excited for its opening.  Thanks for reading.

-Jay

P.S.  His responses are intertwined in my original email.

Jay, answers to your questions are below, in GREEN.

Happy to discuss any of these issue further with you, just email or call me.

Thanks!

Eli

Eli Lesser-Goldsmith \ Owner & General Manager

Healthy Living Market and Cafe222 Dorset Street \ South Burlington, VT 05403
802 - 863 – 9111 Direct 

For privacy regarding this email and its attachments, visit healthylivingmarket.com/privacy.  Thanks!

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 11:18 AM, Jarrett K. Lavasseur <jklavasseur@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Lessers and Lesser-Goldsmiths,

I wanted to contact you because of my excitement for your new location in my town.  I am a food activist and small-scale farmer in the area and I love talking about, and getting involved in the natural food movement.  I have just begun my research of your store and would love to read any information that you would be willing to send my way.  I have quite a few stores that I visit regularly because in order to purchase the foods that I want I have to shop all over town.  So, I am looking forward to (potentially) having a one stop shop!

We are excited too!  I assure you, our store will be more of a one-stop-shop than you have seen in your area. That said, a lot of customers still shop at conventional grocery stores for certain items like aluminum foil, windex (some people don't like natural cleaning products), marshmallows (for some reason the Natural Foods industry has been unable to make a great marshmallow), etc..  I don't want to sell ourselves short however, so you should know that we will have an amazing selection of food, produce, meat, dairy, wellness products, and way more.  A detailed graphic of our offerings is attached below in this email.

The research that I am looking to find revolves around a few basic principles.  Below are some of topics that drive and are driven by those principles.

Organic Products.  I buy organic products because there are certain conveniences (processed foods) that my family chooses to accept, and the alternative contains the destructive chemicals that I won’t feed my family.  But in reality, organic is no different in nutritive value than conventional.  There are alternatives that I hope you explore.  Local is better because the nutritive value is not diminished over the average 1500 mile journey to the consumer.  I see that you buy local, but my question is how much emphasis is placed on local?  Saratoga Springs is in the geographical center of a plethora of small farms that grow natural foods.  Are all of these sources going to be tapped?  Saratoga Springs is also home to the, recently voted, number one farmers market in the State, and it rated extremely high in the country.  What kind of effect will your store have on that market?  Will some of the vendors be featured at your store?  Have you thought of collaborating with the market?

Right now we are the largest seller of Local food products in Vermont.  We buy and sell more Local products than any other food store.  We are the largest Natural Foods store in Vermont, and we're proud to be able to partner with so many local farmers, producers, and vendors.  'Local' is huge for us, and frankly we've been focused on it before it was even a buzz word.  We've been partnering with local farmers in Vermont for almost 30 years.  

We have already been connecting with a lot of the vendors at the Saratoga Farmers Market, and some are thrilled to have a new, wholesale outlet for their products, year round.  The Burlington Farmers Market is also wildly successful, and we sell products from almost 75% of the vendors at the Market.  The relationship between us is complementary, and it helps both models thrive.  A rising tide of local products lifts ALL ships, and this is exactly what we've seen in Vermont.  A farmer/vendor who sells at both the Farmers Market and our store has much higher yearly total sales.. and they love it.  It helps sustain their businesses and opens the door to a whole new customer base.  Again, the results are overwhelmingly positive.

Genetically Modified/Engineered Products.  Awareness of the dangers associated with GMO’s is definitely on the rise, but there is a disturbing truth that follows this awareness.  Many of the chain markets that pride themselves on natural and organic products are surfacing as vendors for the GM market.  Trader Joe’s and even Whole Foods have recently been found to sell GM products.  Do you plan to buy and sell GM products?  If not, what are you going to do to prevent the intrusion of these products?  If this is an issue for your company, how much emphasis is placed on being GM-free?

The GMO issue is a huge one right now.  As you know, there is no standardized labeling for Non-GMO products in America.  Certain states are working on their own laws (California and Vermont are the leaders in this movement), but nothing has been passed due to intense lobbying by the seed companies (Monsanto, etc) and other giant agri-business corporations.  It's a big, complicated issue.  The non-GMO issue is yet another reason to buy more local products, because you the consumer can be more confident and aware of where your food is coming from, who is growing it, HOW it's being grown, etc.. this is yet another reason we promote local products so much.  We go to the farms, check out their growing methods, talk to the farmers, see it with our own eyes.  Then, we can talk to our customers about this, and make them feel comfortable.    We've been working with the Non-GMO Project for a while, and we look forward to them making further progress on this issue.  But right now, ti's frankly a confusing mess.  http://www.nongmoproject.org/

Natural Meats.  In my opinion, concentrated animal feeding operations (or feedlots) are public enemy number one when it comes to eating right.  I think that the meat industry may be single-handedly poisoning the American population.  But I’m no vegetarian.  I am an omnivore just like God made me, and I need my meat to survive.  What does your company do to avoid these detrimental products from reaching the consumer?

CAFO meat is terrible.  In our Vermont store, we sell amazing meat.  Local, grass-fed, pasture raised, etc.. we pride ourselves on having only the best.  We work with local chicken, beef, and pork producers to secure entire animals, and we butcher on site.  We have amazing meat cutters and know how to cut meat the right way.  I think you'll be impressed by what we'll be offering.  Not a single piece of CAFO meat will be in our Meat Department, ever.  We're working hard right now to set up relationships with local meat producers to offer the same type of selection in Saratoga that we offer in Vermont.  We're well on our way.

Dairy.  I watched a documentary called Farmageddon recently that was all about America’s dairy farmers and the adversity they face because of product discrimination, and federal regulations.  It’s no secret that the dairy industry is still under fire today because of the swill dairy scandals of the early 20^th century.  I don’t expect that your company has any part of the fight to lift regulatory legislation, but what avenues do you pursue to bring healthy milk to the consumer?  Do you have any contracts with our local dairies, like Battenkill Valley Creamery?

Right now we are the largest seller of Glass-bottled, organic milk in Vermont.  We have our own private label pasture-raised eggs.  We have been talking to Battenkill Creamery.  We need to get out there and see their operation, but they seem really great.  Our Dairy selection will make you happy for sure.

Fish and Seafood.  There isn’t much to say about the fish and seafood industry, except that farmed fish is not the answer.  These methods to produce cheap fish is only weakening the integrity of their market.  Wild caught fish is the very easy answer to this very easy problem.  Does your company plan to sell farmed fish?

Our new seafood department is something we are really excited about.  We'll have a full service, beautiful fish department.  All of our fish right now comes from day boats in Maine.  It's never frozen.  Fish is a big project for us, and we're working on dialing everything in.

My wish is, to me, a very simple one.  But regarding the state of our country’s food system, it seems insurmountable.  I just wish that one day I could walk into any store in the country that sells food and walk out with a product that is good for me and doesn’t cause a health issue.  While I wait for the country to get onboard, I merely wish that same thing from your store.

When we open Jay, send me an email and I'll personally tour you around the new store... I really think you're going to be impressed with what you find.  And if you don't find what you're looking for, email/call me.  One of our best atributes as a company is that we get back to our customers and listen to them.  Customer's comments/requests/concerns/praise never falls on deaf ears.  You will be listened to and you will be followed up with.  We do what we can to make everyone happy, and coming back!

Thanks so much Jay

Eli

Very respectfully,

Jay Lavasseur