Mackey World–Why We Respect His Leadership and Voice and Resent His Ignorance
Of all the things anyone has written or said about John Mackey the word CONVENTIONAL has never been used unless to describe him. Those who were amazed at his comments regarding the health care debate or his assessment that Whole Foods sells mostly junk clearly need to increase their intake of gingko biloba because their […]
Rachel’s Yogurt Expands Dean Food’s Reach
We hate to admit it. When first saw the smart packaging and interesting flavors of Rachel’s Yogurt we wondered “Wow, who’s making this?” What enterprising start up had the nerve to enter the costly and competitive yogurt market and with such a large number of flavors as well? In fact, when we looked at the […]
New York Times on Hunger and America’s Table Scraps
Anyone who has worked in a restaurant or as a cater waiter like we have has seen more than their share of food get tossed in the trash. One vivid memory of a party for computer giant Oracle at San Francisco’s Exploratorium comes to mind. It was under attended, easy to work, rather boring. Passing […]
Forget Wal-Mart? Target Will Be The Real Mass Market Organic Powerhouse
Of course forgetting Wal-Mart is like forgetting global warming. It can’t be done. Unless you’re dead. But here’s the point. While Wal-Mart will be a major force in any market it enters, its ability to reach natural and organic consumers is limited. They don’t like shopping there and when these folks do, they are often […]
Fine Tuning Our Cynical Radar and Rethinking Hain Celestial Foods
Lately we have been talking to more than a few readers and industry muckety mucks and some have suggested that we’re a bit too cynical and our critical thinking radar needs some fine-tuning. Frankly, while we love pointing out where other people have made decisions that we say are stupid, this time we see that […]
Organic Farming Combats Global Warming? Rodale Institute Shows How
According to research by the Rodale Institute—leaders in research about organic farming—organic methods can provide a powerful tool to reduce global warming. The report Regenerative 21st Century Farming: A Solution to Global Warming, authored by Dr.Timothy LaSalle, Rodale Institute’s CEO, and Dr. Paul Pepperly, Research Director, According to the report “organic practices, sometimes referred to […]
Westport Whole Foods Shoppers Remind Us How Much Wild Oats Missed the Mark
Two weeks ago, we spent a few hours in the Westport Whole Foods Market that was formerly Wild Oats. Actually, it used be a terrific independent store that was then bought by distributor United Natural Food’s NRG retail group . Wild Oats bought it from UNFI and when the Safeway right next door closed, they knocked down […]
CNNMoney on Wal-Mart and Seventh Generation
In an otherwise run-of-the-mill story on green consumer goods, CNNMoney reported on opportunities for Seventh Generation to sell products in Wal-Mart. The story money.cnn.com/news/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-23786283.htm reported that Wal-Mart has contacted Seventh Generation about selling its products. Notably, the piece glaringly failed to mention http://naturalbusinessnews.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/clorox-goes-natural-with-burts-bees-and-green-works Clorox’s recent entry into the biodegradable cleaning segment, which left us thinking it […]
Whole Foods Revitalizes Former Westport Wild Oats in Connecticut’s Gold Coast
Regular readers know that one of NBN’s favorite pastimes used to be reporting on Wild Oats in areas where they were competing head to head with Whole Foods. Louisville, West Hartford , and a few others showed what everybody knew, namely that Wild Oats may have had heart, but the rest of the formula for […]
