JUSTIN Gold did it.
Jody Nagel did it.
And so did Vicky Dorvee.
The three Boulder County residents and lovers of natural foods started successful businesses around natural products.
Gold is the CEO and founder of Justins, a multi-million dollar business that specializes in gourmet peanut, hazelnut and almond butters.
Nagel owns Boulder Granola, which just three months after its Dec. 4 launch, has captured space on the shelves of more than 30 businesses, including Whole Foods, the Brewing Market, Peppercorn and Sunflower Markets.
Dorvee sells gift baskets, filled with only natural and organic items, many made in Boulder, including Justins nut butters and Boulder Granola; sales for the online business, Its Only Natural Gifts (www.itsOnlyNaturalGifts.com), have grown 50% in its first two years.
Although no official statistics exist as to how many Jewish entrepreneurs have developed businesses around natural foods and products, the field is growing nationwide, according to Hazon, an environmental organization and a leader in the Jewish food movement.
The DIY (do it yourself) phenomena has been fully embraced in the Jewish community and people are creating value-added healthy, local, organic foods in their homes, and theyre thinking about how to grow their passions into businesses, said Judith Belasco, Hazons director of food programs.
And there are many more Jews in Boulder County who have created successful natural foods businesses. Etai Baron, founder of Udis Healthy Foods, Fiona Simon, CEO of Fionas Granola and Rick Levine, founder of Seth Ellis Chocolatier, which makes luxury chocolates from organic and natural ingredients, are just a few more successful Jewish business owners involved in the natural food industry.
All of these businesses follow in the footsteps of herbal tea pioneer Moe Siegel, who in 2000 merged his Celestial Seasonings tea business with the Hain Food Group to become the Hain Celestial Group. Celestial Seasonings accounts for more than $100 million annuallly in herbal tea blends sales nationwide, according to Wikipedia.
Gold, Nagel and Dorvee said their success came from not being afraid to ask questions, keeping to strict budgets, and turning their passions into their businesses.
Here are their stories:
Boulder Granola
Jody Nagel, 55, grew up on Long Island in the 1960s eating her mothers granola for breakfast. Today the mother of three and almost empty-nester whips up about 100 pounds of her mothers recipe every week in a commercial kitchen in Boulder. When shes not cooking, Nagel can be found dressed in a tie-dye shirt handing out free samples. We infused it with the mojo of Boulder, said Nagel, a member of Nevei Kodesh, one of Boulders Jewish renewal congregations.
Nagel isnt shy, and she doesnt easily take no for an answer. Even Dorvee said she at first wasnt interested in meeting with Nagel because Its Only Natural Gifts already offered a few granola choices. But Nagel insisted she drop over with several bags of her goods, and after Dorvee tried them, as well as saw the colorful hippie packaging, she knew it was a product she wanted to carry.
Its adorable, and it tastes great, Dorvee said. That label clinched it.
Nagel has also convinced Glacier ice-cream in Boulder to create a flavor with her chocolate-chip granola.
Nagel said people who try her granola become hooked because its not too sweet, doesnt get soggy in milk and has whole almonds, pecans and coconut. Still, shes been told that it will be harder for products to stay on a grocery shelf than it was getting on it, but that doesnt daunt her. I dont want to only stay on the shelf, I want to fly off the shelf, Nagel says. My dream is that this becomes a regular Boulder brand, an every-day product that people eat and like, and that it reminds them of their unique values and lifestyles.
My dream is to continue this, heat up this area and maybe to spread that love a little further, she said.
Next stop? Boulder Farmers Market. Nagel calls the organizer every week. Shes not giving up.
Homegrown peanut butter
Peanut butter was never far from Justin Golds refrigerator, but the longtime vegetarian originally thought his future would include a degree in environmental law. After becoming disillusioned by the difficulties of using law to set environmental regulations, Gold moved to Boulder in 2001 planning to ski, mountain bike and eventually return to college.
By this time, Gold had also become disillusioned with the lack of choices of peanut butter on supermarket shelves. Armed with a food processor, nuts, chocolate chips, honey, coconut and a few other ingredients, Gold started making his own nut butters, always placing a label on the containers which read, Justins . . . Do not eat. The labels did not deter his roommates; Gold figured if they liked his nut butters so much, maybe he should try selling them.
In 2004, Gold began selling at Boulders Farmers Market, and sales went well, so he decided to expand.
In six years, Justins grew from one employee to 23, including eight sales and marketing employees and another 15 in manufacturing. Gold says his multimillion dollar business has experienced triple-digit growth every year since it began in 2004. He recently added a new product, Justins peanut butter cups, which come in dark or milk chocolate flavors.
And coming full circle, Gold has found a way to help the environment. Because Justins nut butters are available in single-serving squeeze packs, last summer Gold held the first Environmental Squeeze Pack Summit and large companies including Nestles, Goo, General Mills, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods attended. Golds vision is for a manufacturer to create a squeeze pack from 100 percent renewable resources. Five different film structures are in testing, he said.
And Gold, who grew up in a Reform Jewish community near Pittsburgh, says that living in Boulder has meant access to a slew of natural food mentors, including John Maggio, who successfully launched Boulder Potato Chip Company and is now on Justins board of directors. Gold always takes time to talk with other natural food entrepreneurs, although he doesnt consider himself a mentor.
Mentors have gray hair, Gold, 33, said. I dont have enough gray.
Its Only Natural Gifts
Vicky Dorvee always felt drawn to natural foods, and her past jobs included working for Celestial Seasonings and New Hope Natural Media. In 2008, she and business partner, Karen Edwards, decided to create Niwot-based, Its Only Natural Gifts, an online gift company (www.ItsOnlyNaturalGifts.com) which lets customers choose from hundreds of organic and natural products, which they use to fill gift baskets, tins, recyclable boxes and reusable cotton canvas bags adorned with natural images.
It just felt right to do a business that felt nurturing, said Dorvee, 50, who is a member of Har HaShem.
Many of the products customers can choose include organic and natural foods, lotions, candles, books and even vegetable and flower seeds from Boulder businesses. The company also offers kosher gift sets and Giving Bags, where every item, including the bag, kicks back money to a nonprofit.
What we eat and what we give other people, its one of those things near and dear to my heart, Dorvee said. Thats how I feed my kids. We dont want to send out anything we wouldnt want to get ourselves.
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
