Tag: sustainable food retailing

Chicago’s Phoenix Tofu Rising Farther With Expansion, Media Attention

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Jenny Yang and her Phoenix Tofu company in Chicago are shining examples of how FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator helps food and farm entrepreneurs build their businesses. Yang is launching a major expansion in response to fast-rising demand, which was the subject of a recent profile in the Chicago Tribune. We have republished an article we wrote about her and Phoenix Tofu last year, with a link to the Tribune story.

Local Foods retail store in Chicago

The Promise of Local Foods’ New Chicago Retail Store Is Right In Its Name

Posted on by FamilyFarmed

Local Foods, a Chicago distributor of local and regional farm and artisan food products, has opened a 27,000-square foot store not far from the city’s downtown. It is carrying produce, dairy, eggs, and meats from farms in the Midwest region centered on its biggest city, along with fresh, frozen and packaged foods from top regional artisans — and is considered a big step forward in local food retailing by advocates of the Good Food movement.

Local Foods Chicago retail store

Local Foods Store is a New Retail Wrinkle — And Just Maybe the Future of Supermarkets

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The new Local Foods store being built in Chicago may turn out to be something of village square for the local Good Food movement, bringing together and helping to boost the kinds of small food businesses people used to frequent. And it could, just possibly, serve as a template for the supermarket of the future.

First Person: Top Chicago Butcher Envisions New Heights in Move to Local Foods Store

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Rob Levitt of The Butcher & Larder began his culinary career with the aim of becoming a top chef. But he developed an expertise in charcuterie that ultimately piqued his interest in the art of butchery, and four years ago, he and wife Allie opened the Butcher & Larder and quickly developed it into one of Chicago’s favored spots among meat lovers. Now they are preparing for a big step up.

Mark Schulman, president of Eli's Cheesecake

Eli’s Cheesecake is Sweet on the Good Food Movement in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Eli’s Cheesecake has been serving up its sweet treats in Chicago for decades. As a local artisan producer that uses as many locally produced ingredients as possible, Eli’s has a prominent place at the Good Food movement’s dessert table. But the company’s commitment to expanding economic opportunity and social welfare through food is much broader than that.

Good Food Accelerator

Jenny Yang’s Growing Tofu Business is an Immigrant Food Story With a Modern Twist

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The stories of immigrants achieving success by making the foods of their native lands are parts of the history and social fabric of the United States. But Jenny Yang of Chicago’s Phoenix Bean tofu has an immigrant food story with a modern twist. While millions of people have come to America to escape poverty or oppression, Yang first came to the U.S. from her native Taiwan a quarter-century ago in pursuit of higher education.

Farmer Gene Mealhow of Tiny But Mighty.

Whet Your Appetite for the Upcoming Good Food Festival & Conference

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

The schedule for this year’s 11th annual Festival & Conference, which takes place March 19-21 at the UIC Forum on the campus of University of Illinois at Chicago, has been released. We hope the details will whet your appetite for the event and persuade you to join this celebration of the fast-growing Good Food movement.

Farmer Gene Mealhow of Tiny But Mighty.

First Person: How FamilyFarmed and the Good Food Festival Helped Tiny But Mighty Pop

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

FamilyFarmed’s 11th annual Good Food Festival & Conference is coming up in Chicago March 19-21. The organization’s efforts to build the Good Food movement have helped farm and food entrepreneurs raise millions of dollars. Iowa’s Tiny But Mighty Popcorn is one of them.

Michael Bashaw, Whole Foods Market Midwest President

Whole Foods Exec Cites ‘Empowering’ Corporate Culture as Key to Chain’s Success

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

There is hardly a bigger Good Food movement success story than that of Whole Foods Market. So Michael Bashaw — president of Whole Foods Market’s 48-store-and-growing Midwest region — had a very attentive audience when he spoke Monday (Feb. 2) to entrepreneurs, financiers, and others associated with FamilyFarmed’s Good Food Business Accelerator program.

More Tips for Farmers Market Savings

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

Our previous article on stretching your dollars at farmers markets drew a lot of interest. Even better, it drew several comments — shared here — that are loaded with even more great money-saving ideas.

Those tips are shared here.

Chicago Market logo

First Person: Building a food co-op — and positive change — in Chicago

Posted on by FamilyFarmed.org

by Grant Kessler, FamilyFarmed.org Grant Kessler is a food photographer and local food marketing consultant in Chicago who serves as marketing director for FamilyFarmed.org’s annual Good Food Festival and Conference. He also is a member of the team that is developing Chicago Market, a food co-op rooted in the principles of the Good Food movement. Read more about First Person: Building a food co-op — and positive change — in Chicago[…]

Whole Foods’ New Produce Ratings: Transparency Bears Fruit

Posted on by Jim Slama

[Note: This article was also published on Civil Eats, a journalism site that covers sustainable food issues.]

Whole Foods Market (WFM) is again at the forefront of the movement for greater transparency in food production and processing with its new comprehensive ratings system for fresh produce and flowers.