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GOURMET NEWS JULY 2017 www.gourmetnews.com News & Notes NEWS & NOTES 5 BRIEFS Natural Grocers Opens New Portland Store on June 7 Natural Grocers opened its ninth Oregon store on Wednesday, June 7, 2017. The new 12,000 square foot store is located at 3975 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, Oregon. Soylent Names Industry Veteran Bryan Crowley as President Bryan Crowley has been named President of Rosa Foods, the makers of Soylent. In this role, Crowley will be responsible for day-to-day operations, financial performance and the development and deployment of Soylent's business and people strategy. The announcement was made by Soylent's Founder and CEO Rob Rhinehart, who founded Soylent as a more efficient approach to nutrition and hopes to use it to improve the health of humanity while preserving our natural resources. Soylent's $3 million campaign in 2013 was the largest crowdfunded food project in history and was followed by seed funding in 2014 as well as a $20 million Series A round in 2015 led by Andreessen Horowitz. In May 2017, Soylent closed a $50 million Series B financing round led by GV (formerly Google Ventures), bringing its total funding to $74.5 million. The new capital supports the company's plans to rapidly expand into traditional "brick and mortar" retail, new international territories and major investments in product development. Flavorless Baby Food Blamed for Unhealthy Eating Patterns The $2 billion dollar U.S. baby food industry is driven primarily by a growth in organic baby food products. Interestingly, even with this growth in organic options, there has still been a rise in unhealthy eating habits and childhood obesity. One out of every three kids ages 2-19 is obese and nearly 20 percent of kids ages 2- 4 are picky eaters. Experts now believe there is a direct correlation between picky eating and the unhealthy habits that lead to health issues. Dr. Mary Versfelt, a pediatrician and former clinical professor at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and Maria Fareri Children's Hospital in New York, explains that for years bland, flavorless purees were recommended as the ideal first foods for babies, contributing unintentionally to creating a generation of picky eaters. "Today, we know that eating is a learned behavior, and we begin to train our palates the very moment we take our first bite. We are not born disliking broccoli or having an aversion to kale," she added. For decades, parents and baby food brands have masked vegetables in children's meals. At the heart of this approach is the notion that children have an innate resistance to vegetables and will only eat them if baked into desserts or mixed with fruit. Under this premise, kids are taught to have a preference for the sweet foods that are used to trick them and not for the foods that are good for them. From an industry perspective, little has been done to shape infant nutritional preferences and encourage healthier choices. Kroger Donates $1 Million to Support Honoring Our Heroes Campaign The Kroger Co. celebrated its continued commitment to the USO by donating $1 million to the organization. Kroger has been a proud supporter of active duty mil- itary, veterans and their families since 2010, raising over $18 million in support through corporate funds and customer donations during the Honoring Our Heroes cam- paign. In an effort to bring families together around the table, Kroger will once again partner with the USO to host events for service members and their families across the country. These events will serve as a special thank you for more than 3,000 people. "While we can never do enough to thank members of the military and their families for the sacrifices they make to serve our country every day, we can bring them around the table to share a meal," said Jes- sica Adelman, Kroger's Group Vice Presi- dent of Corporate Affairs. "We know that meals matter – that sharing a meal together is about more than satisfying hunger, it is about feeding the human spirit. That is why we're proud to support powerful USO programs like "no dough dinners" and sponsor our BBQ for the Troops events once again this year." "The USO is truly grateful for the Kroger family of stores and its ongoing commit- ment to our nation's men and women in uniform," said Lisa Anastasi, USO Chief Development Officer. "From hiring transi- tioning service members to in-store fundraising activations, Kroger continues to prove it is a dedicated Force Behind the Forces helping connect our service mem- bers and their families to the things they love and fight for." More than 2 million Americans serve on active duty or in the reserves, including many Kroger associates. The company has hired more than 35,000 veterans since 2009, and uniquely, hired more than 4,000 veterans and family members at a single day hiring event last November. GN Urban Organics Grows Fish and Greens in Former Breweries Aquaponics farming innovator Urban Or- ganics, first launched three years ago in East St. Paul's historic Hamm's Brewery, launched its second location on June 1 in the former Schmidt Brewery, which has been refurbished for its new life. The ex- pansion allows the growing company to meet the de- mand of local Twin Cities restaurants, selected Health- Partners hospitals and clinics, grocery stores and co-ops for its healthy and hyperlocal produce and fresh fish. With advanced water filtration technol- ogy developed by Pentair, the newest Urban Organics farm is a second example of an internationally recognized model for year-round urban agriculture; a fitting next step for a business highlighted by The Guardian newspaper as one of the most in- novative urban farm projects in the world. "When we opened our first location, we knew we were doing something ground- breaking — our intention was to create a new model for urban agriculture that en- sures access to healthy foods," said Dave Haider, co-Founder of Urban Organics. "What we couldn't have anticipated was the overwhelmingly positive and massive re- sponse to our endeavor — with national and even international attention; demand from local chefs, restaurants and grocery stores for our fish and greens; and the op- portunity to collaborate with Pentair to ad- vance large-scale commercial aquaponics. We look forward to continuing to offer wholesome options within the urban envi- ronment while also benefiting our natural environment and communities in the Twin Cities area." As with its first location, the Schmidt farm will operate using aquaponics, a farm- ing method in which fish and plants help each other grow, essentially mimicking what happens natu- rally in nature. This process uses less than two percent of the water consumed by traditional agriculture, as water from the fish tanks is used to fertilize the plants which then filter the water returning to the fish. Fully certified by the USDA as an organic produce farm, Urban Organics also uses integrated pest management to se- cure the growing environment and elimi- nate the need for harsh pesticides that can leach into the local watershed. "Pentair is deeply committed to design- ing the future of water management tech- nology. Agriculture and food production consume tremendous amounts of water, and we have the tech- nologies and expertise to help produce food more sustainably with less waste, energy and water," said Randall J. Hogan, Chairman and CEO of Pentair. "We joined forces with Urban Organics be- cause we believe that aquaponics has the potential to help the world meet its growing need for protein and fresh produce, especially in developing countries, arid climates and space-chal- lenged urban centers." "At full capacity, our 87,000 square foot Schmidt farm will provide 275,000 pounds of fresh fish and 475,000 pounds of organ- ically grown produce annually," added Haider. "Our local market will get the ben- efit of our fish and greens, but there will also be a worldwide benefit as we continue to learn from this model and apply its les- sons to other locations in the future." Nine new blends of Urban Organics greens are now available, including green and red kale, arugula, bok choy, green and red romaine, Swiss chard and green and red leaf lettuces, at certain Hy-Vee supermar- kets and at various co-ops in Minnesota. Restaurants like Birchwood Café in St. Paul serve the farm's fresh greens and sustain- ably-raised fish. And in a first-of-its-kind partnership in Minnesota, Urban Organics is working with HealthPartners hospitals and clinics to put its fresh greens in patient meals, cafeteria salad bars and retail take- out locations. Urban Organics is focused on reinvigo- rating our current food system by provid- ing hyperlocal, long-term sustainable, year-round USDA certified greens and sustainably-grown fish in urban environments. Founded in St. Paul's his- toric Hamm's brewery, and now expanding to St. Paul's historic Schmidt Brewery, Urban Organics has been featured in numerous na- tional media outlets and has been high- lighted by The Guardian as one of the most innovative urban farm projects in the world. To learn more, visit urbanorganics.com. GN

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