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8 SNACKING NEWS February 2018 says, so the brothers have a special com- mitment to making a superior product. "Our ingredients are super simple," Marshall says. "You could go to the local grocery store and buy all the ingredients to make something very similar. We have all the goodness of homemade, and save you the trouble of making them yourself." Marshall is proud of the quality ingre- dients used in the GFB, he says. "We use vegan proteins, and high quality ingredi- ents. Our almond butter is only almonds, for example. Our chocolate chips are pre- mium, dairy-free dark chocolate." He's also proud of "some great sourcing stories," he says. "We work with Caro Nuts to source cashews from Africa, where they're picked and processed on- site by disadvantaged women. We feel re- ally good about using them." Caro Nuts, a division of Candor Ag, works with small farmers around the world to help them market their crops. The com- pany also markets small farmers' artichoke hearts under its Cynara division and small growers' olive oil under its Bellucci division. The GFB is a certified B Corporation, too, Marshall says, so "we're around to make great products and do some good in the world. Even if it costs a bit more, we're doing good." The GFB's products are manufactured in Grand Rapids, Marshall says, and em- ploys about 45 people. "We're also a little bit unusual in that we don't outsource the manufacturing of our products," he says. "We own our own manufacturing facility." The future looks bright for The GFB, Marshall says. "We have big goals — we're an emerg- ing national brand," he says. "We're al- ready in about 9,000 stores in the United States and Canada, so we're planning to continue to grow our customer base by making the best gluten-free snacks. We have a lot of innovation coming — excit- ing new flavors coming down the line for our bar line, and expanding our breakfast line this year." Turning a health liability into a positive asset, both as a business and as a positive force in the world, seems to be Marshall's strong suit. n GFB Continued from Page 1 Good Food Finalists Recover From CA Fires BY ROBIN MATHER As a finalist for a 2018 Good Food award, Travis Day should be a happy man. It'll take him a little while to catch up enough to enjoy the honor, though, as he tries to put his business, Thistle Meats of Petaluma, Cal- ifornia, back on its feet after the wildfires in Napa and Sonoma Coun- ties in October. "Business is starting to feel like it's getting back to normal," he says. "But it was really horrible. Between the fires and a drop-off in business from poor air quality for at least a week, foot traffic was zero. Plus, that was a really busy time for us in our catering side, and we had all those cancellations and had to refund those deposits." Money is money, but Day's larger worry was that "every one of my employees was either displaced or had immediate family displaced by the fires. We only have six employees, and two them were evacuated from their homes for about two weeks – they couldn't get in to get clean clothes or anything." Thistle Meats is a small butcher shop that specializes in house made charcuterie made from meats from local farms, and is a Good Food award finalist for its Milano Salami. Day has a strong bond with "his" farmers, and says McGruder Ranch, in Potter Valley, California, which supplies him with beef and lamb, was especially hard hit. "He had hundreds of acres burned and lost about 50 cows. He's just a small company, and was greatly impacted. Some of the guys and I went up there to help for a couple of days after the fires." Other California Good Food finalists also had close calls with the wildfires. Cheesemaker Keith Adams of Wm. Cofield Cheese, a Good Food award final- ist for its McKinley Clothbound Cheddar, lives in Santa Rosa, where smoke from the wildfires was at its worst. "We didn't make cheese the week of the fire," he says. "The plant is in Sebastapol and it came through just fine. The animals were in west Petaluma, so it was smoky for them but not as bad as Santa Rosa. It was a really grim time." All but one of the 11 finalists in the Good Food Olive Oil category are Califor- nia producers. As of January 2016, more than 38,000 acres of olive trees for the pro- duction of extra virgin olive oil had been planted in California, and there are more than 400 growers and producers of olive oil in the Golden State. Most of those pro- ducers escaped serious damage to their groves. "The Cherokee fire swept down the mountain very fast, but it stopped at our property line," says Darro Grieco, who owns Berkeley Olive Grove 1913, a final- ist for its California Mission Blood Orange olive oil. "Of course, that oil was produced last year – we harvest from November through January." This year's crop is being harvested now, and we have yet to determine if there will be a flavor effect from the smoke, but I don't think so. Olives are washed twice – once for dirt, once for leaves and twigs – before being pressed. I don't think the smoke is going to affect our olive oil." Over all, says Patricia Darragh, Execu- tive Director of the California Olive Oil Council, "there was very minimal damage to our members. None were affected – one member lost their residence, but their grove was not affected. And a couple of small producers had some scorch, so they didn't harvest this year." While the harvest season is just begin- ning, Darragh said, "we haven't had any oils that haven't passed our inspection." California winemakers had a similar near miss, says Jane St. Claire, whose website, www.savorCalifornia.com, is a showcase of "the best gourmet foods and beverages in the state of California." "In Healdsburg, we were just sur- rounded," she says. "The wind was the total determining factor. We not only had to contend with the fire, but nobody could get to the brick and mortar stores because the roads were closed, or your employees can't get in. And the smoke! You simply couldn't breathe." In an odd way, the timing of the wild- fires was almost perfect. "The wine vines were just going dormant, because we were right at the end of the harvest season. Ex- cept for the cabernet vines, and the wine- makers still aren't sure whether they'll have to deal with smoke taint on the grapes." St. Claire says that lost tourism dollars have hit the two counties almost as hard as the fires themselves. "People lost money in cancelled hotel and restaurant reserva- tions, Air BnB cancellations and so on," she says. "And now they think everywhere looks like the news photos they saw. But we really want people to come back. It's hard to say when it will start to be normal again." n Kroger Joins the Sustainable Packaging Coalition The Kroger Co. has announced it has joined the Sustainable Packaging Coali- tion ® (SPC), a membership-based collab- orative of like-minded companies striving to advance sustainable packaging. Kroger joins more than 130 brands, manufactur- ers, government officials, academics and organizations in the SPC. The partnership reinforces Kroger's com- mitment to driving improvements in the sustainability of packaging across its Our Brands private-label products. As part of its 2020 Sustainability Goals, Kroger has com- mitted to optimizing 100 percent of its product packaging by increasing recyclabil- ity, reducing excess packaging and increas- ing certified virgin fiber sourcing, among other things, during the next three years. "Kroger is pleased to join the Sustain- able Packaging Coalition," said Jessica Adelman, Kroger's Group Vice President of Corporate Affairs. "Our membership in this coalition is an important part of Kroger's vision for achieving Zero Hunger | Zero Waste, a key component of how we are living our purpose driven by our 'Re- stock Kroger Plan.' We look forward to collaborating with other brands, packaging manufacturers and other stakeholders to drive positive change in packaging sus- tainability." "By joining with others who share this passion, we can all work together to create new packaging solutions that have a last- ing, positive impact in the environment we all share," said Gil Phipps, Vice President of Our Brands. "This new partnership is another step in our journey and will help us accelerate our commitment to introduce more sustainable packaging." "Kroger has such an important re- lationship to packaging supply chains around the globe," said SPC Asso- ciate Director Adam Gendell. "We look forward to sharing our commitment to make packaging more sustainable". The Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a project of GreenBlue, is a membership- based collaborative led by an independent nonprofit that believes in the power of in- dustry to make packaging more sustainable. Using an objective lifecycle-based approach, the organization works in a constructive at- mosphere to provide thought leadership and bring its members together to strengthen and advance the business case for more sustainable packaging. For more information, visit www.sustainable packaging.org or follow the SPC on Twit- ter @spcspotlight. n

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