Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Post #2 Organic Ingredients?

How possible is it to grow a business using organic ingredients? A man in the food industry strongly encouraged me to let go of the "organic food ethic" and embrace the "natural food ethic" in order to bring down the costs of the ingredients.

The "natural" food category includes foods from all over the spectrum: from clean, whole, ingredients to fractionated, highly processed, full of additives, pesticides, colors and flavors. It's hard to know what you're getting with a natural food label.
 
My commitment to my own ethics is to use organic, biodynamic and unsprayed ingredients whenever possible. This is how I eat and when I stray from this diet I begin to feel foggy, tired and crabby. I have no interest in making products that don't make people feel great.

I use the highest quality ingredients at the best prices I can find but even so, my products end up with a price point that is not as low as many people would prefer, including me!

In spite of that I continue to use organic, high quality, gluten-free certified and albeit, pricey ingredients because I refuse to use cheap ones. I'm following my ethical course and hoping that I will see how to make my business into a thriving and sustainable business.


                                              Gluten-Free Sourdough Chocolate Mini Loaf




Thursday, November 13, 2014

My First Post



I am a middle-aged newbie entrepreneur.
I turned lemons into lemonade.
I created a highly specialized product so that I, myself, could eat bread.
Turned out that other people were looking for just what I had created.

I didn't want to borrow large sums of money.
I didn't want to owe anyone any money.
I took a (relatively) small amount of my own dollars and built a small (and cute) commercial kitchen out of an office suite.
I had the support and good counsel of my town board of health and building inspectors. I asked them how to build it right and they taught me. (good teachers are the best!)

I've just passed the 1 year anniversary of the opening of my kitchen.
I've learned so much about things I never even thought about before this year.
I often ponder about how to grow a business that people are happy to work for and are happy to patronize.
I try to make the business as green as possible, as sustainable as possible and as minimally wasteful as possible.
I want the culture of my business to reflect my high ethics and high standards.

This blog will be a place for to share my thoughts and ponderings.