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FROM THE GENERAL MANAGER
Dear Co-op Customers,
Per our Ends Statement we are committed to sharing current food news with our community.
Over the years, we have quietly discontinued products/brands if they were purchased by large companies that were not in line with our values. We have discontinued KeVita, Odwalla, Naked Juice, Honest Tea, San Pellegrino, Stacey’s Pita Chips, Health-Ade Kombucha, Perrier, Blue Bottle Coffee, and many others. We didn’t publicly share our “boycotts” but we passed the information along to our customers and they were grateful for the information.
In December 2017, Garden of Life was acquired by Nestle for 2.3 billion. We immediately placed signs in our store informing our customers about the acquisition. We posted on social media and it was clear that consumers were as outraged and disappointed as we were.
Keep in mind Garden of Life is our top selling supplement line - it is a BIG deal for a retailer to discontinue a #1 selling brand. In fact, many retailers including co-ops do not engage in boycotts.
NESTLE BOYCOTT
Nestle is the world’s largest food and beverage company (let that sink in). Consumers have been boycotting Nestle since the 1970s. Their business practices have been criticized in segments: water, baby formula, coffee, GMOs, pet food, and of course, chocolate.
You will continue to see GoL products in many stores, in fact you’ll see probably see many NEW products in MORE stores and at LOWER prices.
The sad truth is that we cannot promise that every product on our shelves is organic, non-GMO, independently owned, and does good work in the world - our shelves would be bare! We can promise that when a company like Nestle purchases a trusted brand like GoL, we will do everything in our power to avoid supporting them. Like you, we're also a customer and we also choose to vote with our wallet!
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Who owns Organic? by The Cornucopia Institute
Ethical Consumer (Nestle rates a .5 of 20, lower than Coca Cola and Nike)
Buycott
MORE READING
Amber Sallaberry, general manager at Great Basin Food Coop in Reno wrote an in-depth article on their reason to boycott Nestle.
How Big Business Got Brazil Hooked on Junk Food New York Times (Sept 2017)
Please contact me directly should you have any questions or comments, I hope to see you at our first Quarterly Meeting of 2018!
Regina Grosby
regina@placervillecoop.org
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