OUR STANDARDS

Our goal and commitment is to carry products made with organic ingredients whenever possible, or ingredients that meet an equally thoughtful standard, what we call ‘organic or better.

An ingredient we would consider ‘better’ than organic would include something that is responsibly wildcrafted in it’s region of origin , or a hyper-locally sourced ingredient grown in a pesticide-free backyard environment.

We don’t necessarily require our brands to carry the USDA Organic Certification. We recognize that some brands may be too small to afford the large investment required for certification, however, we do carefully review ontheir ingredients to make sure they are Organic, or otherwise very clean.

We also recognize that certain organic ingredients can be prohibitively expensive. In limited cases, we may offer some alternatives that are clean-sourced, but not necessarily fully organic, to offer reasonably priced alternatives to our customers. However, mainstream ingredients (list below) will always be required to be organic.

All of our products are individually vetted by our team.

We require certain high-risk ingredients to be organic because of concerns about pesticide use, genetic modification, or conventional sourcing practices.

Examples include, but are not limited to: sugar, wheat, corn, soy, vinegar, apple cider vinegar, palm oil, potatoes, and dairy.

We also maintain an extensive list of ingredients that we will not accept. While the complete list is too long to include here, we generally do not carry products containing artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, harmful synthetic fragrances, or other ingredients associated with unnecessary irritation, allergic reactions, or significant harm to human health or the environment.

We only work with brands that are driven by a genuine passion to create exceptional products. To us, this means making products that bring value and joy to their customers while contributing to a healthier and more sustainable community.

We always ask brand founders why they started their company. If their primary motivation is to make a quick buck, capitalize on a trend, or maximize margins, the brand is likely not a fit for us. If they provide other reasons, such as trying to improve people’s livelihoods, express a genuine passion, support small farmers, or contribute to a cleaner, healthier tomorrow, we are much more interested!

We are also regularly checking in with brands to see what they’re doing to improve their product. Are they making their packaging clearer and easier to understand? Are they improving their formulas or recipes and responding to customer feedback? Are they pursuing organic certification? Are they working toward more recyclable or biodegradable packaging? the list goes on. We believe great brands should always be looking for ways to improve.

Freshness is one of the most important factors affecting a food’s quality and flavor, and we carefully consider it when evaluating brands and managing our inventory.

One of our favorite brands serves as a great example of this: Joshua Tree Coffee roasts their beans on Mon-Weds, we pick up on Thursday, and deliver to our customers over the following few days. We repeat this every week, and never sell coffee that is more than 2 weeks past its roasted-on on date.

Similarly, all our inventory management at our wareohuse is build around keeping only enough product on hand for 3-4 weeks worth of sales at most, so that we can give our customers the freshest product.