Once upon a time in a land pretty far away, there was a produce supply company. It was started by a handful of women who were determined to create a different way for their neighbors to buy a different kind of grocery than that found in their grocery stores. So they collaborated to make their own system of food and the food cost less. It was fresh food that was grown without chemical pollutants. It was priced to protect farmers and workers and routed to keep profits within local rural and urban communities. And everyone who worked with them and for them was treated fairly. Even though it could be said that all they did was move boxes of produce—they were adored and praised for their work by farmers, employees, store owners, chefs, industry leaders, and grocery shoppers. That’s why they all lived happily ever after.
So maybe the history of San Francisco’s Veritable Vegetable does sound like a fairy tale story. But after more than thirty years of business and no ending in sight, it’s no imaginary company; it’s sustainable, or as they term it: Veritable.
Meet one of Veritable’s progenitors and visionaries, Purchasing Manager Bu Nygrens. Even as integral a co-owner role as she plays, Nygrens does and will not earn more than four times the salary of any entry-level position and will not hold a title more prestigious than “manager”. These open policies are just the tip of the transparent value-based business plan Veritable enacts.
Their traceable business plan is actually a reflection of what organics is all about, the ability to know what’s in our food by tracing the origin and process of food. Nygrens says today’s booming organic movement is beginning to identify a bigger picture she calls the Food System. Over the phone she tells me, “What’s really important to organics is to understand how inter-related and connected food makes things. It’s great that organics has come to be narrowly defined and regulated and is being mass-marketed. But so much more can be done to create a sustainable, equitable food system that addresses social justice and environmental conservation issues.”
More is exactly what a founding company would ask for when asked about its current market. That’s how successful companies grow, by asking, “What’s next?” But this response doesn’t come from a typical, bottom-dollar-driven hunger for profit. This is about asking Veritable Vegetable, the country’s most successful supplier of sustainably grown agriculture, about organics today.
“Besides asking, ‘How is food grown,’ the organic industry needs to be asking three more questions,” Nygrens begins. “One, let’s ask about how our food is packaged, how wasteful is it? Can we reduce waste by changing the materials? Two, organics should be asking about how far food has traveled. Can we encourage more local production to foster local economies? This would also be about considering food costs such as asking how much is subsidized by the government. And, why is conventional food so cheap? And three, social justice and equity must be accounted for in organics. Fair wages must be allotted to farm workers, packaging handlers, truck drivers, retailer produce workers, prep chefs, and sous chefs.” Nygrens goes on to explain how a farmer of thirty years, who would be considered an expert in any other field—like medicine, earns a fraction of what that doctor would earn. In essence, she calls for a more holistic certified organic label, saying, “We should be looking from a system point of view that accesses total risks and total impact before evaluating success.”
Sustainable success is different when a triple bottom line defines it rather than a monetary profit one. “Historically, business schools have only taught the bottom line. They haven’t asked how you measure and evaluate profit in terms of the happiness of a company’s employees, the loyalty of vendors, or the surrounding community’s goodwill toward a company. But new business models are emerging,” says Nygrens, “and so we’re seeing MBA’s that specialize in sustainable business,” says Nygrens.
Veritable Vegetable strives to act as this kind of sustainable business model by placing their values next to their business decisions, not behind them. When they started, they started by asking, how can we collectively help change the way people get food that’s different from the corporate food system’s? They are still asking how they can help. Today, they are asking how they can bring to schools and impoverished communities food that is different from their established food system. “Starving kids are going to bed down the street. It can be intimidating to see so much need,” she explains, “But when you begin to look for what you can do to help, you must look from the standpoint that you are already doing something. Every dollar spent, every hour of your time you invest, is making some kind of change. Change those dollars and those hours and you help yourself and what’s around you. We are already the actors. It isn’t somewhere else for somebody else to do.”
From a short hour’s conversation it becomes obvious: In a very real fairy tale about people who are asking authentic questions and making changes for an eminent future, there really is no “The End”. The story is about continuing. It’s about the “happily ever after” part, without end.
Mercedee Renz, Goodness Greeness
For more about Veritable Vegetable’s on-going efforts to educate and make ground-breaking changes for a sustainable food system, visit their award-winning website or read this insightful article from The New Farm.
