Three Green Learnings from Stonyfield Farm CE-Yo

Last night I met Gary Hirshberg, CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm. He gave a lecture at the Peggy Notebart Nature Museum in Chicago. His lecture was meant to inspire more greener business practices, and he used anecdotes from his book "Stirring It Up: How To Make Money And Save The World". When I read the book last year, I found the title a bit arrogant (as well as the tone of the book). However, after hearing him last night, I'm drinking his Kool-Aid (or, in this case, his Super Smoothie). He has a truly inspiring story. I listened intently to identify things small businesses, like Tula Foods, can learn. Here is what I took away...

First...influence your suppliers to practice green. Your supply chain likely accounts for the greatest portion of your carbon footprint (this is much easier if you are a larger, influential company, but it is never too early to start trying).

Second...involve your employees. Stonyfield employees were the ones that created green teams and identified over $5.3 Million in annual green savings across multiple areas.

Third...ask why not? It was this question that caused Stonyfield to create a waste treatment facility that actually burns clean energy to fuel his plant instead of dumping the waste.

Finally...don't think you are too small to have an impact. He quoted a colleague..."Anyone who thinks they are too small to make a difference has never been in bed with a mosquito".

I loved that quote. Are YOU a mosquito? Inspire us with your story! How have YOU made a green difference??? Our green report card is due out this summer!

A Start-Up's First Year in Review: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

As every year comes to a close, it’s impossible not to look back on the past year…be thrilled with some decisions, regret others, and look to the new year as a completely clean slate. Most importantly, I find myself bubbling with anticipation for the New Year and new decade!

The Good:

The 2009 year started off with naïve excitement! As this was our first full year in the market, we viewed 2009 as our first chance to help get America off the devastating high carbohydrate and low protein diet that the USDA food pyramid recommends (see how obesity rates increased when low fat diets were endorsed). Shelved in select stores on the East and West Coasts and in the Midwest, consumers were able to purchase our yogurts in multiple locations. This only fueled our enthusiasm and energy for our first full year.

To support our launch, we executed various marketing programs, which yielded some great lessons. Two professional sports teams (the Chicago Blackhawks and the Cincinnati Bengals) brought Better Whey of Life Protein Yogurt into their locker rooms for the 2009 season. Both teams currently lead their respective divisions.

Most exciting in 2009 was the interest we received from large grocery chains across the country. We were validated that our mission and product concept was right on. With this interest; however, came reality…

The bad:

In discussions with these larger grocery chains, it became clear that in order to meet their thresholds, consumers needed to buy our yogurt at a higher frequency than they were. We took a hard look at our yogurt and knew we needed to make some changes before expanding. So, just like they say to do in the venture capitalist's bible, Getting to Plan B, we quickly began making changes to improve our yogurt. This was a difficult time. Not only did we postpone expanding to 700 new stores until we had an improved product, but in an effort to focus our resources in the right way, I pulled out of some resource intensive stores.

The Ugly:

Would I be an entrepreneur if I had the attitude that anything was ugly?!? No way!!! Let’s get back to the good!

Back To The Good: 2010 Plans!

We have been working tirelessly to improve the taste and nutrition of our plain yogurt flavor, and we will launch this improved product later in 2010. Our work was recognized in the Innovate Illinois competition. Innovate Illinois, funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DECO), awarded a $30,000 grant to Tula Foods for our innovation. I can’t wait to share with you what we have in store! Stay tuned…we are living our brand and will bring you an even Better Whey in 2010!