Wholesale
Hawaiian Products |
News
story by KITV 4 about Whole Foods comming to Hawaii and picking
Hawaiian Bath and Body for Natural Skin Care Products.
Mahalo to all of our loyal customers who believed in our company over
the years and helped make this moment a reality. Great job everyone!
Deb always said we will be grown up when we get in Whole Foods. Well,
here it is and we could not be happier! Aloha and enjoy.
A
big break for a small company on Oahu's North Shore. A contract with
supermarket chain Whole Foods will double its production. Less than
a decade ago the North Shore Soap Factory was selling its all natural
products at craft fairs, now it's expanding its operations. For nearly
one hundred years the Waialua Sugar Mill was the life blood of the community,
now a smaller business is thriving inside...the North Shore Soap Factory.
The
Little Business started in a home on Oahu's North Shore and got the
biggest break in its ten year existence with a contract to supply Whole
Foods, a natural and organic super market chain coming to Hawaii in
2008. Whole Foods will feature the Hawaiian Bath and Body all natural
skin care line, including their
Natural
Soaps and bath and body products.
The
Family owned and operated company is gearing up to double its production
early next year by adding some new equipment. Whole Foods has contracted
with about twenty local suppliers so far and its first Hawaii store
is scheduled to openin 2008 in Kahala Mall.
Vol.
12, Issue 191 - Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Whole
Foods picks first isle vendors
The
grocer finishes its first selections for the Kahala Mall store
By
Nina
Wu / nwu@starbulletin.com
Whole
Foods Market has selected its first round of Hawaii-based partners for
its grocery, seafood, bakery and beauty departments. Competition was
stiff, but the Texas-based grocer fielded pitches from dozens of local
vendors and made its initial picks, which range from Kona Deep, the
well-known desalinized drinking water drawn from the ocean off of Big
Island shores to small operations like the North Shore Soap Factory
in Waialua.Michael Besancon, president of Whole Foods' southern Pacific
region, said he was pleased with the variety. Among them are: Big Island
Organics,
Hawaiian
Isle Organics, Hawaii Kai Gourmet Sea Salts, Oils of Aloha Macadamia
Nut Oils, Big Island Bees, Hawaiian Honey, Royal Hawaiian Honey, Harpo's
Gourmet Salad Dressings and Marinades, Wahoo Canned Ono, Hawaiian Pops
Flavored Popcorn, Hawaiian Springs Water, Kona Deep Water, Hawaiian
Ice and Akamai Pacific, a distributor of a variety of local products.
For the bakery,
Whole
Foods selected Honolulu-based Ba Le Bakery, and Big Island-based Wings
of the Morning Coffee. In the seafood department, Whole Foods chose
Garden & Valley Isle Fish Co., as well as Fresh Island Fish Co.
and Kona Blue, the aquaculture company that grows the Kampachi brand
fish on the Big Island. Bruce Johnson, owner and CEO of Fresh Island
Fish Co., said winning the Whole Foods account was a major coup."It's
definitely a great signature account because they're high-quality minded,"
said Johnson, adding that his philosophy of natural resources management
was also similar to Whole Foods.
Debora
Driscoll, owner and vice president of North Shore Soap
Factory, which produces the Hawaiian Bath and Body
product line, said the family-run business will get a significant
boost from the account. The soap factory at the former Waialua sugar
mill has been producing natural bar soaps and skin care products made
from local ingredients for the last 10 years. Whole Foods Market plans
to open its first Hawaii store, a 26,000-square-foot outlet in Kahala
Mall, next spring. Vendors interested in selling via Whole Foods Market
can contact Erica Dubreuil at erica.dubreuil@wholefoods.com.
Posted
on: Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Whole
Foods chooses Kahala store vendors
KAHALA
— The upscale supermarket Whole Foods Market has formed partnerships
with several Hawaii-based vendors, which will provide locally grown
and produced items for the market's planned site at Kahala Mall. The
26,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open next spring and will feature
such vendors as Big Island Organics, Hawaiian Isle Organics, Hawaii
Kai Gourmet Sea Salts, Oils of Aloha Macadamia Nut Oils, Big Island
Bees Hawaiian Honey, Royal Hawaiian Honey, Harpo's Gourmet Salad Dressings
and Marinades, Wahoo Canned Ono, Hawaiian Pops Flavored Popcorn, Hawaiian
Springs Water and many more. Customers also will find a number of locally
baked varieties from Ba Le Bakery and Wings of the Morning Coffee. "Whole
Foods Market is committed to buying from local producers and farmers,"
commented Michael Besancon, president of Whole Foods Market's Southern
Pacific Region. "Hawaii is rich in abundant local offerings —everything
from incredible seafood to unique body care products. "We are excited
to announce and bring our new Hawaii-based partners into the Whole Foods
Market family," he added. The seafood department will offer fresh
catches from Kona Blue, Fresh Island Fish Co., and Garden & Valley
Isle Fish Co. As for the Whole Body department, HoneyGirl Organics and
Hawaiian Bath and Body will fill the shelves with their skin care lines.
"We are excited to be partnering with a company that embodies the
same vision for natural skin care," said Debora Driscoll, owner
and vice president of North Shore Soap Factory, home of Hawaiian Bath
and Body.
Whole
Foods Market, the world's leading natural and organic foods supermarket,
was founded in Austin, Texas, in 1980. It is known as America's first
nationally certified organic grocer. Whole Foods Market continues to
seek new local partners. Local farmers and food producers interested
in working with the company should send e-mail to Erica Dubreuil at
erica.dubreuil@wholefoods.com. News video on wholesale hawaii soap vender
North shore soap Factory suppling Whole Foods Hawaii expansion in 2008
