Ms. Tuitele: Wild Oats was founded in 1987 by Mike Gilliland and Elizabeth Cook, with the purchase of a single natural food store in Boulder, Colorado, called Crystal Market. Since then, the company has grown to be the second-largest national natural and organic foods retailer. We currently operate 103 stores in 23 states and British Columbia, Canada. We have annual sales of nearly $900 million, we participate in a rapidly growing industry and we have a new management team in place that brings extensive food retail industry knowledge to the company. So, we really expect the next few years to be a period of growth for the company.
TWST: How do you define natural foods?
Ms. Tuitele: We have among the most rigorous product standards in the
industry. This includes no artificial additives, colorings, flavorings
or preservatives. We try to avoid partially hydrogenated oils and source
organic ingredients whenever possible. Our private label products
contain no genetically modified organisms to the extent possible, and
the meat products in our meat and deli cases are free of antibiotics and
growth hormones. All of our suppliers have to go through our rigorous
quality assurance process before we'll approve products to come into our
stores.
Tickers included in this excerpt: OATS
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