The Great FRONTIER

Last week I had the great honor of visiting the operations behind Frontier Natural Products Co-op in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and I was blown away!  What an amazing company!  Frontier was established  in 1976 (the same year as our Co-op), and they have been cranking out wonderful products and doing great things for our world ever since.  Frontier is a cooperative, just like our store, but instead of individual owners, the stores that order from them are the owners.  Therefore, we, the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op, is an owner of Frontier Natural Products Co-op.  So just as owners of our Co-op receive a patronage check based on our sales and their contribution to those sales, we also receive a patronage check from Frontier.

I could go on and on, I saw so many amazing things, but I'll just stick with the highlights.  Frontier has three facilities in the Cedar Rapids area and I was lucky  to visit all three.  What was fun for me was observing how all the herbs, spices and Aura Cacia products are bottled.  I actually witnessed those little bath salt packets being filled and boxed, vanilla extract and essential oils being bottled and packed, and herbs and spices bottled or placed in their 1# bulk packaging.  It was so cool to see!  And the vanilla bottling room smelled so nice.

What really hit me as spectacular about this company is how close they are to the products they source and the full transparency with that sourcing.  Several employees who talked with our group travel often to the countries they source materials from to ensure healthy product.  Even so, every single product runs through some pretty heavy testing when it enters the Frontier warehouse.  It was a lesson in chemistry to learn the process, you wouldn't believe the testing involved in that tiny bottle of Aura Cacia essential oil!  It's extensive and thorough, and the result is a very high quality product.

They also do a lot to give back to the communities where these products are sourced.  Frontier was one of the first U.S. companies to offer Fair Trade spices, but in addition to this they have started their own Well Earth sustainable sourcing program.  Although Fair Trade certification is important, it only pertains to third world countries.  Frontier does source from these countries, but they also source from the U.S. and Europe.  With their Well Earth program they are able to give back to all communities, not just those in the third world.

It was such an amazing trip.  In this world of big corporations only concerned with the bottom line, it is so refreshing to see a company getting it right.

                                         And I got to see the biggest frying pan in the world!