It’s a good bet that most of us never even gave a thought to where the food on our stores’ shelves came from…until it wasn’t there anymore last spring. How did local groceries cope with the sudden change in their systems? What did they do to adapt and to protect their customers and employees? On Talk of the Bay, we spoke with two small grocery store owners who know this process intimately: Ellianna Javed, co-owner of AJ’s Market and Natural Foods in Aptos, and Doug Wallace, manager and co-owner of The Food Bin & Herb Room in Santa Cruz. Halfway through the program, we were joined by Steve Brancamp, VP of Sales Northern California for UNFI, United Natural Foods, Inc., a distributor for many of our local stores. Also taking part in the conversation was Howard Feldstein, who is our program manager here at KSQD but wears another hat when it comes to food. We discuss all aspects of our local food system in this fascinating conversation. Listen: you’ll probably learn something!
