colowyo0809
Lovin' The Homestead
Aight, so I wasn't sure where to put this so I figured the Everything Else Sufficient Living was a good place to start 
First to give a little background. My SO works for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (Vitamin Cottage or VC for short) which is a vitamin/grocery/etc store that sells organic/natural/free range food and vitamins and health and beauty products and cleaning products and etc family owned, they have give or take 50 stores in Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah(or nevada) just opened one in Missouri, and they are opening one in Lawrence, KS at the end of October and one in Wichita, KS in November (I think, or else december, I believe it is november). We are moving to Lawrence in roughly two weeks because the current Assistant Manager at his current store here in Colorado is moving to Kansas to be the Store Manager for the Lawrence store and he will be her Vitamin Department Manager. They have asked me to do some research and find leads for potential vendors in Kansas. I am in no way authorized by VC to make offers for anything, nor is me getting this information any sort of indicator that anything will happen. To reiterate I have no control over this at all. I am simply doing research to find contacts.
What they are looking for is suppliers (preferably local, but also from the state) for:
- Grass Fed Beef (hamburger mainly, although they might be convinced to carry steaks and such if the market supports it) and Grass fed Buffalo. Bonus for no antibiotics, hormones or the such. Extra bonus for Organic.
- Also, Organic free range (meaning no cages, period. Also, actual time spent outdoors, not those little doors that mean nothing would be major bonus points) no antibiotic chicken and eggs. Bonus on the eggs if they have all that lovely omega stuff and such .
- Grass fed dairy products - again, bonus for organic, no hormones or antibiotics.
- Dairy products from sheep and goats also wanted.
- Organic pork would be good, especially if they aren't heavily grain fed.
Also looking for local suppliers for:
- deli items such as sandwiches, salads - both pasta and veggie, burritos, etc. Bonus for people who offer gluten free options on these items!
- Also suppliers of baked goods such as breads, muffins, buns, rolls, etc - again major bonus points for gluten free options!
Possible extras would include:
- Local honey
- Local beauty products - goats milk soap, etc
- when gardening time comes there is potential for starter plants for tomatoes, peppers, etc.
While some of this will be supplied like always, the company does pride itself on using local when possible, especially for deli and bakery items. And, if they get good sells off local meats and such, it will not only be a boost to the local economy, but it could open up the market a bit for those suppliers if they can sell in the stores in neighboring cities such as Wichita, KS, Norman OK or Columbus, MO. Any and all info would be much appreciated. I will take all this info as I get it and send it on to the Manager so she can take care of it from there. One thing to remember, occasionally I believe they do spot checks to make sure that what the vendor/supplier is offering actually matches what they say they are offering. For example, taking a tour of the baking areas to make sure the person supplying the Gluten Free breads and rolls actually understands what that means, Touring the Farms to make sure the egg producer understands what cage free means, etc
Thanks for your help everyone!!
Matthew Ryan
Edited because: I had everything together, hopefully this makes for easier reading
First to give a little background. My SO works for Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (Vitamin Cottage or VC for short) which is a vitamin/grocery/etc store that sells organic/natural/free range food and vitamins and health and beauty products and cleaning products and etc
family owned, they have give or take 50 stores in Wyoming, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah(or nevada) just opened one in Missouri, and they are opening one in Lawrence, KS at the end of October and one in Wichita, KS in November (I think, or else december, I believe it is november). We are moving to Lawrence in roughly two weeks because the current Assistant Manager at his current store here in Colorado is moving to Kansas to be the Store Manager for the Lawrence store and he will be her Vitamin Department Manager. They have asked me to do some research and find leads for potential vendors in Kansas. I am in no way authorized by VC to make offers for anything, nor is me getting this information any sort of indicator that anything will happen. To reiterate I have no control over this at all. I am simply doing research to find contacts. What they are looking for is suppliers (preferably local, but also from the state) for:
- Grass Fed Beef (hamburger mainly, although they might be convinced to carry steaks and such if the market supports it) and Grass fed Buffalo. Bonus for no antibiotics, hormones or the such. Extra bonus for Organic.
- Also, Organic free range (meaning no cages, period. Also, actual time spent outdoors, not those little doors that mean nothing would be major bonus points) no antibiotic chicken and eggs. Bonus on the eggs if they have all that lovely omega stuff and such
. - Grass fed dairy products - again, bonus for organic, no hormones or antibiotics.
- Dairy products from sheep and goats also wanted.
- Organic pork would be good, especially if they aren't heavily grain fed.
Also looking for local suppliers for:
- deli items such as sandwiches, salads - both pasta and veggie, burritos, etc. Bonus for people who offer gluten free options on these items!
- Also suppliers of baked goods such as breads, muffins, buns, rolls, etc - again major bonus points for gluten free options!
Possible extras would include:
- Local honey
- Local beauty products - goats milk soap, etc
- when gardening time comes there is potential for starter plants for tomatoes, peppers, etc.
While some of this will be supplied like always, the company does pride itself on using local when possible, especially for deli and bakery items. And, if they get good sells off local meats and such, it will not only be a boost to the local economy, but it could open up the market a bit for those suppliers if they can sell in the stores in neighboring cities such as Wichita, KS, Norman OK or Columbus, MO.
Any and all info would be much appreciated. I will take all this info as I get it and send it on to the Manager so she can take care of it from there. One thing to remember, occasionally I believe they do spot checks to make sure that what the vendor/supplier is offering actually matches what they say they are offering. For example, taking a tour of the baking areas to make sure the person supplying the Gluten Free breads and rolls actually understands what that means, Touring the Farms to make sure the egg producer understands what cage free means, etc Thanks for your help everyone!!
Matthew Ryan
Edited because: I had everything together, hopefully this makes for easier reading
but it got lost. And thank you so much for that website. I will go there now. I'm also checking some of the farmers markets, as they often list vendors and such 
