The Customer Wins – profiling I E Produce

At the end of their first year in business in 1994, Joyce and Phillip Lowyim of IE Produce in Takapuna asked their customers what other food products they wanted to see in-store. A surprising number wanted to see organic produce.

Joyce says, “In the beginning it was hard to find good enough quality produce, especially compared with pristine conventional green goods.  Fresh produce with blemishes took a bit of getting used to. We had to learn what sort of blemishes our customers would accept.”

After the customer survey, Joyce spent 18 months learning about basic organic pantry items and where to source them.  Born into a family who ran a large green-grocery in Whakatane, she served the customers who came into her parents shop from very young, but being too small to see over the counter, was obliged to stand on an apple crate. She still loves the contact and interaction with customers.

Phillip grew up in a market-gardening family, and became a conventional market-gardener, growing celery, parsley, spring onions, tomatoes and other salad ingredients. “I don’t miss it,” he laughs. “It’s hard work, little pay, and only seasonal income.”

When he and Joyce got together, they bought a roadside produce store in West Harbour.

There was much to learn in converting IE Produce from a conventional retail produce shop to an organic food store.

“Especially in Takapuna,” Joyce says, “where lots of our customers are well-travelled and have been educated into how things are done in other parts of the world. They wanted everything. We soon realised that if we wanted to stay in business, we had to listen to and cater for them. Once we went organic, I learnt everything I could about organics and nutrition.”

Joyce has continued to educate herself in organic and nutritional spheres, both online and by talking with experts, but early on the push came from the Coeliac Society who was trying to source suitable nutrition for their members. Through them she learned what was required for customers who needed to be gluten-free, and other now-common food intolerance requirements.

“We’ve doubled the size of our store to accommodate requests for products. Our customers still bring in new produce and tell suppliers to get their product into our store. If it fits into our range, we try to source it.”

IE Produce is 50/50 organic/conventional, and today carries thousands of organic and gluten-free products. When the Lowyims began stocking organic produce, it made such nutritional sense to them that they hoped they could eventually become fully organic. That has proven infeasible because people still want to buy good fresh produce for their palates when organic produce is temporarily out of season. “Having both gives people choices,” says Joyce. “If they’re prepared to eat seasonal produce, they can eat organically all year round.”

In 2000 IE Produce became the first  retailer in New Zealand to be certified organic by BioGro.  BioGro certification reinforces a retailer’s commitment to authenticity and traceability.  A BioGro certified retailer guarantees every claim about their organic status, in store and online.

At the time, the Lowyim’s request for retail certification meant that BioGro had to come up with assessment standards and it was initially expensive at around $1800 per year. Today, as part of the Organic Traders Association with several members also having organic certification, and annual BioGro certification is a third of the cost. In 2013 at BioGro’s 30^th anniversary, IE Produce received ‘Acknowledgment of Long Standing Commitment’ as a BioGro certified retailer.

The name, IE Produce, comes from the identity tage the lawyims had in their grower’s auction floor days – and it stuck. They ran two businesses at one stage, the roadside stall, and this one, for three years. Running both operations while raising a young family was only a short term prospect, and today Joyce says they are happy to have just one business running well, and look after their customers.

The range of organic products is growing in all food sections and Joyce has to scrutinise every product offered. “New products are often claimed to be organic but when you check, maybe only three out of six ingredients are certified. Commonly the vendor hasn’t done the work for themselves and isn’t aware their goods aren’t as organic as they thought. I’m often teaching them.  As retailers, we have to be responsible for what we allow into our store.”

“People do the research now and many know what their bodies need for optimum health. We have many customers who, for health reasons, have to eat organic, or have nutritional requirements which can’t be met with conventional foods. I love talking with and educating customers who are new to nutritional health, but I also learn a lot from them. It’s a two-way thing. Many perceive eating organic food is expensive, and they can expect to pay maybe a third more, but they don’t realise it has a much better quality, high density nutritional content and they don’t need to eat so much of it. I always suggest people downsize their plates, and chew each mouthful very well so their digestive system can make the most of the nutrients and doesn’t have to work so hard.”

In 2001 IE Produce’s website won the Auckland Virtual Top Shop award and was a finalist in 2002 in the Specialty Food category. Relaunched in 2014 as an online store, the website is set up also as an educational tool for consumers.  Joyce is currently studying Donna Gates’ Body Ecology – Level 2, and she regularly invites experts to provide in-store seminars for customers on a range of topics from gluten-free alternatives, to coeliac management, nutrition, and general health and well-being.

 

Fresh produce is sourced from both organic wholesalers and small certified organic growers. “In the early days we had a much better supply of organic produce,” says Phillip, “but the larger growers overproduced, especially caulis and broccoli and couldn’t get good prices, so eventually they switched to other crop production. The green supply is erratic, but we have always supported the smaller producers.

 

With a dedicated staff of over 15 full and part-timers, IE Produce continues to grow both its knowledge and its customer base.

First published in Jul/Aug edition Organic NZ – www.organicnz.org.nz