October 28, 2004
Smooth Series calls for a Smoothie name-change
Erik here, who manages our Smoothie product line and is quite
the Boston Red Sox fan, is working today on these new,
improved names for our Smoothies:
Curt “Strawberry” Shilling
Pedro “Peach” Martinez
Manny “Raspberry” Ramirez
Tim “Wild Berry” Wakefield
Jason “Vanilla” Varitek
Tito “Tropical Fruit” Francona
And, now, maybe a brand new flavor: Derek “Luscious Lemon” Lowe
***
Subscribe to The Daily Scoop and get entries direct to your e-mail. Just use the subscribe button at the upper left.
October 27, 2004
We're All-Red-Sox-All-The-Time
Even Gurt, above, gets into the act today.
Okay, we're still managing to produce the yogurt, but tensions are running high here at Stonyfield Farm headquarters. One of us forgot to wear his Sox paraphernalia, so now he's convinced he's jinxed the team. Here's a look at our various worksites in Londonderry, New Hampshire as of 3:30 p.m.:
October 26, 2004
We just had to say it...
Stonyfield Farm is a New Hampshire-based company, with products distributed nationwide. But, we're very close to Boston, and poor New Hampshire doesn't have a professional baseball team of its own. This means we're part of what's become known as Red Sox Nation.
Forgive us, won't you, if we just say this:
Go, Sox!
[With our apologies to St. Louis Cardinals fans.]
October 22, 2004
Drawing hair nets on a cow, and other challenges of graphic design
Stonyfield's graphic designer, Kevin Newhall, has only been part of the Stonyfield family since January, but he's already been involved in some pretty big projects. First, he was instrumental in creating the current look of our website, which debuted in May with all of its homepage animations. Second, he figured out how to turn a boring vending machine into something cool and appealing to students for our Healthy Vending Machine program. Both projects, he says, were very challenging, yet very rewarding. The web site redesign involved understanding the vision of dozens of people, each with their own opinions, and coming up with a final product everyone liked. (Which, we do.) He's also given each employee here a Gurt-based nameplate, like the one below (for the staff in production.) 
The hair net underneath that hard hat, required for safety and health reasons, was pretty tricky. Kevin graduated from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire just four years ago, and spent four years with the popular website Boston.com. He also admits to being a collector of “outdated media”—like 8-track tape players and laser disks.
Subscribe to The Daily Scoop and get entries direct to your e-mail. Just use the subscribe button at the upper left.
October 21, 2004
Do environmental issues influence your vote?
The election is less than 2 weeks away (in case you hadn't noticed). As a company with an environmental mission, we watch U.S. environmental policy carefully. With an election upon us, it's important to do your homework and know where the candidates stand. You can check the environmental records of presidential candidates and all members of the U.S. Congress at The League of Conservation Voters.
How much do environmental issues determine for whom you will vote? Write us below using the comment box.
October 20, 2004
Holiday hype means mountains of holiday trash
I was just reading in the November/December issue of Vegetarian Times that between Thanksgiving and the first week of January, American trash increases 25 to 30 percent, largely from holiday packaging! Wow. I’ll be thinking about how I contribute to that increase and looking for ways to decrease it! Any great ideas from you readers? Write us here using the comment box below.
--Nancy, Natural Resources
Current Yogurt Favorite: YoBaby Plus Fruit & Cereal Apple cereal
October 12, 2004
Learn about the secret lives of stuff
Lisa, one of our Natural Resources gurus overseeing our company's environmental missions, recently recommended the book “Stuff: The Secret Lives of Everyday Things” by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning, published by Northwest Environment Watch. It’s a look at where our consumer “stuff” comes from and the places and people that are impacted by the stuff we all use in our everyday lives. From your morning “cup o' Joe,” to the cheeseburger that you eat for lunch, to the t-shirt that you wear, they have a detailed account of all that goes into making it before you even lay eyes on it. It’s a real eye opener!! It also gives you ideas about things that you can do and choices you can make that will minimize some of those impacts.
Review Earth Actions and find more ways you can reduce your own impact on the environment.
October 11, 2004
"The Boss" likes his yogurt, but no Lemon please
No, we're not talking about our boss, the CE'Yo. We're talking about Bruce Springsteen, who apparently orders six cups of our yogurt before each show! Thanks to Men's Fitness magazine for pointing this out. We know The Boss has been busy on the concert tour lately, so we're happy to provide the fuel to keep him singing! Check out more Celebrity Sightings of Stonyfield's yogurt.
October 08, 2004
Want to choose organic, but worried about cost?
This article from Bankrate.com offers 17 tips if you choose to make the switch to buying organic food for your family. And let's face it, organic food can be quite expensive. A $1 conventional food item could cost twice as much in the organic version—but not if you know how to shop and take up some creative cooking techniques. Many food shoppers are willing to pay a little more for organic food simply because they like the taste.
These 17 tips will show you how to track down affordable organic food near you.
1. Do some research.
2. Shop at farmers' markets.
3. Buy a share in a community-supported agriculture program.
4. Join a co-op.
5. Join a buying club.
6. Buy in bulk.
7. Buy big in-season.
8. In the off-season, buy preserved foods.
9. Embrace the big freeze.
10. Shop sales and house brands.
11. Clip coupons.
12. Grow your own.
13. Shop online.
14. Mix and match.
15. Be flexible.
16. Rethink your food budget.
17. Ease into organic.
Learn more about organic food production.
Sign up to get coupons for organic products.
Visit the family farmers of Organic Valley..
October 04, 2004
Stonyfield’s first “point of contact”
Chances are, if you’ve called our consumer hotline, written us an e-mail or sent us a letter, you’ve already made contact with Diana Godbout in Consumer Relations. She’s one of a small staff answering the 2000 letters a month and 200 calls a day we get here. Hired in 1994, Diana has had her desk moved 14 times and she’s experienced three employee cafeterias. All that change has made her good at her job. “I know how things work and I know how they evolved here,” she says. “Everything we do affects how I do my job.”
Diana had an Associate’s Degree in computing, then Stonyfield helped her return to college and earn a B.A. in Marketing. Those experiences helped her create a Consumer Relations database now used throughout Stonyfield. “People are so attached to our products,” Diana says. “They really read our labels. If we change one little thing, I get calls. Our customers want to see us do well and they want to be part of that success.”
Diana says our consumers are often surprised by the kind of personal response we give them. For a company of our size, that’s unusual, she says. Diana soon celebrates 30 years of marriage to her high school sweetheart, David, with whom she has four grown children.
Subscribe to The Daily Scoop and get entries directly to your e-mail. Just use the subscribe button at the upper left.