A Health Food Store

[Somnambulist]

What kind of things do you like to see in a health food store? I'm asking because my wife and I are going to open one soon in Chiang Mai and we need your feedback. We are going to start modestly, with home fermented yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut, organic chicken and duck eggs, free range chicken meat and broth, grains, and assorted other products. Our supplier of imported grains has assured us that none of their products contain GMOs. We are still looking for a local producer of organic rice and other grains, soaps and shampoos that don't contain even trace amounts of nasty chemicals, and reliable suppliers of organic vegetables and fruits. If you are a producer of any of these things or know someone who is, we'd like to hear from you. Would you like to see imported dried fruits and raw nuts? What about cleaning products for the home? EM and other soil amendments for kitchen gardens?

Waiting for your replies.

[eyecatcher]

This subject will go down a storm......ask them where the 600 calorie burger is, or the 16in pizza and you are onto a winner but health foods..........you need to get the dictionary definition to help some of these readers.

Get yourself up to the "salad concept" (down townies forget it) and see what the upper echelon of chiang mai society are eating off their healthy menus; I think your research and potential customer base is misaligned on here.

but as I dont like to be too contraversial; doctors says that most people die of natural causes so why exactly are you wanting to promote natural foods as being healthy.

[ddpffft]

how are you going to prove to your customers, that the products are "healthy"?

if you tell me, its from a local supplier i wouldnt believe that its healthy... sorry...

i would think you have to prove that...

if i look at the fruits and vegetables in the supermarket, the apples which dont show a country of origin/thai dont even taste for apple, often they taste awful, strange, chemical... then there is the chinese apple, which is found all over asia... the most affordable one, but the problem: it doesnt look like an apple and tastes for notthing... most of the eatable apples come from new zealand - price 40 tHB (1.30 USD) per apple plus plus...

even the lemons are "imported", though it usually doesnt say from where...

if something comes from china, it seems "promoted? on the product description...

the whole fruit and vegetables market is a real mystery to me...

i thought thailand was - agricultural wise - the land of "milk and honey"...

hardly true...

the onions are scaringly big, and even onions are imported from china

the red onions are surprisingly small..

a kilo bellpepper is 160 thb... hello? thats european pricing (with much higher wages there)...

keep us posted... im really interested where you will get "healthy" vegetables from and how you are going to prove that to your customers...

[Somnambulist]

how are you going to prove to your customers, that the products are "healthy"?

if you tell me, its from a local supplier i wouldnt believe that its healthy... sorry...

i would think you have to prove that...

if i look at the fruits and vegetables in the supermarket, the apples which dont show a country of origin/thai dont even taste for apple, often they taste awful, strange, chemical... then there is the chinese apple, which is found all over asia... the most affordable one, but the problem: it doesnt look like an apple and tastes for notthing... most of the eatable apples come from new zealand - price 40 tHB (1.30 USD) per apple plus plus...

even the lemons are "imported", though it usually doesnt say from where...

if something comes from china, it seems "promoted? on the product description...

the whole fruit and vegetables market is a real mystery to me...

i thought thailand was - agricultural wise - the land of "milk and honey"...

hardly true...

the onions are scaringly big, and even onions are imported from china

the red onions are surprisingly small..

a kilo bellpepper is 160 thb... hello? thats european pricing (with much higher wages there)...

keep us posted... im really interested where you will get "healthy" vegetables from and how you are going to prove that to your customers...

Since you mentioned milk and honey, allow me to tell you we will be carrying both. Raw milk from pastured cows isn't even the same drink as the denatured, dead stuff sold in supermarkets. And our honey is the best available in Chiang Mai, as is the honey vinegar and royal jelly. But vegetables are harder. There are many locations around town that purport to sell organic veggies but often the certification process is simply officials inspecting the farm once, never to return, the same as happens with GMP certification. That is not good enough for our store. So we need to establish direct relationships with growers who have a passion for producing healthful food. There are such operations. We visit their farms. We won't be selling apples since they don't grow here and they are a heavily sprayed crop. Have you heard of the dirty dozen and the clean 15? Google that to see which veggies are more important to spend organic money on. Onions are at the top of the clean list, protected by the skin which is discarded. Our store will not have anything like a full range of veggies every day. Only what we can get that we trust.

[Somnambulist]

This subject will go down a storm......ask them where the 600 calorie burger is, or the 16in pizza and you are onto a winner but health foods..........you need to get the dictionary definition to help some of these readers.

Get yourself up to the "salad concept" (down townies forget it) and see what the upper echelon of chiang mai society are eating off their healthy menus; I think your research and potential customer base is misaligned on here.

but as I dont like to be too contraversial; doctors says that most people die of natural causes so why exactly are you wanting to promote natural foods as being healthy.

I've gotten extremely positive responses from literally everyone I've told about the store so obviously I believe there is a market for healthy food, which doctors know nothing about since they don't study it at all and there's no profit in using food as medicine. Actually, the number one cause of death in the U.S. now is prescription drugs, prescribed by doctors, so I take what they say with a chunk of salt.

[triffid]

Whereabouts exactly will your be & when will it open?

[llp]

I and a few friends will be interested in the following:

- raw organic unheated wild honey (currently buy brand name healthy mate, raw/organic but I think its been heated)

- raw organic grass fed milk

- grass fed organic yogurt / cottage cheese

- pasture raised organic chicken eggs (will pay a hefty premium for this as its impossible to find in thailand), if it is free range then diet must be supplemented with no grains or soy, for example coconut pulp or organic meats, to keep the omega fats in balance

-various meats chicken/pork/beef, organic grass fed grass finished

Am looking foward to your store opening.

[onthedarkside]

Whereabouts exactly will your be & when will it open?

Too much self promotion here. Only forum sponsor allowed that.

Topic closed.