Our Mission
Aspiring to be the heart and soul of our community, through a commitment to local and organic foods.
Supporting Our Community
Ellwood Thompson’s celebrates the community through in-kind donations and support, while providing fresh, healthy and sustainable products for our customers.
Our business philosophy
The success of Ellwood Thompson’s is determined by customer satisfaction, staff happiness and local community support. We intend to grow our business by offering quality products at fair prices with exceptional customer service.
Our Commitment to Labeling: Since 2010, we have been a proud member of the NON-GMO Project, a non-profit multi-stakeholder collaboration committed to preserving and building sources of non-genetically modified products, educating consumers and providing verified non-GMO choices. It’s our shared belief with the NON-GMO Project that everyone deserves an informed choice about whether or not to consume genetically modified organisms.
When making purchasing choices, our buyers compare new products with the NON-GMO Project’s list of verified products. This list was created using North America’s only third party verification and labeling for non-GMO food and products. Products that make this list are labeled with NON-GMO tags on our shelves.
Going Beyond Industry Standards: Thanks to hard working team members, ingredients like High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) were added to our banned list before they showed up under the national spotlight. Our standards are constantly monitored, keeping them up to date and “beyond” industry standards. Our operations committee follows the latest trends, news, and food related topics to stay up to date on these important issues. We keep a close eye on food safety and food recalls, posting up-to-the-minute information on our website and Facebook.
Our Purchasing Process:
1. Source of the product: We review where the product comes from, how it was produced or grown, and the mission, reputation and values of the company. Turning down product is something we do all the time, even with local ones.
2. Clean Ingredients: Our current list of banned ingredients is over 100 and growing. That list includes ingredients such as high fructose corn syrup, parabens, nitrates artificial flavors and colorings, growth hormones and more. A complete list of banned ingredients can be found on the last page of this packet.
3. Does it meet the department standards? If the item makes it through the ingredients check-list, it now has to meet the specific standards for the department it will be sold in. Those standards are listed in this packet.
4. Would we take it home? We’re not going to carry a product that we wouldn’t take home ourselves. Taste, flavor, aroma, freshness – these all come into play when making decisions. Our tasting process starts with our buyers and staff and must meet the approval of multiple employees before we’ll make our final decision.
Our Commitment to Transparency: One factor that sets us apart from our competition is our commitment to transparency. From our sales floor to our listed ingredients and nutrition content, we strive to provide accessible information on each and every product. If there is ever a question regarding a product, let us know and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.
We provide farmer profiles available online and in the store for local growers and producers. Organic produce follows national guidelines for Country of Origin Labeling (COOL), showing origins clearly labeled on each sign. For more infor- mation on our products, please ask a steward for more information.