Jeni’s helps other small companies get their frozen products into stores

More and more grocery stores and restaurants from Michigan to Washington, D.C., are stocking Luna Burger’s Ohio-made vegan burgers and breakfast patties.
“We’re excited about our list of retail locations,” said co-owner Megan Luna. “And it’s growing. That makes us happy.”
The growth also makes John Lowe, CEO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, happy.
The artisan ice-cream-maker in Columbus started Eat Well Distribution early this year to get novel products of other small, mostly local, food companies on retail shelves nationwide.
Eat Well is meeting the needs of small frozen-food companies that don’t have enough sales to attract a handful of large national distributors. Eat Well also distributes its food in a unique way: packing it with dry ice and shipping it to retailers rather than delivering it with trucks.
“A company like Jeni’s that figured out how to do this for ice cream could really help other companies figure out a game plan to get their products to market,” said Nate Filler, president and CEO of the Ohio Grocers Association.
Luna Burger was Eat Well’s first client. “We’ve just about doubled our retail locations with them in less than a year,” Luna said. “So that’s been a significant impact for us.”
By taking over Luna Burger’s sales and distribution responsibilities, Eat Well also has freed up owners Megan and Barbie Luna (barbie wholesale ) to do other things, Megan Luna said.
Eat Well is compensated mostly with the difference between what it pays for the products it distributes and what retailers end up paying for the products. “As a simple matter, we buy from them at a distributor price and we sell at a wholesale price,” Lowe said.
Jeni’s expertise at taking orders, packing and shipping boxes of frozen food, and learning the lingo of frozen-food retailers sprang from necessity.
“When we started our wholesale business three and a half years ago, we didn’t sell enough ice cream for distributors to want to take up space at their warehouses,” Lowe said.
So a team at Jeni’s started packing 45 pints of ice cream and dry ice in a box, and shipping the boxes to retailers who stocked their own shelves.
“The Hill’s Market was our first customer, and then Foragers in Brooklyn, New York,” Lowe said. “ These retailers were always a little skeptical. But we would talk them into trying it.”
Today, Jeni’s is the largest buyer of dry ice in Ohio and ships its ice creams to 675 retail locations nationwide, Lowe said. It made business sense to leverage the china wholesale company’s sales, marketing and distribution expertise by adding other small, frozen-food companies.
“We got excited about another product in town called Luna Burger, vegan veggie burgers that we think are fantastic,” Lowe said. “They’ve got a great product, but the chances of them breaking through and making a name for themselves is pretty thin” without a distributor.
Consolidation in the food industry by retailers, distributors and producers has left small, young food companies with few sales and distribution options, he said. Eat Well’s help could improve their odds for sales breakthroughs.
In addition to Luna Burger, Eat Well Distribution serves Brezel, the maker of gourmet Bavarian pretzels at Columbus’ North Market.
Eat Well and Brezel have been developing a line of four flavors of pretzels to be distributed first locally, then statewide, and eventually nationwide, beginning early next year, said Brittany Baum, founder and owner of Brezel.
“We really don’t know what to expect, but we’re hoping our retail business will pick up, and more people will put our products on their menus,” said Baum, who expects to pay Eat Well a success fee every time it gets her pretzels on a new store shelf.
Eat Well also distributes dry beans, grains, seeds and flour for Shagbark Seed & Mill in Athens, as well as Naanwiches — frozen naan bread sandwiches filled with Indian dishes such as Chicken Tikka Masala — for Sukhi’s Gourmet Indian Foods in Hayward, Calif., and herb-infused, whole-food snack bars for Simple Squares in Chicago.
For Lowe, using Jeni’s expertise “on behalf of these other great companies is fun and exciting,” he said. “We think that if we help companies like Luna Burger and Shagbark grow with very low-cost services, their volumes will increase, and good will come of it.”
source from: Jeni’s helps other small companies get their frozen products into stores

Bombay Bicycle Club: "Our keyboard player ruined our relationship with the Pixies"

Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman talks to PERRI CASSIE about writers block, new material, playing Joy Division covers with Peter Hook and awkward encounters with the Pixies.
With three albums under their belt now, Bombay discount bike parts Club have an eclectic repertoire; from bouncy indie pop, to splashes of 90s fuzz, and the accomplished pop hooks and electronics of last year’s A Different Kind of Fix album. The BBC embarked on their maiden voyage to Australia earlier this year touring with fellow Brits, Elbow and were greeted with a demand for upsized venues and additional shows. They will return over the new year as part of Falls and Southbound festival lineups, with a handful of headline shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to keep them busy in the first week of 2013.
Ahead of the return visit FL caught up with frontman Jack Steadman on the phone from the New Orleans stop on their recent American tour, to check in on the progress of his solo career and find out what the band has in store for us when they return.
There are some quotes of yours that certainly suggest your solo stuff is gathering momentum, I’ve seen terms like “more electronic”, “more improvised””, influenced by African music” thrown around, `what are the developments on that?
That’s always just been something that I do on the side. I’ll always bring my studio on tour with us, it’s always on the bus. I think it’s just kind of therapeutical to have an outlet which isn’t in the limelight as much as Bombay, where you’re not thinking about a fan base, or a radio, or something like that. You’re just going back to what you used to do, which is making music for yourself. More and more recently it’s the solo stuff that is creeping into Bombay as well, it’s probably where you hear the sort of more electronic influence in our newest material.
Do you think you’ll release anything official by yourself?
Maybe, I don’t know, I’m in two minds about it because it might sort of ruin the whole essence of it. Right now it’s the complete opposite; it’s not something serious. It’s just something to give away for free and just to have some fun with, but we’ll see. Maybe in a couple of years.
So you’re here for Falls Festival, I’m sure since your last visit you had no shortage of festival offers, what was it about Falls that convinced you guys to join the bill? And who are you looking forward to seeing most?
To be honest I don’t know much about the festival, but any excuse to come to Australia we were going to jump on it. Our last visit was one of the funnest tours we’ve ever been on. Most of us had never been before and we didn’t really know what to expect and we just had the best time. Since being booked for it everyone we’ve talked to has been like “oh Falls, yeah Falls, you’re going to love it” and we remember we bumped into The Temper Trap and they were singing its praises, so yeah, we’re really looking forward to it.
Tell me about your last visit to Australia. Were, and are, you still surprised by your reception down here?
It’s like we were never on the tour, it was just like a holiday, we just hung out heaps, we weren’t that busy, we didn’t have that many shows, so yeah, it was super fun. We were definitely blown away by the response when we got here, because we didn’t really know what to expect.
I know you suffered a bit of writer’s block for A Different Kind of Fix. A lot of your lyrics seem to revolve around doomed sort of lop-sided relationships, and obviously those sorts of topics are popular amongst listeners because let’s face it: everyone knows a girl like the one you write about. Is it hard to come up with thoughts on such a topic when you are, by all accounts, in a functioning relationship?
You would think it is, but really it’s when you’re in a relationship where it sort of gets more complicated, it’s almost more interesting to write about. When other things start happening and things become forbidden I think that’s just another avenue to explore. A really common theme is “you really love someone but they don’t love you” and that’s sort of forbidden love, and it’s the same when you’re in a relationship and traveling around the world – that’s happening on a daily basis.
Lucy Rose has been pretty present on a couple of your albums, and she’s just dropped her debut which I understand you make some appearances on, you guys obviously have a closer relationship with her, any chance of her making her way down here with you at the end of the year?
I think she’s pretty busy now, so I don’t think she’ll make it to Australia, like you said she’s got her own thing going on now. Maybe she’ll just do the occasional UK show now, but in terms of touring on a global scale I don’t think she’s available. We still hang out all the time though; she’s definitely going to be on our next record no matter what.
I heard you’ve already got a few demos down, and have even played a couple live, are you hoping to have the next album out sooner rather than later, or do you think you’ll take a bit longer between albums this time?
We’ll definitely take a bit longer with this record, obviously in this past it’s been pretty quick, but we’ve only got about four or five tracks that we’re happy with right now, and we’re just taking it slow, we’re thinking about producers, I guess we’re hoping for maybe a late 2013 release, that’s kind of what we’re looking at.
I really quite like the direction of ‘Carry Me’.
Yeah well we’ve been playing that one a lot, we’ll definitely be playing that in Australia, we’re gonna hopefully have three tracks ready for Australia, we’ve been talking about it and we want to rehearse a couple more, so you guys will get to hear some more as well.
Now that you’ve sort of got a start on the new album what are the hopes for it? You’ve been lauded as future headliners for the likes of Leeds and Reading, do you think the next one could be the album that pushes you to that level?
I guess so, it’s not really healthy to have those thoughts at the back of your mind when you’re writing a record. I try not to think about it. It just fucks with your mind and you just start thinking “oh well I like this song but is it going to be good enough for the headline stage?”. The more criteria you put on it, the more difficult it is to write. So I’m just going to keep a clear head, and if I like it I’ll show it to the band, and if they like it then we’re going to put it on the record.
You’ve also said in the past that you struggle to interact with other bands as a unit, purely out of awkwardness more than anything, has there even been one particular scenario where you guys just got kind of overwhelmed and wanted to sink into the ground? What’s been the most awkward band moment for you?
Definitely when we met the Pixies, that was more our keyboard player than any of us. He’s definitely one of the more awkward members of the band and he went up to the guitarist of the Pixies and couldn’t think of what he was going to say, so he just goes “do you know Slash?” He thought that every famous guitar player in the world knows each other and probably hang out all the time and he just wanted to talk about Slash and this guy was just looking at him like “what the fuck are you talking about!?” [Laughs]. So he kind of ruined our relationship with the Pixies.
I know the band have some hang ups about your name, and the sort of first impression that you think you might have set early on, do you yourselves feel your breaking away from that mold of “NME band” and creating new impressions? Or do you still worry about?
For me personally, that’s why I love touring outside of the UK so much, because I feel like we’re not really judged on those first impressions like we are in the UK. I think for a lot of people outside of the UK, A Different Kind of Fix is sort of the first thing they heard.
You can’t really get your first two albums down here..
Yeah well see that’s the thing, the first album was such a long time ago that wholesale bicycle parts we feel very distant from it, so when we go to places like America and Australia I feel like we’re sort of treated with the kind of respect that I think we deserve. Whereas in the UK there’s a lot of people who probably heard the first record and sort of haven’t tuned in since because they dismissed it as just quite standard indie music.
So you got to perform with Peter Hook recently, tell me a little bit about that.
That was a lot of fun, it was for this African Express thing, and we did a cover of ‘She’s Lost Control’. It was pretty similar to the original but it had a few differences that we had to teach him, and it was the most surreal thing. We were standing there trying to show him the parts and I was just thinking “this is the most crazy situation, it’s his song”. Before we went on stage he comes up to me and says “I’m just going to follow you on this one, you lead, I’ll follow” and I don’t think that will be something I’ll ever forget – Peter Hook coming up to you and telling you he’s going to follow you on a cover of his own song.

ROCK YOUR STYLE: Wear it like you mean it

What is one thing runway models, your English teacher and the cashier at the grocery store all have in common?
The presence of fashion in their lives.
Now, the runway model’s life may have a more heavy fashion influence than your teacher’s, but fashion plays a role in both of their day-to-day activities. As Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
The dictionary defines fashion as: “n. A popular trend, especially in styles of dress, ornament, or behavior.”
You may be thinking, “Wait, what? Behavior?” Yes, behavior as well as wholesale clothing suppliers . Fashion trends have obviously changed since the 1960s; for example, I don’t see people wearing platform shoes anymore (although jumpsuits are sneaking back into style). And the way we act has changed, too; I’m pretty sure if you said “YOLO” in the 1960s, people would ask if you meant “yo-yo.” The way people as a whole behave is constantly changing, lo and behold, fashion trends.
A lot of people wonder why fashion is even important, more specifically, the clothing aspect. But when do you feel more confident and successful; wearing sweats and a hoodie, or wearing a cute skirt and a nice top? The way we dress and choose to look affects our moods more than we can even imagine.
Making a statement
For some teens, if they think their hair looks bad in the morning, it will be on their mind the whole day.
“If I take the time to do my hair and makeup, I feel more accomplished and have a better outlook on my day,” says Madison Dalrymple, a junior at Syracuse High School.
Simply put, looking put together and feeling put together go hand in hand. Same goes for looking like a mess and feeling like a mess.
The way we present ourselves doesn’t only affect our mood, it affects others around us as well. No one likes to admit that they judge a book by its cover, but we all do. If you see someone who dresses like you do, you are naturally more comfortable around them; and if you see someone who dresses in a way you perceive to be weird or uncool, you will automatically think that they’re weird or uncool.
“The first thing you notice is someone’s clothes, so you can kinda tell what kind of person they are by what they wear,” says Liz Jenkins, a Weber High sophomore.
Success and fashion go hand in hand. Note what businessmen and businesswomen are wearing. They wear formal, conservative discount wholesale clothing because someone long ago established that clothing that isn’t distracting screams success in the business world.
Now look at your favorite band or artist. What are they wearing? Probably something really creative and out there; that’s because the crazier you are as an entertainer, the more easily you are noticed and pulled up to fame.
Always in style
There are always those who don’t really care about fashion — whatever is comfortable is what goes on their body.
But contrary to popular belief, even if you aren’t keeping up with trends and wearing what’s hot, you are still making a fashion statement. You may give off the vibe that you’re calm, mellow and easygoing because that is how you present yourself.
Everyone’s style falls into a category; even if you say you don’t care about fashion at all, you’re in the “comfy” category, and the style is changing. Whether you know it or not, you’re following the wave of change.
It seems as though some teens do consider themselves fashionable. When asked if he considers himself trendy, for instance, Bridger Wood, a junior from Weber High, says, “Yes, because ladies tell me I am.”
And Minsum Choi, a sophomore from NUAMES says, “Sometimes, I try to look good, but I’m not obsessed about it.”
Fashion can be confusing. After all, it’s a very fast-paced industry and its standards are constantly changing. Fashionable is also a hard word to define, but if you follow these simple rules, you’ll ALWAYS look stylish.
1. Wear what you want.
2. Rock it.
From the general behavior of people, to how we feel about ourselves, to whom we choose to associate, it’s safe to say that fashion rules our world. Whether you’re gaga for Gucci or your closet is made by Macy’s, fashion is one of the biggest “peer pressures” of all.

Get more out of your fashion favourites: how to make your clothes work harder

We all have our old faithfuls, those cheap wholesale dresses clothes you go back to again and again because the fit and style is just perfect for your body. But eventually, they get old, they go out of style or they need a bit of a revamp. It's easier than you think to give a new lease of life to your clothes, and it doesn't take as long as you think. From simple customising to fun with dyes, here are some quick ways to make your clothes work even harder for you!
Customise!
Customising doesn't have to mean tearing up, re-fitting, sewing on cheap looking applique or adding anything too drastic. Put down the glue gun and leave the glitter alone! Simple customising tricks are subtle, but make all the world of difference to a tired item that you want to revamp. Try changing the buttons on your favourite coat (gold ones give an instant Military update, or you might want to try novelty children's buttons for a touch of Zooey Deschanel-esque cuteness). Lop a few inches off the hem of a longer skirt to make it more wearable, or add a little ribbon trim around a sleeve or neckline. You can also hunt the shops for things like clip-on collars that will instantly update old clothes with no commitment.
Dye it a new colour
If your favourite piece is beginning to fade, or if you're just tired of the hue, you could consider using a dye to give it a new lease of life. Obviously this depends on the type of fabric and the original colour, but there are plenty of products out there that will do the job - visit the Dylon website for more info. This is also a great way of making a style you love work in a new way - buy multiples of a garment that fits you perfectly, and dye them to give yourself more options. When Curvy Wordy found a dress that she loved the shape of, she bought up all the stock in her size and dyed them every colour of the rainbow - it's only way to boost your wardrobe options instantly!
Wear it a completely new way
We often fall into the trap of wearing our favourite items of wholesale fashion clothing for women the same way each time. You know the necklace that works with an outfit, or the shoes that match. You always wear the same colour tights with the same dresses and skirts, or you always wear a certain cardigan over the top of a blouse or dress. So next time you're pulling out an old faithful, mix it up completely. Put a jumper over your dress to make it look like a skirt, or roll up the hem of your jeans / trousers to make them look cropped. Swap boots for shoes, or heels for flats. Ditch the black separates and match (or clash) your colours for a bit of fun. Pulling that beloved item out of a style rut will give it a completely new lease of life.
Make it last longer in the wash
Ensuring you get as much wear as possible out of your favourite clothes comes down the care and attention you pay to how you look after it. As well as storing things correctly, make sure you wash everything on the right setting, at the correct temperature, and keep the colours bright as long as possible by adding one or two sheets of Colour Catcher in with the load, This will also stop any colours running in your wash, so you don't end up turning a white shirt pink thanks to a rogue pair of red knickers!
Learn to sew and make small changes
So few of us know how to sew, but it's such a useful skill to have when it comes to making your clothes work harder. If something fits you perfectly, you'll get so much more wear out of it. Learn the basics of sewing and you can do small tweaks to your clothes to make them fit your body perfectly, instead of adequately. Add darts to a top, bring in a waist, shorten a hem, unpick a seam and add a bit more ease - most jobs are fairly simple once you know the basics. A sewing machine is such a great investment and you can get a really good one for under £100 if you shop around. Working it is easier than you think - once you've learned to thread the needle, it's a piece of cake from there on in! As you get more experienced, you may want to learn pattern cutting too - then when a favourite items wears out, you can draft a pattern and sew yourself a new version!

Bettie Page Clothing Announces Recording Artist Mayra Veronica as Spokesperson

Bettie Page Clothing just named recording artist, Mayra Veronica, as its spokesperson for their much anticipated fall collection. Mayra's classic feminine look and moreover, her dedicated service to our troops overseas makes her the ideal choice.
About Bettie Page clothing suppliers wholesale
Inspired by the 1950's iconic pin-up, Bettie Page, dubbed "Queen of Pinups" - and created by Russian-born fashion designer, Tatyana Khomyakova, Bettie Page Clothing is an homage to the Bettie Page persona, which continues to mesmerize women and men worldwide with her voluptuous figure, sexy image, and jet black locks.
Opening their first store in 2007 at the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood on the Strip in Vegas, BPC now has ten stores across the U.S.A. in cities like San Francisco, Hollywood, San Diego, Minneapolis, and Salt Lake City where the vintage pin-up mens clothes china wholesale has galvanized its followers. BPC has just become a publicly traded company, Tatyana Designs, Inc. (OTC: TATD).
About Mayra Veronica
Mayra is the modern day Bettie Page with her heavenly curves, dark hair, and infectious smile. Mayra has also been branded Miss USO by an army of her most ardent fans overseas, where her sexy calendars and countless humanitarian visits have afforded a brief respite to the wounded and active alike.
Chosen by BPC for her exuberant femininity, Mayra demonstrates playfulness and class, while exuding sensuality when wearing the designs. "It may seem that the combination is rare," notes Tatyana, "but really it is the soul of every woman. It's just that Mayra exudes those traits in spades..."

H&M Joins M&S By Collecting Recycled Clothing in its Stores Worldwide

Fashion retailers are embracing sustainability with ever-widening arms, becoming increasingly accountable for the byproducts their industry creates. With their latest moves, H&M and Marks & Spencer (M&S as it's better known) are leading the rack-pack.

Following in the footsteps of the UK-wide recycling push launched by M&S earlier this year, H&M is planning to launch the world’s first global clothing collective initiative, to be introduced in all of its 48 markets in February.

According to the fast-fashion retailer's press release, “Any pieces of clothing, from any brand and in any condition are accepted. In return, the customer will receive a voucher for each bag brought. The collected chinese fashion mens clothing are then handled by H&M’s partner, I:Collect, which provides the infrastructure in which consumer goods are repeatedly reprocessed and made available for new use."

“Our sustainability efforts are rooted in a dedication to social and environmental responsibility. We want to do good for the environment, which is why we are now offering our customers a convenient solution: to be able to leave their worn out or defective garments with H&M,” stated H&M CEO Karl-Johan Persson.

No value was stated for the voucher H&M is offering in return for donations to in-store collection boxes to be processed by I:CO, as its Swiss recycling partner is branded; its tagline is "Rethink. Recycle. Reward."

I:CO's partners to date have been Reno Shoes and Adler in Europe, so it's taking on a huge task by agreeing to process H&M-collected used clothing and shoe donations worldwide. I:CO's website explains that it works with a bigger, unnamed recycling partner: "I:CO’s partnership with one of the world’s largest, most experienced and innovative clothing and shoe recycling companies ensures that your collected items are professionally recycled and repurposed into much needed raw materials — aspiring to nothing less than Zero Waste."

Another section of the I:CO website (which has yet to be updated with news of its H&M partnership) elaborates,

Repurposed clothing and shoes is not only an economically but also an environmentally-friendly retail alternative. When items are no longer wearable, I:CO transforms unusable clothing into industrial products ranging from cleaning clothing suppliers wholesale, paper, insulation, carpet underlay, surface covering and textile fibers.

So more details to come, it seems, on how it all will work once H&M's global customer base starts carting their cast-offs to stores. It's just the latest sustainable move for H&M, which is seeking to be more efficient and sustainable in an industry where "Every year tonnes of textiles are thrown out with domestic waste and end up in landfill. As much as 95 percent of these clothes could be used again; re-worn, reused or recycled - depending on the state of the garment.

“Long-term, H&M wants to reduce the environmental impact of garments throughout the lifecycle and create a closed loop for textile fibres," the company's statement added, "which is why H&M has set up its Conscious Foundation: to support innovation on closing the loop on textiles and social projects along H&M’s value chain." It's also, of course, promoting its corporate values and educating customers, employees and partners.

H&M was the biggest user of organic cotton worldwide for the second consecutive year in 2011, part of the brand’s strategic goal to only use more sustainable cotton by 2020. Besides increased use of certified organic cotton, H&M is also boosting the use of called Better Cotton and is an active member of the Better Cotton Initiative, investing more than EUR 2 million in total (until 2013) in helping hundreds of thousands of cotton farmers grow more cotton with less water and fewer chemicals.

Competitor M&S started a ‘shwopping’ fashion revolution, asking shoppers to donate an old item when purchasing a new one at selected stores. M&S, in turn, forwards the donations to Oxfam's network of charity shops across the UK to help those less fortunate, with a certain amount getting recycled and reused for other products.

In-store collection bins are augmented by a Facebook app that lets users 'shwop' socially and register for a monthly prize draw. “It's time to open your mind, your heart, your arms and your wardrobe. Shwopping is a way of living and thinking, because we think that old clothes shouldn't just be thrown out, they should do some good,” explained Ab Fab actress and M&S brand ambassador Joanna Lumley at the initiative's launch back in April.

“We're leading a change in the way we all shop for china wholesale clothing, forever,” said M&S CEO Marc Bolland. “This is the right, responsible move for the UK's biggest clothing retailer and the ultimate goal is simple – to put a complete stop to clothes ending up in landfill. We want to get back one garment for every one we sell. For us that's 350 million a year. It is a big number, but with our customers' help, we will do it.”

M&S has already offered a Shwopping coat for sale, made entirely from recycled material from the initiative, and plans to install Shwop Drops (as it calls its clothes collection bins) in offices, free of charge, in exchange for an M&S voucher to the organizer. “For companies, it a great way to engage with employees and improve your sustainability credentials.”

M&S also hosted London’s first Sustainable Fashion Lab in April, a pop-up project to engender dialogue between designers and stylists about sustainability, highlighting the brand’s Plan A commitment to become "the world's most sustainable major retailer" by 2015. 

“We're doing this because it's what you want us to do. It's also the right thing to do. We're calling it Plan A because we believe it's now the only way to do business,” says M&S in its Plan A manifesto video, adding, “There is no Plan B.”