Sprouts info and manager's email

[Guest guest]

I happened across the manager of Sprouts in Sunnyvale yesterday. His name is Ron , and he gave me permission to post his email address: ronsmith@...We talked about a variety of things, including the fact that he formerly worked for Whole Foods and the Henry's Farmers Market chain. struck me as very knowledgeable and concerned about the needs of those with celiac sprue or a wheat gluten allergy. He told me several things of interest:The company will need to source GF breads from this area. Currently, they are being shipped from southern California. Today I sent him information on five bakeries (Pele's Oven, Natural Food Works - Farmer's Kitchen, City Lights Espresso, Zest, and

Mariposa). If you have any recommendations for these or others, please send them to him.Several people from headquarters are going to be here in a few weeks. A number of issues are going to be discussed including additional and new products. What additional things would you like to see in the store?'s boss, who is in southern California, is moving up here for a while to oversee the opening of two new Sprouts stores in Dublin and Roseville. Additional ones are planned for 2012.Henry's Farmers Markets are also planning stores in the Bay Area. [My note: They are closer to Sprouts in nature than Whole Foods and, in fact, were actually previously started by the Boney family that started Sprouts in 2002. Henry's was sold to the, now, defunct Wild Oats, which Whole Foods purchased several years ago.] said the Boney family are very committed to providing GF products as well as

ones for other food sensitivities.Sprouts will soon have another of those 25% sale on GF products. He said they have been very successful, so much so that stocks of many GF items have been depleted at the stores, warehouses, and source vendors. HogleFreelance academic librarianInstructor, online researchEmail: jjhogle@...Web: (under de- and re-construction) www.blueroom.comReality ain't what you think it isArt Graphics & Photographs[http://www.blueroom.com/realityaint.htm]