August, 2009

Artisan Edibles - gourmet corporate gift items

Submitted by saul on Tue, 08/25/2009 - 17:49

Artisan Edibles, from Vancouver Island, BC, is one of our newest suppliers and it's been great to add their amazing products to our line of gourmet corporate gift baskets. Their antipasto was their first product that caught our attention, using local seasonal vegetables to create a fresh and tasty spread. I really like it with crackers or artisan crisps for a snack or for hosting at an event or party. We've also added their artisan preserves to our mix to compliment Vista D'oro.

Top 3 things we enjoy about Artisan Edibles

1) veggie friendly - they've recently added a vegetarian antipasto which we're happy about and helped us to add them as a vendor. Their original recipe used tuna, which we also carry and is quite nice, but to have veggie options is key for us and our offering.

2) supa stylie - really tasteful and well designed packaging adds depth and class to our line of corporate gift baskets

3) tantilizing tastes that put a smile on your face

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Reclaimed wood work table - corporate gift basket assembly

Submitted by saul on Wed, 08/19/2009 - 13:58

After looking at the reclaimed parallam beams in our warehouse for the last 7 months I finally got around to following through on the reclaimed wood work bench I envisioned when Saul Good moved into share space with Eclipse Awards. Parallam is a recycled wood building product that Eclipse used to reinforce the ceiling to add strength for the green roof top deck on top of the building. It looks really cool, layers upon layers of in line wood grains, now playing the role of table top in our production space. It was just last week when I dropped into see our friends at Propellor Design, a local Strathcona Green Zone business that designs and builds rad lighting fixtures and furniture using eco materials, when I mentioned this project and they kicked down a super simple design that we bagan to work with. Besides scoring a design we also got a few boxes of reclaimed bamboo and nice hardwoods for our hand turned pens by Tradeworks Custom Products.

Building capacity & walking the talk

I hired Shane, one of the Eclipse production staff, to help turn the plan into action and after a day's work our new table is sorted! We're using it as our new and improved assembly benchy for our sustainable corporate gift and gift basket business. Not only does this new additon keep in line with our other green building and warehousing initiatives but also adds capacity to help meet growing demand for sustainable corporate gifts in Vancouver, BC. The new work bench has a lower shelf which we're using for our recycled gift boxes which frees up a bunch of space in our shelving for more the local organic gourmet food products we use in our gifts. With added production capacity we're gearing up for the Christmas and holiday gift season.

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Green office transportation

Submitted by saul on Tue, 08/18/2009 - 12:09

I am super lucky to have a view like this on my way home from work! Riding my bike over the Burrard Bridge in Vancouver, BC hosts fantastic views of English Bay out to the Georgia Straight and the Coast Mountains. I've been riding my bike to and from our Strathcona office and warehouse a few times a week, it's been an easy and fun way to start and end my work day. The new bike lane over the Burrard Bridge has made cycling safer in Vancouver and is a big step by Mayor Gregor Robertson and councellors like Andrea Reimer acting on their commitments for a sustainable city.

In most cities transportation is a major contributor ot green house gas emissions and there are many advantages for businesses to address this issue by engaging their employees to find alternate ways of getting to work without their cars.

Cycling saves time and money

- it's fast! It only takes me 25 minutes to ride my bike whereas it takes 45 minutes to take the bus. During rush hour it takes about the same amount of time to drive a car.

- purchasing a good bike costs way less than operating a car

- great exercise, gets the heart rate up and blood pumping to start the work day off right, increasing productivity

But I need my car during the day!

Some of us need a car during the day to run errands or hit up meetings, how can I get where I need to be if I don't have my car? A great option for this is car sharing services like the Co-operative Auto Network, a non-profit car sharing service in Vancouver, BC that let's it's members use vehicles by the hour at a fractional cost of owning your own vehicle. I've been a member for the last 3 years and for the most part the service has been great. When I first started Saul Good and was running it from my home the co-op helped me to save a lot of money by using their vehicles for big deliveries to clients. Loading a co-op pick up truck with 100 gift baskets and personally driving out to deliver them was a lot cheaper than delivery services or purchasing my own van or truck.

Top 3 things a company can do to promote sustainable commuting options

1) Offer to pay for cycling safety courses, helping to ensure that your employees feel comfortable while riding in traffic and get to work safely.

2) Provide incentives to get employees out of their cars. The Employer Pass Program at Translink gives your employees a 15% discount on public transit passes and you can kick a bit more in for added incentive. If you don't have 25 employees to sign up think about joining the Co-operative Auto Network as their members can join the program under their umbrella.

3) Remove barriers. Build showers for employees to use if they rid their bike into work. Sign up for the Company Car from the Co-operative Auto Network so employees can use vehicles during the day if need be.

Denman Island Chocolate wins organic chocolate taste test

Submitted by saul on Wed, 08/12/2009 - 17:30

Denman Island Chocolate were one of the first organic chocolate businesses in Canada and helped to lead the natural and organic food movement here in BC. Their founder Daniel is a great guy who has always been helpful to me with my business. Not only a nice guy, Daniel is a great chocolatier who makes damb tastey chocolate bars. A couple years ago I hosted an organic chocolate tasting party with a bunch of my friends and collegues who hands down chose Denman Island Chocolate as their favorite tasting chocolate bar!

Top 5 things we love about Denman Island Chocolate

1) Namaste - their organic chocolate Buddha with hazelnut belly is rad. We like to throw those in random corporate gifts just for fun to put smiles on people's faces

2) Rich and smooth taste won the Saul Good chocolate taste test hands down

3) Local ingredients - using local organic BC hazelnuts in some of their bars wins high praise with our standards

4) Ride on! Daniel loads up his bike trailer with outgoing orders for shipping at the Denman Island post office, saweet.

5) Roots natty roots - we totally respect how they were the first in what has become a growing and significant industry in the organic food movement.

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Vista D'oro - seasonal artisan preserves

Submitted by saul on Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:05

Vista D'oro seasonal artisan preserves have been one of our most popular products in our local gourmet and 100 mile gifts. They are made in a traditional method using large copper pots out at their farm in Langley, BC. Most of the ingredients come from their farm, a beautiful property with a great farm gate shop filled with their products and other hard to find local artisan products.

Top 3 things we love about Vista D'oro

1) tastes awesome - we love the Turkish Fig with Walnut Wine preserve! It tastes so good on top of a soft cheese like the local organic camembert White Moon from Moonstruck Organic Cheese on Saltspring Island. The wine is produced on the farm which we think is pretty darn cool.

2) classy - the jars are really nice and labels tastefully designed for a modern classy clean look that makes me feel sophisticated when I crack a jar open for friends and family.

3) who wants to eat pesticides? Although their farm is not certified organic we totally respect that they've been spray free for decades, respecting the health of the environment and their customers!

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TerraCycle - using waste for competitive advantage

Submitted by saul on Sat, 08/08/2009 - 18:16

Is sustainable business possible or just a load of garbage? TerraCycle is proving that it is not only possible but a competitive way to create value in lots of places. With a robust business model that pays organizations for their waste and turns organic waste into natural fertilizer products TerraCycle has a win win.

A robust and simple business model

1) get paid to collect organic waste from restaurants, food manufacturers, produce distributors, etc

2) pay organizations for their plastic beverage bottles

3) clean the bottles and take off the labels

4) fill the bottles with 'compost tea', a liquid nutrient from the composting of organic waste

5) put a new label on to the reused plastic bottle

TerraCycle has been extremely successful for their innovation in this space, a working example of how industrial ecology can be applied into robust business models, using waste from other companies as inputs into the products being manufactured. In this case they've not only integrated the use of organic waste from various commercial and industrial activities but also the reuse of plastic bottles and packaging from consumers. TerraCycle pays organizations for their bottles, great for school fundraisers teaching children a creative and essential way to look at business.

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Kama Natural Soap - organic and natural spa gifts

Submitted by saul on Fri, 08/07/2009 - 12:13

We're excited to be working with a new local vendor for some of our natural and organic spa gifts, Kama Natural Soap from Saltspring Island, BC. Kama has developed a great line of products that use pure essential oils and are made locally on Saltspring. Over the last few years we've struggled to find high quality local spa products that not only work great but also look stylie too. A trip over to the Saturday market on Saltspring Island a few weeks back helped me to find just what I was looking for.

Top 3 things we like about Kama

1) The products smell amazing! We really like the lime lavender and lemongrass bars, subtle clean and fresh.

2) Style - makes me feel like an ancient Minoean kicking back in style in Crete

3) Quality - With 12 years of experience Kama is doing it right. Their bar soap doens't melt in the soap dish and has a delicate balance of moisturizers to keep the skin soft.

Look out for Kama products in our new upcoming line of natural and organic spa gifts at Saul Good.

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