Liz Lovely From Niche to National
Vegan Cookies from Vermont Reach a National Audience
February 22, 2007 (Waitsfield, Vermont) – The Green Mountains of Vermont are a well-known breeding ground for natural and specialty food producers. Some of the most successful edibles in the country began as Vermont upstarts. Think Ben & Jerry’s, Green Mountain Coffee, and Cabot Cheese. Soon, the national consciousness will be adding another Vermont brand to its brain-bank: Liz Lovely.
Liz Lovely has been growing a significant cult following for their cookies since 2003. Not just with vegans, but in the fastest growing segment of shoppers, those seeking out natural and organic foods. According to Liz Holtz, President and Founder of Liz Lovely, "When I started out, I was just focused on reaching vegans. It was my niche. But I was serving up cookie samples at a Whole Foods Market, and I saw people tossing packs of my cookies into their baskets alongside milk cartons and hamburgers. So, I started thinking bigger."
In 2004, when Liz Lovely made a deal with United Natural Foods (the largest U.S. distributor of natural and organic foods), they began creeping out from the wintry confines of the Northeast and into stores all over the East Coast. Based on their on-going success, they added Midwest retailers in 2005. On New Year’s Day 2007, the company achieved what all upstart food businesses yearn for: national distribution.
Leveraging their existing relationship with United Natural Foods, Liz Lovely is now available to natural food stores and supermarkets on the West Coast. "Sales have exceeded our expectations,” said Liz Holtz, “We’ve received several large re-orders from our distributor…way ahead of our predictions."
Dan Holtz, Vice President and Co-Founder added, "In 2005, we were named Product of the Year by VegNews, a national vegetarian lifestyle magazine based in San Francisco. We’ve been building up West Coast demand since then, and it’s awesome to see the cookies take off out there."
Liz Lovely makes five varieties of Certified Vegan, handmade, artisan cookies all with unique names like Ginger Snapdragons and Mochadamia Mountains. Each pack of two cookies is priced from $3.99 to $4.39. Liz calls the cookie pairs ‘soul-mates’ and asks people to ‘Share the Love’ and pass one on to a friend. According to the company philosophy, “social responsibly always rides shotgun.” To that end, they use organic/Non-GMO ingredients, only Fair Trade chocolate, and create sustainable jobs by providing livable-wages, healthcare, and a 4-day work week. You can learn more about Liz Lovely by visiting their website at www.lizlovely.com.
