[00:00:10] Ray Latif: Hey folks, I'm Ray Latif and you're listening to the number one podcast for the food and beverage industry, Taste Radio. This episode features an interview with Jimbo Someck, the founder of admired natural grocery chain, Jimbo's. It's doubtful that Jimbo Someck would ever characterize himself as an influencer, but it's an apt description given his passionate and effective advocacy for organic and natural foods, something that he's been doing for the past five decades. Jimbo is the founder of organic-centric grocery chain Jimbo's, which operates four locations in the San Diego area. He opened his first store in 1984 and has long been a prominent figure in the development of the natural food industry. Jimbo's standards for selling high-quality and nutritious food has won the chain plaudits and admirers. Meanwhile, its embrace of nascent and innovative concepts has earned it a reputation as a breeding ground for disruptive food and beverage brands. In this interview, Jimbo chronicled the origins of his interest in organic food and his grocery chain. how Jimbo's evaluates novel ideas and products, and how he leverages his influence to promote values that he's passionate about, including regenerative agriculture. Hey folks, it's Ray with Taste Radio. Right now, I am honored to be sitting down with Jimbo Someck, who is the founder and CEO of Jimbo's. Jimbo, great to see you. My pleasure. Happy to be here. You've been in the grocery business, you've been in the organic food business for a very, very long time. When we spoke last, I think you mentioned this is your fifth decade in organic.
[00:01:55] Jimbo Someck: I started when I came from, I had been going to finish my first year of college and decided that I wanted to take a break from having been in school ever since I could remember. And my brother was out here. And I came out in 1973. So just a couple of months ago, I crossed 50 years of working in the natural foods industry.
[00:02:18] Ray Latif: Behind you, and you're in a office, and I love the fact that your office is pretty bare bones. I mean, if I would think of like an office in the 80s, you know, it's just like white walls, a few posters behind you. There's like a calendar with a pin holding up against the wall. There's not much there. You're not trying to have this elegant, elaborate office.
[00:02:40] Jimbo Someck: Our mission and Bill of Rights is behind me, so that's what I hold near and dear to my heart.
[00:02:46] Ray Latif: Yeah, well, I want to talk about your mission because I see that over your right shoulder. And there are three parts to your mission, and then underneath it is our vision, as in Jimbo's vision. And the first thing, if I can read this correctly, says, we do the right thing. What is the right thing? What does that mean?
[00:03:02] Jimbo Someck: Well, we typically, I mean, a lot of people, a lot of companies say this is what they do, but they don't walk the talk. And we really believe that what we say in our mission is something that we need to walk the talk. So by doing the right thing, it's not just talking about. what we believe in, what our mission and what we call our Bill of Rights. We walk the talk and we've had many opportunities to not walk the talk, but we want our customers to know that when they shop us, they can trust that what we say we're going to do and who we say we are, they can believe that that is actually the reality.
[00:03:45] Ray Latif: And now, the next part of our mission is by providing the highest quality organic and natural foods.
[00:03:53] Jimbo Someck: Well, I will say that all our produce is 100% organic. Our bulk is 100% organic. The foods that we make in our delis are, I would say, 99% organic ingredients. You know, not all our grocery items are organic, so this mission statement was written, I would say, about, let's see, over about 30 years ago. And at the time, it was still challenging to get everything organic that we wanted. And as time has transpired, we feel stronger and stronger about the ability to bring in organic products and our commitment towards organic. And I think as we talked last time, we really now are moving towards regenerative organic, which is the next frontier for us.
[00:04:43] Ray Latif: When you started getting involved in organic food and embracing it in your own personal life, what really motivated you, what inspired you to do so?
[00:04:55] Jimbo Someck: Well, I think there are a couple of things that come to mind. I think one is just the absence of, you know, chemicals being put into the food and therefore putting into my body. I think I brought up the analogy to you when we spoke before in regards to athletes during the off season and they come back and you hear they've recommitted themselves in their training and You never hear them that they're eating more junk food or drinking more soda. It's like they've cleaned up their diet. They're eating a lot more quality, natural and many times organic foods. And so if you have athletes that are wanting to perform at the highest level possible eating organic foods, why wouldn't People who may not be athletes still want to have their body performing at the highest efficiency possible. So it just hit me that that's the best foods. I mean what you put into your body has got to have an impact on you. You know so if you're eating food that has chemicals on it then you're going to have the chemicals in your body. And for me, that's something that I try not to have. I think the other piece that was really important to me was just the whole environmental and sustainability piece and, you know, having to have people, whether it's farmers or migrant workers or whoever, having to work around chemicals all the time. As time has passed, we've seen that many of these chemicals have caused, if you're around it significantly, have caused diseases that are many times cancer, and it's not something that I want to be a participant in. I think from an environmental sustainability piece, I think the land is much better off not having these chemicals on the land. We have one earth here and hopefully a mother earth will be around for many, many generations. And so for me to reduce the amount of chemicals going into the land is a benefit for all.
[00:07:00] Ray Latif: How does regenerative play into the future of food and the future of the food system?
[00:07:06] Jimbo Someck: Well, it's a little bit more integrated than just organics. Organics really just talks about the food and the pesticides and the chemicals that you can or cannot use. Regenerative also talks about the land but talks about paying people who work the land a fair wage talks about the animals that live on the land being taken care of in a way that is sustainable and fair to the animals. So it's all-encompassing. Some people talk about just regenerative, but without the word organic behind it, it's not the same. So that's why I always, when we mention regenerative, we always say regenerative organics because Organics by themselves is really important to me. Regenerative is important, but if I had to choose between regenerative and organic, I would say I would prefer organic. But regenerative organic brings in both components together, and that's where we at Jimbo's are headed towards, trying to support as many regenerative organic brands as possible.
[00:08:07] Ray Latif: You had a love for organic food. It's continued on to this day. Your love for organic food began many years ago, as you mentioned, and it continues through today. When you started the first Jimbo Someck, was it as much about seeing an opportunity for organic food to be sold to as many people as possible? Or was it just, you know, your passion to be able to give people a more accessible option for organic produce and consumer brands?
[00:08:38] Jimbo Someck: Well, I certainly would say that I wasn't convinced that I was going to be able to live off the business of when I opened my first store. So I think, you know, when I look back, I would say that it was something that I passionately believed in and I wanted to have a store that would allow other people to purchase organic produce and hopefully educate people around organics and when I had my first store that opened up it was 5000 square foot store but the retail size was probably like 3500 square feet I had an organics at that time was not. You know, something that you could readily get and so I would say, maybe 5060% of the produce was organic and the rest was conventional produce. Sometimes I would have. because you couldn't get enough organics. Like I would still have both organic broccoli and conventional broccoli separated, but, you know, still selling both at the same time. And I remember I had family members come to me and customers say, you know, how do you trust your customers to tell you that the produce is organic when they might say it's conventional because the price is cheaper on the conventional side? And my belief, and to this day, I still believe it, is that most people, customers who buy organic, are so concerned and proud of the fact that they buy organic that they would say it's organic, that they wouldn't lie. They wouldn't be buying organic food and then say, well, no, I got conventional. They wanted you to know. Of course, now we don't sell any conventional, so it's not an issue. But I really wanted to make sure that people had the option to buy organic foods and I can tell you in the first few years of having my store, I was out on the floor all the time talking to customers about the benefits and the reasons why and. you know, why we sold organic and the importance of it. And as we can see, that was 40 years ago, but organics might have been something that they talked about the hippie and granola crowd only wanting, but now it's mainstream.
[00:10:53] Ray Latif: You know, one way to tell for sure, at least in my opinion, whether something is organic, certainly when it comes to produce, is just in taste. I used to eat a lot of non-organic produce, tomatoes, strawberries, peaches, what have you. And the difference between an organic strawberry or an organic tomato is there is no comparison between that and conventional, in my opinion. And I think that's the thing. I mean, everyone wants better taste, everyone wants better flavor, and they want just better food in their bodies. but I think accessibility and affordability makes it really difficult for a lot of people to do so. So, you know, when you open your first store, how did you think about those two things, accessibility and affordability? How has that changed and how has that evolved, you know, in opening more stores and expanding your chain?
[00:11:47] Jimbo Someck: So let me just comment on the piece about the taste, because as we opened more stores, I was certainly less and less involved on the operational side of the business. But the last thing I gave up was ordering produce. I used to, when I opened my first store, I used to love to be on the floor and just offer our customers a taste of something that was just incredibly unbelievable. You know, have them remark, you know, on so many occasions, how it was so much better than the produce that they bought at the conventional stores. And it just was heartwarming to hear that. And as it relates to affordability and availability. The affordability was a concern of how to bridge the gap between the importance of eating organic foods and the price difference. The story I told you was about an elderly gentleman that shopped the store. for the first year that we were open in 1984. After a year of shopping, he was very meticulous about writing down everything that he was buying so that by the time he got to the cash register, he knew within pennies how much he was going to have to pay. After a year of doing this, he pulled me by the side and said, ''Can I talk to you?'' I said, ''Sure.'' He said, ''When you open up the store, I started shopping here instead of local conventional store and I've written down everything that I paid for compared to what I spent the year before and he said you know and I can't remember the number it was like and again he was an older gentleman and you know you didn't need a whole lot I assume he said it was like three four hundred dollars a year more that he spent but I And I thought that wasn't bad, but what he said next was the most important thing that I've carried with me since that. And he said, but I've never felt better in my life and I've saved more than that on doctor's bills. So when I look at the cost of organics, and certainly that has dropped tremendously as the supply has gotten greater. But when I look at, it's like you wanna pay now, you wanna pay later. And so if I was gonna spend, you know, let's say it's a break even or let's say it's going to cost me, you know, another thousand dollars. But if my health is, you know, that much better because I'm not putting chemicals into my body, then it's worth it to me. You know, so, you know, you can put all the chemicals in the body and you can pay for diseases, maybe not immediately, but maybe three, five, 10, 15 years down the road. And, you know, what, not only paying more on doctors bills, but what kind of quality of life are you going to have? So it's something that I've always keep in the back of my head and, you know, but it is a concern, you know, because you want to have it available to as many people who, you know, who want to have it. And so price is a consideration and we're certainly aware of it when we price our items to make sure that we're doing a fair assessment of what we need to sell it for so we can bring it to as many people as possible. And I think the fact that there is so much growth in organics is a testament to the importance that many consumers find that they want to have organics in their food world.
[00:15:18] Ray Latif: When you opened your first store in 1984, I imagine that there weren't as many organic consumer brands as there are today. Today there are hundreds if not thousands of organic food and beverage brands out there. But it also feels like if you go back to the question of Taste Radio ingredients and price, I feel like the hierarchy for a lot of people back then was ingredients are most important, maybe Taste Radio price are kind of at the same level. Nowadays, when people buy an organic food brand or beverage brand, I think taste is number one, you know, regardless of whether it's organic or not. It's just something you can't get around because there are so many options out there. So when you think about bringing brands into your stores and when you're vetting them in terms of what they're bringing to the table and what they're bringing to your customers, how do you think about that hierarchy? I mean, is it is obviously organic is going to be very important, but does it trump taste?
[00:16:21] Jimbo Someck: I don't think it trumps taste, but neither does taste trump organics. I think for us, there have been numerous instances where we would not bring a product in because it doesn't contain organic ingredients, and we have similar products already in the store that contain organic ingredients. But just because they contain organic ingredients, doesn't mean that it doesn't have to taste good. So we hopefully are bringing organic products that taste good into our stores. We would be hard pressed to bring in a product that's not organic unless there is nothing else like it. no matter how good the taste is. But we found more often than not that we can find products that are organic, meet our ingredient standards, that taste really good. But you're right, many years ago the ingredients were definitely a priority and taste was second or third importance. But as the industry has developed, there are a lot more options to find products that meet, for us at Jimbo's, our ingredient standards, but are products that taste incredibly great. And so that's what we do. Certainly, something just because it contains organic ingredients or is 100% organic, If we don't like the taste, we're not going to bring it in, even though we appreciate the fact that this company is using organic ingredients.
[00:17:56] Ray Latif: minimal ingredients. You know, there are organic food brands out there where you might have, I don't know, 20 ingredients, you know, for a single cracker brand. And, you know, it's not only ingredients you might be concerned about, but it's the manipulation of those ingredients and how it's formulated or processed. How does that, does that come into consideration when you're vetting new brands?
[00:18:20] Jimbo Someck: We look at that, but it's not as big a factor that we probably should make it. We certainly are aware that there are some of the products contain an enormous amount of ingredients. Sometimes we don't even understand what the ingredients are. And that's at the point of saying, okay, once we start to need to look up what these ingredients are, we start questioning it. And, you know, that brings to mind the book The omnivores dilemma, you know, where it was written, you know, if you can't, you should try to have as few ingredients as possible. And if you can't say it, read it or understand what the ingredients, you probably shouldn't eat it. You know, So certainly we try to keep that in mind, but we probably don't prioritize it as much as we should.
[00:19:12] Ray Latif: Well, that's not a stain or a knock on you. I mean, you're a grocery store. You do have to have a lot of different products to cater to a lot of different people. And, you know, you do have competition, whether it's conventional grocery stores or ones that are focused on natural foods, like a whole foods. But Jimbo's, like Erewhon in so many ways, feels like They operate at the ground zero level of what's trending and new and what's emerging in food and beverage. I've seen a lot of trends come and go. I've seen a lot of ingredients, you know, be hot one minute and cold the next. How do you assess trends, you know, interesting ingredients when making decisions about what to bring into your stores?
[00:19:59] Jimbo Someck: Well, first of all, let me clarify a piece that I really don't do much of the buying. I do approve virtually every product that comes into the store, but as far as curating it, we have buyers that do an awesome job of looking at the different options that they have and meeting with the brokers or the manufacturers and looking at these products and, you know, selecting the ones they feel would be best for the company. But to be clear, you have veto power. I do have veto power. It's a rubber stamp because, you know, sometimes they might miss an ingredient that I might say, well, what is this about? Or they may submit something to me knowing that they're going to get some kind of conversation a lot of times I just say okay you know it's not really a question but every once in a while I'll say well why would we carry you know like this nutrition bar and you know they're saying it's incredibly awesome Taste Radio almost every nutrition bar we have is either 100 organic or contains a significant amount of organic ingredients and so if they submit a nutrition bar that has, you know, the only organic ingredient might be organic sugar and everything else is non-organic. I'm going to say, well, why bring it in? You know, it's going to basically lower the standard that we already have, you know, committed towards. And so they do. This is very rare that I Don't approve what they've already curated because they do such a great job but it's like a second eye on it and i think it also because i'm not on the floor very much or as much as i had been in the past it lets me kind of get some insight into the new products i might not know. some of the products that we are carrying or the new ones that we are bringing in. Part of that also for the buyers, and we touched on this when we talked, is the incredible opportunity that we have certainly in San Diego to bring in items that are local to San Diego, that are probably items that you might see at a farmer's market and people are wanting to launch, in a retail store and our buyers do an awesome job of nurturing these novice wannabe manufacturers into getting them into our store. It's great to see that we can help small cottage individuals who are just trying to launch their product and help them in their quest to get into a retail store. For many of them, We've been the first retail store to carry their product, and we've pushed back on many occasions if the product doesn't contain, for example, organic ingredients, that, hey, if you can switch to organic ingredients, then we will bring it in. And we tell them, as part of that is, More than likely, if it meets our standards, it'll probably meet virtually almost any other standards that are out there in the natural foods world. So some say the costs, as we talked about just moments ago, is a factor, and they don't wanna have a retail price that is over a certain amount. And so they don't wanna do that, we understand. For us, our customer is walking hand in hand with us and the quality of the products that we carry. And so we are, you know, we're not going to lower our expectation around organic ingredients, even if it is a local product. We want to help support the new person to really start thinking about switching to organics. And the more people we can convince, the better we feel, the better job we've done, we feel in what we're trying to accomplish.
[00:24:09] Ray Latif: As you noted, you're not making day-to-day buying decisions for Jimbo's, but I would think that as you're looking at new products, you know, you might have some skepticism about, you know, some, and then you might have excitement about another. more confidence about another that is going to be successful for one reason or another. You know, what today gives you pause when you're seeing a particular trend or ingredients or products, and what gives you confidence that it not only fits in your stores, but it has a runway and a pathway to success throughout the natural channel and beyond?
[00:24:49] Jimbo Someck: Again, I leave a lot to our buyers, but part of it for me is the story behind the product and the passion that the person has for the product that they've created. For me, sometimes when I see people who are doing it only because they want to make money off it, which is fine. There's nothing wrong. We're all here to, you know, earn a living. But if there's no passion behind it, you know, I get concerned that when they hit an obstacle, that they're going to walk away. And the more passion you have, the more you're willing to push forth you know, on a product that you believe is really good. So, and you know, there are been different, I don't know, fads or hot items, some stay on and some, you know, drop off, you know, even when gluten free started, who knows, 15 years ago, a lot of people said, well, that's going to kind of fade out. But it's really maintained. And, you know, sometimes you really don't know. And the best you can do is vet it for what you feel is the what you think is going to be long term. And if so, you know, for us, if it's meets our ingredient standards, meets our taste standards, even if it's a new product, if we have a commitment from whoever the Vendor is that they're going to demo it and support the product. We are more than likely willing to give it a shot, especially if it's a local product, because we want to not only support, like I said, these small entrepreneurs, but. It's an advantage to us when they go to their farmer's market and the customers say, well, where can you get the product? Because, you know, I don't want to just come once a week or have to come to the farmer's market and they say, hey, you can get it at Jimbo's. Well, we got another customer, hopefully, that's coming through our door on a regular basis. So it's a win-win situation.
[00:26:58] Ray Latif: You accept and bring in a lot of local and emerging brands into your stores. What keeps them on shelf? I mean, is it just a sales kind of thing where if they're hitting their numbers, they're more likely to stay on shelf or do you have a bit more leeway when it comes to smaller brands?
[00:27:16] Jimbo Someck: We give them a bit more leeway. We do encourage them to demo the brands because it's really hard for a customer to know what something's like especially if it's a product that they haven't heard of and it's not in the mainstream, the only way for customers to know about it is to, you know, taste it. We try to, in our own world, to, you know, buyers have tasted it and they hopefully get our employees, our staff excited about a product. Like I said, with produce or even non-produce items, when I was on the floor, I'm passionate about what I do, and I would get excited about products. So when customers would ask me for a recommendation, it'd be like, oh, well, yeah, I can tell you about this. Or even items that I wouldn't eat or don't eat, I'd say, well, people tell me this is an amazing product, but I don't eat it for various reasons or whatever. But yeah, we give more leeway, and we hope that it's supported. At some point, you know, if it's not selling on the shelf and they're not supporting it, there's not a lot we can do. And if that's the case, they're probably struggling, you know, if they selling at other stores, it's probably not worth it to them to continue selling it on a retail level.
[00:28:39] Ray Latif: So you think that's the primary reason why something wouldn't work at Jimbo's is it's just not being supported well enough or, you know, might there be other reasons?
[00:28:47] Jimbo Someck: Well, if it doesn't taste well or the price point is too high, you know, customers may reject it. But we want to give people the opportunity to try to sell it in our store and really let the customer decide whether it should be on the shelf or not.
[00:29:03] Ray Latif: You've seen a ton of brands come to market just over the last three years. It's been, you know, the amount of sort of quote unquote pandemic babies that have been birthed and pretty amazing to see. But, you know, You know, so many of them seem to be missing one thing or the other. And we've talked about taste. We've talked about price point. But I feel like there's another factor, which is great package design and marketing. And, you know, it's something that's table stakes these days. You just have to be great at both to really have a chance of being successful. you know, what have you seen in terms of great package design that differentiates one brand from another? And, you know, from a marketing standpoint, can you point at, you know, some examples of things that brands have done really, really well that have helped them get better awareness and better sales?
[00:29:48] Jimbo Someck: Well, you know, we've put a strong emphasis because, again, talking about our mission and walking the talk on packaging that is sustainable. So, you know, certainly there's a need to look really great on the shelf, but we're prioritizing the sustainability aspect of the packaging. It's really important to us. And I can tell you, you know, one story in regards to the whole packaging component is we sell significant amount of Dr. Bronner's liquid soap. And we got together, David Bronner and I got together and They wanted to launch a program where there was close to having zero waste. And so we put together a self-serve liquid soap dispenser, and people can bring their own container or use a container that we have and refill their soap as many times as they want. And where we launched it, we were the first retail store nationally to have it. And actually all stores have it. I mean, the number of people that were so appreciative of the opportunity to not create any more waste and use the same container over and over again to fill their Bronner's soap needs has been remarkable. Sometimes it's not just about, like I said, the look of the package, but the sustainability of the package, and in this case, totally sustainable. It was a great opportunity for us to work with a vendor that lives in San Diego and create something that is exciting and I believe that is currently being launched. at other retail stores but to be the first to market with it was something that we're very proud of and the relationship that we have with Bronners because they are in our backyard has been tremendous.
[00:31:46] Ray Latif: As much of a sustainability campaign as that is, you know, there is a marketing angle to it as well, which is that Dr. Bronner's really cares about the environment. Jimbo's really cares about the environment to the point where they're doing everything they can to reduce the amount of single-use plastic out there. Amplifying that message is really important too, because it will attract new customers to your stores. It will attract new customers to the Dr. Bronner's brand. that communication has to be direct and it also has to be interesting enough to get the attention of a consumer. What do you do for marketing and how do you help promote brands that are in your stores, you know, to get more and more consumers aware of those brands and then the availability of them at Jimbo's?
[00:32:33] Jimbo Someck: So just let me kind of go off on a little bit of a tangent in regards to the whole sustainability piece, because you were talking about plastic and trying to eliminate that. When we opened our Carmel Valley store, reopened it, we moved about 100 yards from where it existed in the same shopping center, we made a commitment to not sell water and plastic. It was a strong commitment based on we didn't want to contribute to selling water and plastic because so much plastic bottles are being tossed out. And as you may know, the volume of sales of selling water and plastic is If you look at the top sellers in most grocery stores, it's probably out of the top 50, there may be 25 different kinds of water that are in that top 50. And so it was interesting. We announced it when we opened up the store and certainly the sales of the water dropped. But as time has developed and as we've been able to express and educate our concerns around sustainability, our sales are much greater now in our water area than they have been in the past. And we not only as part of that process, we said, listen, if you want to buy water, and bringing your own hydro flask, we will fill up the water. You can fill up the water for free. You can fill up your hydro flask. We have a special piece of equipment that you can just fill it up and you don't have to pay for it and you get your immediate need for water and without using plastic. Like I said, we lost sales to begin with, but again, speaks to how we started this conversation about walking the talk. What it's done is created more loyalty I think by our customers who who recognize the fact that it's not you know we don't just look at what's the most profitable thing to do. We look at what's best and the right thing to do because that's who we are.
[00:34:54] Ray Latif: I imagine it also helps brands that are, say, packaged in aluminum cans or aluminum bottles in that it highlights the differentiation between what they're doing and what companies that are using single-use plastic offer.
[00:35:08] Jimbo Someck: Yep, absolutely. When we made that switch, there were only like a couple brands that we could have access to that were water and glass. And now there's a tremendous number of them that It just kind of like, hey, did we kind of start the process? We were the first. I know there was a natural food stores on the East Coast, but I think we were the first natural food store on the West Coast or any store on the West Coast to not carry water and plastic.
[00:35:37] Ray Latif: And this is a great segue, because I want to talk about the influence that you have as a company and you specifically as a leader of the organic and natural foods community. How do you use that voice? How do you use your influence in a way that is going to be effective and is going to be heard in our industry?
[00:35:58] Jimbo Someck: Well, I appreciate the sentiment. I, you know, I it's hard to know what the, you know, the value of my voice is beyond that. I do know that with having the opportunity comes the importance of taking responsibility for your words and. I look at this journey that I've had as one that I've been tremendously grateful for the opportunity to be in an industry that I can be so passionate about and at the same time, provide a financial security for my family and hopefully for many of the people who work here. A lot of what I move towards is things that, you know, the people who work here kind of point towards. My wife is extremely, she's not involved in the business, but she's ahead of the curve on many of the issues that are in the industry. And so, Sometimes she's letting me know of certain things that maybe I should be aware of. So, you know, I've never felt like it's important for me to say that what we do is better than anyone else. I think what we've done is. walk, like I said, walk our talk, look inside of ourselves, look inside for me personally and what's the right thing to do, what's the best thing from a sustainability perspective, from an environmental perspective, from, you know, a medical perspective, what's the best thing, and hopefully make the decisions based on what's best. A long time ago, and again, we talked about the Bill of Rights, I came to the conclusion that In the beginning, I focused time to make sure that we were financially stable and we're going to be able to succeed and go be an ongoing business. But as the company got to be somewhat more successful and financially sound, I spent a lot more time making sure that we take care of our staff, we take care of our customers, are involved in our communities, and make decisions that's best Reflects those concerns more than it does the bottom line. And what I found is that the more I focus on those areas, the better the bottom line is. And it's a lesson that I've learned over the years. So. When we make decisions, certainly we care about the finances around it, but we're more concerned that are we doing the right thing? Are we taking care of our staff in a way that reflects the way we want to be taken care of? Are we making sure our customers are being heard and that we feel we're educating them? Are we making sure that we're giving back to our communities? Because without that, We're nowhere. So it's been an incredible journey for me that I've been blessed to be kind of heading the Jimbo's team. But there are so many people who've been part of that and have got me to where we are today that I consider myself very fortunate in many areas.
[00:39:19] Ray Latif: That's such an amazing tribute to your team, and I'm sure everyone appreciates it. And I think that kind of leadership really permeates throughout an organization, which is, look, we're a team. You know, it doesn't necessarily mean because I'm the leader of that organization that I'm in a position that, you know, should be of one of, you know, significant authority or a perception of being better than you in any way. It's we're all in this together to make something great. And I love that. I got to ask you one more question because I know there are some folks in our audience who are going to be asking me, why did you ask Jimbo this? You talked about the importance of having brands in your stores that are environmentally friendly, that have a sustainable focus, that are healthy in a real sense, or better for you in a real sense. And I think people who think about the plant-based meat or meat, animal-based protein alternative products, have some questions about all three aspects of what we just talked about. How do you think about and assess plant-based meat in the context of the category as a whole and those types of products in your stores.
[00:40:31] Jimbo Someck: Well, you're talking to a vegan, someone who's been a vegan pretty much since I opened my first store in 84. So, you know, we do try to carry plant-based options, but we're careful about what we do bring in. So, you know, something like the Impossible Burger or Beyond Burger does not meet our standards. It does not meet our ingredients standards. And so we're selective, you know, around the quality of those items. And that's not to say, you know, when I opened my first store, I didn't carry meat. I sold turkey for Thanksgiving, but I didn't carry any meat. And when I opened the second store, I had a small meat department, because I didn't eat meat. And I felt like, well, there's no reason to have it. We don't need to eat meat. That was my personal perspective. But then I came to the realization that it's not about what I eat and what you know only about what I feel like you should be eating. It's really about providing our customers the best quality product in all the arenas. So there are people who eat meat and for them it's you know whether it's genetic or whatever they need. So we want to provide the best meat that we can possibly provide. And so we expanded our meat section and it's really it's grown tremendously. But I also looked at it as an opportunity for potentially bringing customers who wouldn't shop our store because they do eat meat and we weren't selling it. Now they come into the store, they get their meats, but now they're exposed to other products that may be similar, but be plant-based. And who knows, maybe they're going to eat less meat. Maybe they'll switch to a plant-based diet. So we don't make judgments around it, but because we really feel like each individual through their own life's experience is going to eat what they feel is right for them. We just want to be able to offer them the highest quality ingredient standards that we can and make sure that we're doing it in a way that reflects our values, our beliefs, and really in a way that nurtures our planet.
[00:42:49] Ray Latif: Well said, Jimbo. And I feel like this has been a conversation that I could continue or we could potentially continue for another two, three hours, but I don't want to take up all your time today. Perhaps we can have a part two later down the line. But for the meantime, this has been so great sitting down with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to be with me. I'm really excited to share this with our audience.
[00:43:11] Jimbo Someck: I really appreciate the opportunity. And if there's a round two, I'll be happy to participate. It's been a pleasure.
[00:43:17] Ray Latif: Thanks, Jimbo. That brings us to the end of this episode of Taste Radio. Thank you so much for listening. Taste Radio is a production of BevNET.com, Incorporated. Our audio engineer for Taste Radio is Joe Cracci. Our technical director is Joshua Pratt, and our video editor is Ryan Galang. Our social marketing manager is Amanda Smerlinski, and our designer is Amanda Huang. Just a reminder, if you like what you hear on Taste Radio, please share the podcast with friends and colleagues. And of course, we would love it if you could review us on the Apple Podcasts app or your listening platform of choice. Check us out on Instagram. Our handle is BevNetTasteRadio. As always, for questions, comments, ideas for future podcasts, please send us an email to ask at Taste Radio. On behalf of the entire Taste Radio team, thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time. you
