Local Grocery Store Founder Rolls Out Organic Dairy Brand
The founder of Basics, a small-format grocery concept encompassing a food market, nutrition classroom and discovery kitchen, Chuck Eggert also established Wild Rose Foods, a Tualatin, Ore.-based company offering ethically sourced Oregon products, which has now launched Lulubelle’s Creamery, a dairy brand featuring a line of local, certified-organic milk.
The fresh milk products hail from Wild Rose’s Willamette Valley dairies where cows graze on organic pastures and consume organic alfalfa grown at the company’s farm in eastern Oregon. A blend of milk from both Holstein and Jersey cows, the premium products are higher in fat, with a creamier texture.
Lulubelle’s comes in “cream-on-top” Whole Milk sold in environmentally friendly half-gallon glass bottles in both Plain and Chocolate varieties, as well as in one of the first local Ultra Filtered High Protein varieties. With more than 16 grams of protein per serving, the Ultra Filtered milk comes in half-gallon and 16-ounce sizes in Plain, Chocolate, Almond, Chocolate Almond and limited-edition Egg Nog options. Consumers can find Lulubelle’s at Basics, New Seasons Market and Market of Choice, along with a few other select natural grocers throughout Oregon. The suggested retail price for a half-gallon of organic whole milk is $4.99, but because of the direct-to-store model, Lulubelle’s goes for $3.99 at Basics, while the Ultra Filtered High Protein milk is $4.49.
“We think there’s room for a local dairy committed to organic practices with a focus on flavor and innovation,” noted Eggert, who also co-founded Tualatin-based Pacific Foods, also known for its organic, sustainably produced offerings. “Our goal is to make products as accessible as possible using milk from our own cows bottled at our own creamery. We’re creating a new model for dairy to show what’s possible with the latest technology, a commitment to animal care and restorative practices.”
As well as operating its creamery and producing organic milk, Wild Rose raises egg-laying hens and poultry made available for sale as Gwendolyn’s Organic Eggs and Aurora Valley Organic, also available at Basics, New Seasons and Market of Choice stores, and Silver Sage oven-baked dog food.
Basics operates locations in Portland and Tualatin, with a third, also in Portland, set to open in the spring of 2020.
