2016 Business Class: MaMa Jean’s Natural Foods Market LLC

It’s been a year for trying new things at MaMa Jean’s Natural Foods Market LLC. As the natural foods grocer prepares to grow its own products in new gardens installed at its Republic Road store, the company also is flipping the script with its fourth location, where fresh and ready-to-eat foods take center stage.

Financial Performance
MaMa Jean’s’ profit growth percentage dipped from 3.32 percent in 2014 to 3.08 percent in 2015. Diana Hicks, who co-owns the stores with Susie Farbin, attributes that to the company reinvesting to start MJ’s Market and Deli.

With at least some of the product due to be coming from the Republic Road gardens, Hicks says the commercial kitchen at 900 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 140, will allow the company to focus on making consistent grab-and-go foods for all four stores and save on overhead.

“We’re paying someone at East Sunshine, Republic Road and Campbell to all make tuna salad, and they all taste similar but they are not exact.” Hicks says as an example. “It’s going to cut down on labor, waste and it will all be made there and shipped, so every store will have the same product.”

Innovation
In addition to new operations, Hicks says MaMa Jean’s moved last summer to increase the stores’ buying power by joining the Independent Natural Food Retailers Association. The new affiliation allows the company to be more competitive in its pricing and access a larger variety of products.

Better pricing also was a goal MaMa Jean’s went after in March when the company expanded its savings program to include 200 organic, nongenetically modified organism and gluten-free items through the Brea, Calif.-based brand Cadia.

“Before, we’d buy a pallet of coconut water and get a special price,” Hicks says. “Now, we’re more than three stores so we might be able to buy a truckload and get a better price.”

Community Involvement
MaMa Jean’s has been involved with several local nonprofits in its 14-year history, including groups such as Isabel’s House and Ozarks Food Harvest.

“It seems like we get requests all the time,” Hicks says, noting the company has donated items to countless silent auctions over the years. “Of course, we can’t help all of them, but we take our community involvement very seriously.”

And involvement in other communities serves as inspiration for how to run the business. Hicks points to her 2015 trip to a Nicaraguan coffee farm as a significant reminder of what she considers MaMa Jean’s most important asset: its people.

“It was a really good example of how a business should be – servant-leadership – they all work together,” she says. “We try to take care of our employees because there’s no way Susie and I run it ourselves. It takes a small army.”