different outlooks & priorities

( – promoted by buhdydharma )

everyone knows about ben & jerry’s & how they ran their business in a socially conscious manner.

well.

they aren’t the only ones.

i recently found an article about Nutty Butta made by the company  Tabatchnick

Tabatchnick Fine Foods is a soup manufacturer based in Somerset, New Jersey. It was founded in by Louis Tabatchnick of Newark, New Jersey. He started a chain of restaurants in 1895, followed by the company in 1905.

The last store closed in July 2006

For more than a quarter century,  Tabatchnik’s Smoke House & Backroom Restaurant and Amster’s Bakery – fixtures at the Millburn Mall in Union – have been places where customers could get all the fixings for Sunday brunch: some nice smoked fish, kippered salmon spread or pastrami and a fresh onion roll or a Danish to go with it.

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Seymour Tabatchnick’s grandfather, Louis, started the family business in 1905, followed by his son, Joseph. The Union store opened in 1966, one of approximately 16 stores Tabatchnick has owned over the years.

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Of all the stores Tabatchnick has had in New York and New Jersey, “This is the last one.”

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Tabatchnick said his concern was not for himself, but for his customers. “Where are they going to go for their fish?” he asked. “We’re the only place left in New Jersey where we actually manufacture everything. We have our own smokehouses. We buy the fish direct from the fishermen. It comes in fresh and we smoke it.

Well Tabatchnicks did not go under. They changed direction.

Closing the deli’s and restaurants let them concentrate on their century old mainstay.

SOUP

The idea for Tabatchnick Fine Foods started simmering on a wood burning stove in our Great-Grandmother’s kitchen more than a century ago. Her delicious, homemade soup had become famous in our family and with neighbors throughout the area.

What made Great-Grandma’s soups so special? She took great pride in creating wholesome soup made with only the finest and most natural ingredients.

Four generations later we still follow Great-Grandma’s simple recipe for great soup. We search the world for only the highest quality natural ingredients. All our soups start with our own pure artesian well water, and are simmered slowly in small batches, always under the watchful eye of a Tabatchnick family member. Great Grandma would be proud!

And all of their soups are kosher! i’m now absolutely certain that not ALL of their soups are kosher,

okay. i have no clue about kosher. their site implies that all their soup is kosher

but and they do have many soups that are “kosher for passover”.

they also have choices for gluten free, low-salt, with dairy, with meat, meat & dairy free (parve), lo-calorie, and organic!

quite a broad variety with something for every diet!  

But they do more than just make soup…..

In addition, Tabatchnick Fine Foods has been a true pioneer in the development of healthful foods for needy populations. In the US, Tabatchnick provides high-protein soups, snacks and drinks to school systems, homeless shelters and soup kitchens. In the Third World, starvation-ravaged populations benefit from nutritional supplements and foods developed by Tabatchnick and its partners, products that often mean the difference between sickness and health, life and death.

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Through its government contracts and access to excess commodities, Tabatchnick has been an innovator in developing, packaging and bringing to market a range of healthful foods for diverse audiences.

School systems, shelters, elderly nutrition programs, worldwide relief programs – all have benefited from Tabatchnick’s pioneering approach to food development and production that means bringing ready to use therapeutic foods to needy populations in a matter of weeks instead of months. By working to relieve the global food crisis, Tabatchnick and its partners in government, academia, industry and social agencies have put food within the reach of millions of the world’s poor.

Partners such as UNICEF and the World Food Program, Columbia University and Rutgers University, McCormick Spices, TetraPak and many more have worked with Tabatchnick to devise innovative production and delivery systems the world over.

This is where  Nutty Butta & an innovative idea comes in.

One very special humanitarian product that the company has developed is poised to play an important role in addressing severe and acute malnutrition, particularly in parts of Africa. Nutty Butta not only has a patent pending for it, but one that, once finalized, will be completely open source: anyone who would like to make and distribute the peanut-based product – that literally saves lives – will be able to do so with the benefit of Tabatchnick Fine Foods’ effort, insight and best wishes.

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Tabatchnick explained that one of the key challenges for helping the undernourished is that their biological functions, particularly the immune system, have been compromised, leaving hungry people ironically and tragically unable to absorb and utilize the nutrients that they critically need.

What Nutty Butta is able to do – to reset key biological functions and allow the consumed nutrients to be absorbed and put to good supportive use – rests on a very special compound called lactoferrin. This protein, derived from bovine colostrum (the first milk produced bearing properties especially beneficial to the newborn calf), offers anti-fungal, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties to people. As a component of Nutty Butta, it helps deliver the one-two punch of getting the immune system back on track while successfully delivering sustenance.

Sounds like a fantastic idea doesn’t it?

well….

But to the bewilderment and consternation of Ben Tabatchnick, CEO of the century-old family business, not everyone shares the spirit of generosity he and his company are bringing to the matter of addressing hunger around the world.

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Nutriset, meanwhile, is private French company whose mission “for the enhancement of the nutritional status of children and other vulnerable people” certainly sounds laudable enough on paper. But having developed and subsequently patented a comparable peanut-based humanitarian product, Nutriset is aggressively guarding both what they claim to be their intellectual property as well as a substantial financial interest in selling it.

And as a result, Tabatchnick is left with a long line of eager, interested customers, many of whom don’t make the purchase from him for fear of being ensnared in an intellectual property rights battle currently underway.

On the grounds that humanitarian relief products are completely inappropriate for patents and private sector monopoly, Doctors Without Borders and US-based Mama Cares have recently filed a lawsuit that seeks revocation of Nutriset’s patent.

So where does this leave Tabatchnick?

“I find lawsuits extremely distasteful. They’re punitive, and they only enrich the legal system. I believe in the power of shame over the power of lawsuits.”

After a brief pause, he added: “and shame on them.”

“A lawsuit is only going to polarize the community. This is money that could be well-spent providing food for people. I mean, give me a break,” adding “… useless … hopeless … ” to punctuate his unambiguous thoughts on the matter.

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“I really believe that markets should operate on quality, on service, on ethics.”

As for explaining his open source approach, it comes down simply to making it easier for others to accept the invitation to do good in the world where it’s needed.

“You want to buy from me? Great! You want to make it yourself? Have a good time! You need help? Call me up and buy me lunch. We’ll talk.”

“That’s the way humanitarian aid should be.”

so what can we do to help this guy? how can we give him the support that he deserves?

there’s only one thing i can think of

if you buy soup anyway, look for the Tabatchnick brand on your grocers shelves.

buy his soup

they also have a store locator.

you can easily look up what stores in your state carry this brand.

i mean… gha! if i can find it in south carolina, y’all should find it easily!

_{all bolding & italics in this post are mine}