Brian Rohter, New Seasons Markets

On the event of our fifth anniversary, Sustainable Industries decided to catch up with 10 subscribers who have been with us from the very first issue and get their perspective on how things have changed since 2002.

A testament to the magazine’s Northwest roots, 9 of the 10 are Portlanders, with a lone Seattle representative in the bunch. Like the rest of our readers, though, the early subscribers profiled in the following pages and online are leaders in a diverse range of industries from green building and law to food processing and investment.

The positive impact of public concerns about climate change, reflections on the growth of greenwashing and a conviction that sustainability will need to tackle social equity issues were common themes among many of the interviews. We hope these interviews provide a moment of reflection on where we’ve been and where we’re headed as part of the green business community.

Read more profiles and join the conversation by clicking here.

Rohter, CEO of New Seasons, says the last five years have been a period of dramatic growth for both his company and the industry. The number of New Seasons Stores stores has doubled and staff have more than tripled. “Our world has changed, just in terms of where New Seasons is: emerging from a startup to a maturing company. And our competitive landscape has changed fairly dramatically, in that most of the large national companies have an increased focus on organic food, and so we find ourselves in a situation where we are competing with many more organizations than we were previously.” But the consumer market has also changed: “There’s many, many more people who are interested in the type of food that we sell, and so the demand for it has grown at the same time as the options for where to buy it.”

Rohter’s experience of Wild Oat’s buy-out of Natures had a significant impact on how he and his investors have run the company. “The most impactful thing,” he says, “was realizing that we wanted to structure the company in a way that we kept control over our destiny. We’ve grown through debt as opposed to capital infusions, which has led to some sleepless nights, but never a doubt that we didn’t have control over where we were going to take the company.”

An important part of New Season’s business model has been to focus on its strengths as a locally owned company, and Rohter says his company has leveraged its local connections to “play a leadership role in the Buy Local movement. That’s been a big part of the DNA of New Seasons Market.”

The company also provides support to what many would consider its competitors: coops and farmers markets. “We see coops as kindred souls,” Rohter says: The company shares information with them about its systems, from merchandizing to establishing local buying networks and structuring lease agreements. In 2007, the chain sponsored Portland Farmers Markets to the tune of $50,000, a move many grocers would consider bad for business. “We think putting a face on farmers is really important,” says Rohter.

While New Seasons has no plans to branch out beyond the Portland area for now, the company provides its expertise to some of those interested in mimicking their model. “We’re interested in having other community owned stores become successful,” says Rohter. “Being private, we get to manage the company for the long run and not make short-sighted silly decisions because we’re going to release quarterly financials. My partners are believers in “patient capital.” Our funding happened with a really long view.”

Read more profiles from Sustainable Industries' 5th Anniversary!