At the 2019 Chamber Celebration, Gene’s Health Food, Inc. was named the business of the year for 1-10 employees. Though nominated before, partners Karissa Costello, Andrew Keller and Olivia Vancil said this was the first time they have won since purchasing the business from Costello and Keller’s grandfather Gene Clark in 2013.
“It is an honor to be recognized and to bring more awareness of our options to the community,” Costello said.
Vancil, who became a partner in July 2018, said that is has been awesome to see the community’s response to the chamber award and the recognition that comes with it.
As partial owners since 2011, and full owners since 2013, Costello and Keller have been expanding their inventory and menu, adding more special needs products, a wellness center and a food truck.
The three are known to visit other cities and explore health food stores that offer natural products to consider options for Gene’s Health Food. Vancil said this practice has helped inform their business model and what they are able to offer to the community.
Keller said that it used to be hard to find health food stores that offered what various members of the community would need, and now, with non-GMO and natural items difficult to find, they are glad that the hard work they have put into the business is being recognized.
“It is difficult because the profit margin is low,” Keller said of the higher quality items they sell. “My grandfather used to say that ‘Your health is your wealth.”
He said Clark believed that you had to pay the price for the quality of items you were putting into your body or it didn’t matter what you were worth. This motto is something all three agree is important for continued success, and they continue to share that philosophy with the community.
In early 2018, Gene’s began offering cooking classes, with great interest and participation. Several options were available — creating freezer meals and bulk cooking and learning individual recipes and then taking the specific ingredients home to prepare the meal. They have even experienced date nights where participants ate the meal after the class but left with the recipe for the meal.
“We wanted to let the community know that health food tasting bad is a misnomer,” Keller said of the reason behind offering the classes. “It doesn’t have to taste bad.”
While they plan to again offer cooking classes, they are also looking at ways to expand — more square footage, a bigger menu, more groceries and special needs items — something they said is on the horizon.
All three partners said their customers make it easy to come to work each day, and Keller said that he feels extremely grateful to have the opportunity to share the health food market with the community.
“They [the customers] love it and we love what we do,” Vancil said.
Costello said they have a very receptive and great customer base when it comes to communication about what Gene’s offers.
“Giving options brings us joy,” Keller said.
