For over 30 years, Healthy Living & Café has been dedicated to caring for our environment with products, programs and projects that focus on both issues of global and local concern. It is of utmost importance to us that our community is informed and involved! We are committed to the health and safety of our team, the community we love, and the planet as a whole, and constantly find ways to expand our reach, participating in a wide variety of programs, instituting our own projects, and involving staff in our outreach.

Our Products

We have been committed to selling products that meet our standards for almost 30 years. Long before the natural foods industry was even an industry, we worked hard to source food and wellness products that were “clean.” We continue to research and source new products and carefully “curate” our mix. Our Category Managers and Buyers visit farms, production sites, factories and distributors regularly to learn about their products and processes so that we can “vet” products appropriately. We also work with local farms and food producers to help them bring product to market by understanding everything from packaging to health department standards to proper pricing, and are happy to see that Vermont and New York farmers and producers are being recognized and rewarded for their superior products. We also strive to source packaging products that are compostable, biodegradable, and are durable and reusable.

Our Environmental Efforts Include:

  • We supply compostable containers, cutlery, lids and produce bags.
  • Our stores are powered by 100% renewable energy.
  • We offer staff incentives for biking to work or carpooling
  • An active Community Outreach Program that is involved in many environmental projects every year and donates to hundreds of non-profits every year.
  • An abundantly stocked Bulk Department that reduces all packaging by offering over 100 self-serve products.
  • 30 years of work with local farms and farmers.
  • The Bread and Butter Farm project that involved a loan from us to them for a new hoop house. We are now making this loan available to other farms; our most recent project is with Vermont Edible Landscaping.
  • Organically grown edible landscaping and gardens at both stores.
  • LED lighting throughout both stores.
  • Zero waste butchery in both stores, using local whole animals.
  • We compost all food waste in our Vermont store.
  • Glycol (as opposed to Freon) refrigeration systems in our Saratoga store.
  • We offer incentives to guests for bringing reusable bags and containers.