business
current
Organic to Go’s
rickshaw
delivery fleet
(below) and San
Diego Federal
Courthouse
location (right).
Organic,
Supersized
As Americans work up an appetite for
Brown, with a menu designed by cookbook
certification and encompasses breakfast and
healthier meals, organic food sales have
author and former regional Slow Food–move-
lunch. Delivery and catering via rickshaw or
risen sharply—up 21 percent annually in
ment leader Greg Atkinkson, the chain of ca-
hybrid van is also offered.
recent years to nearly $17 billion in 2006,
fés opened in the Seattle area in 2005. It has
according to the Organic Trade Associa-
quickly grown to more than 100 grab-and-go
percent over the previous year, so Organic
tion. One restaurant and catering chain,
kiosks and restaurants on street corners, col-
to Go’s dining future looks bright. And a
Organic to Go, is looking to cash in on
lege campuses, and airports up and down the
recent survey by market research firm
the intersection of the multibillion-dollar
West Coast. “We’re a very simple company,”
Harris Interactive found that more than 70
quick-service restaurant industry and the
Brown stresses. “We make delicious food that
percent of the public believes organic food
burgeoning organic food trend.
happens to be organic and natural.”
is healthier and safer for the environment.
Organic to Go feeds students, travelers,
Revenues in 2007 are up more than 60
Organic to Go’s menu features Thai veggie
With only 7 percent of respondents saying
and suits looking for a quick bite that’s a
wraps, yogurt parfaits with fruit and honey-gra-
they mostly buy organic, Organic to Go has
step above cheeseburgers on the nutrition
nola, and more made-from-scratch entrées.
barely gotten past the appetizers.
pyramid. Founded by startup veteran Jason
The selection of food carries the USDA-organic
—Steven K Lee
Kernel Truths
The increase in the price of oil to nearly $100 per barrel has inspired a boom in ethanol production, leading to both a rise in the
price of corn and an oversupply of this biofuel. (The price of ethanol
dropped from a high of about $3.50 a gallon in 2006 to just under
$2 by the end of 2007.) Even with more ethanol than we need at
the moment, the Senate is looking to increase production of alternative fuels to 36 billion gallons by 2022 (at press time), some of
which would come from corn-based ethanol, a biofuel that is heavily dependent on pesticides and energy for production. Ethanol advocates are hoping to increase the amount of the biofuel that can be
blended into our gasoline from the current standard of 10 percent to
20 or 30 percent. In theory it sounds nice, but most engines are not
certified operable at blends above 10 percent. That could lead to a
feeling of running on empty more often than drivers would like.
Yearly US Ethanol Production
(in billions of gallons):
Number of Ethanol Plants (end of year):
Average Price of Corn in the US
($ per bushel):
10
150
4.0
9
125
3.5
8
3.0
7
100
75
6
2.5
5
2.0
4
50
1.5
3
1.0
2
25
.5
1
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
36 | february-march 2008
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007