I was looking to create my own health food product and loved the idea of starting a business from scratch because it gave me the chance to create a company that reflected my core values.
At B’more Organic, we make bottled skyr smoothies. Skyr (pronounced “skeer”) is an Icelandic-style yogurt that’s strained, similar to Greek yogurt. As our name says, we’re all organic. Our vision is to change the way the world eats by providing convenient and healthy food. Our smoothies have more than 34 grams of protein, no added sugar and nothing artificial. We also try to live our core values every day, one of which is “B’More Green.”
B’more Green means we try to adhere to sustainable business practices in all that we do. Our milk comes from a farm powered by solar electricity. The electricity for our office is generated from wind-power. So, when it came time for us to purchase a company vehicle, we wanted it to be as green as possible too, while still fitting our needs.
One of the added benefits of “being green” is that it often saves you money. As a start-up, we couldn’t afford to spend a lot on gas and oil changes, (the $7,500 tax credit will save us some green as well). We also wanted a car that minimized our use of fossil fuels -- and our country’s dependence on foreign oil. We realize that one car won’t change the world, but we believe in what Gandhi said: “Be the change you want to see in this world.”
There were a few options for us, including some pretty good cars getting really good gas mileage. Others we looked at could even be converted to running on used veggie oil! Besides worrying about smelling French fries all day, those were good options. There were also other plug-in hybrid options from Ford and Toyota. But, when we looked into the Chevrolet Volt, we were attracted to the fact that we could go 40 miles running only on the battery. We also really liked the Volt’s gasoline range-extender for longer trips - something the Nissan Leaf doesn’t offer.
Our office’s electricity is 100 percent wind-powered thanks to our energy supplier Clean Currents. Because of this, we loved the idea that we can drive around powered mostly by renewable wind. We think it’s pretty cool that the car was made in the U.S. and it’s primarily powered by American wind. Not many company cars can make that claim.
When we test drove the Volt we found it to be surprisingly quick and it handled really well. It’s quiet with very little outside noise. So quiet, in fact, that it even comes with the little button that alerts unsuspecting pedestrians that you’re nearby. The Volt also has all the fun electric gadgets that our 24-year-old Market Manager, Eric, geeked out over, mainly the Bluetooth audio and free XM radio for three years. He’ll use the Volt to make shopping trips to local stores. He’s getting it decaled to reflect our values of being green and taking it to area events where we hand out free samples. I just hope that he lets me drive it sometime!
