HISTORY OF EREWHON - NATURAL FOODS ... - SoyInfo Center

Eden Organic Foods co-op was up and running, Tim
Redmond went to Boston to work and study at Sanae, a
macrobiotic restaurant on 272A Newbury St.
1970 summer–Bill Bolduc establishes Eden’s first
contact with an organic food grower (Bill Vreeland of
Ypsilanti, Michigan, who grows organic wheat and
soybeans). He soon makes Eden’s first direct purchase of
organically grown wheat, which the company mills and
sells.
1970 July 6–Eden Organic Foods, Inc is reorganized
upon a stock basis. Bill Bolduc (who resides at 6210 Bethel
Church Rd., Saline, Michigan) owns all the shares (1,000).
Other people listed on this document are Judith Bolduc,
Ronald Teeguarden, and Gloria Dunn.
1970 Sept.–The fledgling company has an offer from
Cynthia Shevel to move into a newly decorated mini-mall at
211 South State St. on the main street of campus. They need
money to finance the move. Tim Redmond’s father says he
will help finance the expansion only if the business is
reorganized as a for-profit corporation. So Eden is changed
into a for-profit corporation, and Redmond invests the
$10,000 he borrowed from his father in Eden in exchange
for 50% ownership. In Nov. 1970 Eden moves into the
mini-mall (they register the new address on Nov. 17) and
soon begins to mill flour and bake granola at the new store.
Bolduc and Redmond are now equal partners.
1971 April 8–Bolduc registers a change in the company
name to Eden Foods, Inc. from Eden Organic Foods, Inc.
After the store was up and running, Redmond returns to
Boston and Sanae restaurant, where he completed his
studies.
1971 Jan.–Michael Potter is hired by Bill Bolduc. Mike
had initially had a good-paying job at an art gallery in Royal
Oak, Michigan. Then he began working for, and eventually
became a partner in Joyous Revival, a macrobiotic and
natural foods retail store in Birmingham, Michigan. At that
time he and his wife, Carol Roller Potter (Ron Roller’s
sister), moved from Royal Oak to Walnut Lake, Michigan–
to be nearer to Joyous Revival. In the fall of 1970 Michael
Potter, while still working at Joyous Revival and at Bill
Bolduc’s request, had done volunteer work to try to help a
failing new Eden retail store in downtown Detroit on the
campus of Wayne State University. This store was owned
jointly by Eden and two people named John and Darleen–
two of the first people in the area interested in macrobiotics.
By Jan. 1971 it had become evident that the store would not
be able to survive financially, so Michael’s first job after
being hired was to make one last try to save it, then to help
in shutting it down.
1971 May or June–Tim Redmond returns to Ann Arbor
permanently, having finished his macrobiotic training in
Boston. He planned to open a restaurant like Sanae in Ann
Arbor but instead got increasingly involved with Eden
Foods.
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HISTORY OF EREWHON 34
1971 June–Eden starts to wholesale natural foods out of
the back of their retail store at 211 South State Street. They
buy increasingly from original sources instead of other
wholesalers. Buying clubs and co-ops come to the retail
store to pick up their bulk foods.
1971 July–Eden’s wholesale pricelist, dated July 26,
shows that Eden is selling bulk (50 and 100 lb) soybeans,
corn, soft wheat, and rye, which are being grown
organically in Michigan (by Tom Vreeland). Eden stoneground
a portion of them into flour–on order. Eden is also
selling numerous bulk and packaged grains, cereals, flours,
and beans from Arrowhead Mills in Deaf Smith County,
Texas; some are organically grown.
1971 early summer–Bill Bolduc asks Mike Potter to
manage the Eden retail store at 211 South State St. Mike
and his pregnant wife, Carol, move to Ann Arbor from
Walnut Lake. By this time the company name was Eden
Foods, Inc.
1971 Aug.–Eden Foods starts to distribute its wholesale
bulk products, especially in the Detroit area. The company
starts to bring in small trailer loads of staples from
Arrowhead Mills in Texas. Bolduc and Redmond, realizing
that Eden is the only natural foods store in the area, borrow
some money and rent a 4,000 square foot Quonset hut
warehouse on North Main Street north of Ann Arbor near
the Huron River. They expand their wholesale and
distribution operations.
1971 Oct.–Mike Potter is given 13.5% of the common
stock of Eden Foods, Inc. largely to compensate him for his
many hours of unpaid volunteer work. According to
Michael Potter (Dec. 1986), at this point the common stock
ownership of Eden Foods is: Between Bill and Judy Bolduc
43.5%, Tim Redmond 43.5%, and Michael Potter 13.5%.
Potter later says (Feb. 1993) that Bill Bolduc and Tim
Redmond now own the same number of shares, but Judy
Bolduc owned a small number of shares so the Bolducs
owned the largest block.
1972 fall–Ron Roller starts to work part time for Eden
Foods. Continued. Address: 514 East William St. in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. Phone: 313-769-8444.
15. SoyaScan Notes.1969. Chronology of Eden Foods, Inc.
Part II. 1973 to Nov. 1981. 31 Jan. 1992. Compiled by
William Shurtleff of Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: Continued: 1973 March–Eden moves into a
larger warehouse at 310 West Ann Street in Ann Arbor,
sharing it with Midwest Natural Foods, which initially was
not a competitor. At about this time, Ron Roller starts
working full-time for Eden. While at this warehouse, in late
1973 or early 1974, Eden receives its first shipments of
imported Japanese natural foods from Mr. Kazama of
Mitoku in Tokyo. Tim Redmond had ordered these foods
from Mr. Kazama at a meeting of the Natural Foods
Distributors Association in Florida. Initially Eden was