Chad Arnold and his team at door to door organics are helping to reinvent grocery shopping for the digital age.

In the beginning, everything revolved around delivery of the box 鈥� an impeccable assortment of home-delivered organic fruits and vegetables sourced from local networks of small farms.

That was the basic business at Door to Door Organics when Chad Arnold (MBA鈥�07) became chief operating officer in 2009, just two years out of CU-Boulder.

Since then, he has risen to president and CEO, grown sales from $3 million to more than $30 million and raised more than $25 million in new investment for the Louisville, Colo.-based online grocery and delivery service.

Fresh food and free home delivery remain company hallmarks. So does rapid growth, driven by Arnold鈥檚 careful attention to the variety of motivations driving consumers鈥� decisions about how, when and where to shop.

鈥淲hen I began to ask the fundamental question of why more people don鈥檛 shop for food online, I found the answer wasn鈥檛 because our box of produce wasn鈥檛 perfect,鈥� says Arnold, 41. 鈥淚t was because nobody had really made online grocery relevant to how people shop and eat.鈥�

If the diversity of consumers鈥� incentives has been overlooked by the still-budding online grocery industry 鈥� which represents about 2 percent of $650 billion in total U.S. grocery spending 鈥� Arnold sees this as an opportunity for Door to Door.

鈥淧eople鈥檚 goals aren鈥檛 just about eating tasty food, but also eating healthy and being informed in a convenient way for a fair price 鈥� ultimately shopping their values,鈥� he says.

Consumers want more than healthy, tasty food, convenience and a fair price. They want to shop their values.

Founded in Pennsylvania in 1997 as an organic produce delivery service, Door to Door Organics sank roots in Colorado in 2005. Today the company operates in a total of 12 states, from Colorado and Wyoming in the west to Illinois and Wisconsin in the Midwest and New York and New Jersey in the east. It plans to enter additional markets this year and next.

Door to Door competes with the giants of grocery delivery 鈥� Fresh Direct, Pea Pod and Walmart To Go 鈥� as well as about half a dozen smaller firms, Arnold says. Amazon also has entered the online grocery business.

Door to Door seeks to distinguish itself through higher-quality products and superior customer experience, and by appealing to the breadth of consumers鈥� needs and interests.

The company not only makes recommendations for shoppers but also suggests recipes for healthy meals based on what鈥檚 in their carts and provides a weekly meal-planning tool.

Because the company sources food from family farms and ranches around the country, it enables consumers to contribute to their regional economies. And because the produce travels relatively short distances, consumers participate in an environmentally conscious distribution system.

In a complex logistical operation, Door to Door partners with about 700 farmers, artisans and natural and organic food producers to offer fresh produce boxes and groceries that are delivered right to customers鈥� homes or offices.

For customers the process starts online by setting up a regular subscription for an organic produce box. Box options vary in size, content and frequency. A standard weekly small-size delivery costs about $36 and might include a mix of one bunch of Swiss chard, a head of red-leaf lettuce, a couple of apples and about nine other vegetable or fruit items.

The specific produce in the box varies based on the season and customer preference. Subscribers get a preview of what鈥檚 coming and may change up to five items. They also can add meats, dairy and more conventional groceries, including nonperishable and frozen goods. The services are commitment and fee-free.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a high expectation that we鈥檙e held to each week,鈥� says Cambria Vaccaro, vice president of marketing and customer service at Door to Door. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to continue to thrill and surprise.鈥�

Originally from California, Arnold came to Leeds, and to business, from the nonprofit world. Over seven years, he rose from teacher to executive director of Nature Bridge, an environmental education group that operates at national parks. He liked the mission-oriented work of nonprofits, but found the economic model limiting.

鈥淭here are some real challenges around keeping a nonprofit funded while attracting talent and providing the services you鈥檙e trying to provide,鈥� he says.

Also, he felt that rapid technological development was shaping business in many industries in appealing ways.

鈥淚 was seeing technology impact the business sector and a large movement gaining momentum among for-profit companies to balance doing well and doing good,鈥� says Arnold.

He applied to MBA programs and chose CU鈥檚 Leeds School of Business for its entrepreneurial emphasis, he says. He made the most of it, participating in both the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Solutions, an MBA-run consulting group. It was through a consulting gig that he first came to know Door to Door founder David Gersenson.

After graduation, Arnold worked as a consultant to early-stage clean technology enterprises and as an executive at a lithium ion battery start-up before joining Door to Door鈥檚 executive ranks.

鈥淒avid was at the point of asking 鈥榃hat do I do now?'鈥� Arnold told Entrepreneur magazine last year. 鈥淗e was trying to figure out how to scale the business, and I knew how to do it.鈥�

As Door to Door grows, it鈥檚 creating jobs for others, too. As of March, it employed a national workforce of 367, up more than 100 percent in less than three years.

鈥淧eople are inspired to work here,鈥� says Arnold. 鈥淎t the end of the day, that helps us deliver a better product and a better experience.鈥�

And happy employees make for happy customers.

鈥淲e have people in our warehouses 鈥� going through produce and putting together boxes, for example 鈥� making 30,000 decisions a day that could result in us keeping or losing customers,鈥� says Arnold. 鈥淥ur ability to value every job in the cycle is critical to a great product and ultimately gaining customers鈥� trust and helping them transition their behaviors to ordering online. It鈥檚 a shared responsibility.鈥�

Photography by Glenn Asakawa

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Sara Brody, left, and Sabina Bastias, put out food for a first-anniversary party for The Second Kitchen, a student-run food co-op. Cliff Grassmick, courtesy of Daily Camera.

Celebrating its one-year anniversary this summer, the Second Kitchen, made up of 70 members, is a Boulder food co-op run by CU students.

Started in co-founder Sara Brody鈥檚 12-by-8 foot galley kitchen, the group buys locally grown food in bulk to share with members who want to be healthy and environmentally conscious as well as save money.

In doing so, they have created a strong sense of community among members.

鈥淭his has been about building community around food,鈥� CU senior Noal Amirtold the Colorado Daily. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 just come and get your food or stop by for a quick meeting 鈥� you鈥檙e building friendships around it, which is really awesome.鈥�

The food co-op is looking to find a new location, become an official nonprofit organization and expand membership beyond students to the Boulder community.

Boulder has embraced all things organic from food to flooring. Here are some Boulder area highlights:

• More than 20 restaurants and shops sell all organic and natural food.
• In its 25th year, the Boulder Farmers Market on 13th Street between Arapahoe and Canyon is held on Saturdays through Nov. 17 and Wednesdays until Oct. 3
• There are  approximately six organic dairy and produce farms near Boulder.

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Barney Feinblum (MBA鈥�75) helped transform the natural food industry from a hippy niche to an $81 billion enterprise. His most recent project? Reopening the legendary Alfalfa鈥檚 on Broadway and Arapahoe.

Walk the aisles of Boulder鈥檚 reincarnated Alfalfa鈥檚 Market and you鈥檒l find a dizzying array of natural and organic offerings, from 鈥渆co smart鈥� insecticide to chlorine-free toilet paper to GMO-free pizza and grass-fed organic beef.

In almost every conceivable category, healthier, eco-friendly alternatives exist. But it wasn鈥檛 always so, recalls Barney Feinblum (MBA鈥�75) who reopened the Boulder natural foods grocery last year at its original location on Broadway and Arapahoe where it had been from 1983 until 1996.

鈥淏ack in the day, you had to be pretty committed to buy this stuff,鈥� says Feinblum, 64, who moved to Boulder from the East Coast in 1972 and 鈥� at the urging of his wife-to-be Julie Ann 鈥� started shopping at hole-in-the wall natural foods stores in Boulder.

鈥淚f you got apples they were shriveled with worm holes, and the produce looked a little stepped on. You definitely didn鈥檛 have coffee or red meat or alcohol . . . The industry has come a long way.鈥�

Feinblum should know. As former CEO of Celestial Seasonings and Horizon Organic Dairy, and the voice of financial reason behind numerous other natural product companies, the diminutive, bespectacled dealmaker has not only watched the industry鈥檚 wild ride from hippy niche to $81 billion goliath, he has 鈥� in many ways 鈥� been driving the bus.

鈥淗e was a critical part of two companies that ended up taking natural products out of the health food niche and into mainstream America,鈥� says Alfalfa鈥檚 co-founder Mark Retzloff, who first met Feinblum 30 years ago. 鈥淗e is one of the icons of the industry.鈥�

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1947, Feinblum got his 鈥渂asic training in life鈥� in the city before heading to Cornell University for a degree in industrial engineering and immersion into the 鈥�60s counterculture.

鈥淭he seeds of revolution were being planted, and I jumped in,鈥� recalls Feinblum, his accent tinged with a hint of New York, his rosy cheeks sporting a Boulderesque glow.

After hearing about Boulder from a Buddhist friend, he gravitated West, taking a series of jobs in the pre-fab home business before enrolling at CU for an MBA in finance. He lovingly credits Julie Ann, his wife of 38 years, for footing the bill.

His first job out of grad school was a lucrative but wholly unglamorous one, working the night shift as a foreman at the Samsonite Factory in Denver. As the suitcases rolled off the conveyor belt emblazoned with the tag 鈥渂uilt under the supervision of Barney Feinblum,鈥� he dreamed of a shorter commute and better hours. When his wife clipped out a tiny ad for a job at Celestial Seasonings, he donned a suit and tie, grabbed his briefcase and went calling.

鈥淚 was greeted by the secretary who was barefoot and lived in a tepee and led me up to the head of human resources who was in shorts and a T-shirt,鈥� he recalls. 鈥淚 immediately took a two-thirds pay cut and went to work for this group of rag-tag hippies. I think I was the first one hired into management who was not a friend or relation.鈥�

With his unique blend of business and engineering smarts, East Coast bluntness and 鈥�60s idealism, he was a welcome addition to the industry.

鈥淲hat Barney always brings is good financial discipline,鈥� says Retzloff, who founded the original Alfalfa鈥檚 at Broadway and Arapahoe in 1983 and met Feinblum when he reached out to Celestial Seasonings for financing. The two have been partners in numerous ventures since.

鈥淎 lot of entrepreneurs have good ideas and are passionate, but you also have to have someone who understands the business end,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 Barney. He likes to do deals.鈥�

By the time Feinblum left Celestial Seasonings in 1993, the company had grown from a $5 million company housed in eight makeshift warehouses to a $55 million enterprise with a state-of-the-art 150,000 square-foot factory.

Barney Feinblum (MBA鈥�75) shops in Alfalfa鈥檚 Market in Boulder, which offers a caf茅, a wine and spirits shop and natural and organic products, including in-house smoked meats.

But those years were not always smooth.

In 1983, just hours after the company held its Initial Public Offering, a Mississippi woman landed in the hospital with blurred vision after drinking Celestial Seasonings tea she claimed was contaminated with the toxic plant belladonna. Feinblum, then chief financial officer, had to abort the IPO.

鈥淚t restricted capital to the natural products industry for a decade,鈥� Feinblum says, calling it one of the lowest moments in his career. 鈥淚t put a negative financial tone on the whole industry.鈥�

The following year, Kraft Foods purchased Celestial Seasonings and made Feinblum CEO. But the stodgy corporate Kraft and the funky grassroots Celestial clashed. At one point, the Velveeta giant sent in 鈥渟pies鈥� to investigate rumors that there was a 鈥渄rug problem鈥� at the tea company, Feinblum recalls. He started scheming a way to buy the company back.

In 1988, just as tea-giant Lipton was poised to swoop in, buy Celestial from Kraft and close the Boulder plant, Feinblum and Caryn Ellison (MBA鈥�82) 鈥� Celestial鈥檚 planning director at the time 鈥� pulled off an 11th-hour deal and purchased the company back with the help of investment group Vestar Capital Partners.

鈥淲e wanted to keep the culture of Celestial and its values alive,鈥� Feinblum recalls. 鈥淚t was about empowering employees. There were no glass ceilings for women, minorities or gays. We had concerns about the environment and corporate responsibility and giving back to the community.鈥�

After leaving Celestial Seasonings in 1993, Feinblum took a job at Horizon Organic Dairy, which Retzloff and partner Paul Repetto had launched in 1991 as a yogurt company.

Feinblum led the company to its own IPO in 1998, and by the time he left the company in 1999, sales were close to $90 million. Today, Horizon is the best-selling dairy brand in America.

鈥淢ilk went on to become the gateway product for people to get into organic foods,鈥� Retzloff notes.

Feinblum has since gone on to found organic winemaker Organic Vintners, co-found Greenmont Capital Partners, a Boulder-based venture capital firm, and served on the boards of several other natural products companies. He also serves on the board of the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU-Boulder.

But one of his proudest moments came on Earth Day 2011 when he helped to reopen Alfalfa鈥檚, a mainstay in Boulder that closed in 1996.

Rival Wild Oats had purchased the iconic natural grocer in 1996, and when Whole Foods Market gobbled up Wild Oats in 2007, the Federal Trade Commission 鈥� concerned about anti-trust issues 鈥� ordered Whole Foods to sell dozens of its stores, including the one at Broadway and Arapahoe.

Again, Retzloff and Feinblum came knocking.

鈥淲e felt it was important for the store to be back in town and really represent what the Boulder community is all about 鈥� locally owned and engaged with the community and the neighborhood,鈥� Retzloff says.

Sitting in his office, adjacent to the 20,000-square-foot Alfalfa鈥檚 brimming with organic milk, herbal teas and shelves full of other products he helped bring to market, Feinblum 鈥� who is eyeing retirement soon 鈥� couldn鈥檛 be more proud.

鈥淚t has been really fun to see all the things we preached about years ago coming to pass,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e made decisions based on values, not necessarily what would pay the most money. We did it to change the world, and we ended up being rewarded.鈥�

Photos courtesy of Glenn Asakawa

Here鈥檚 a look at a few CU-Boulder grads who have played a pivotal role in growing the natural products industry.

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