Amy's Kitchen - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Amy's Kitchen is a privately held corporation which began operation in 1987, with the purpose of making healthy, organic

Organic food

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...

, and easy-to-prepare frozen food

Frozen food

Freezing food preserves it from the time it is prepared to the time it is eaten. Since early times, farmers, fishermen, and trappers have preserved their game and produce in unheated buildings during the winter season. Freezing food slows down decomposition by turning water to ice, making it...

. Owned and run by Andy and Rachel Berliner, Amy's Kitchen took its name from their then-newborn daughter. The company employs over 1,500 people and operates processing plants located in Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa, California

Santa Rosa is the county seat of Sonoma County, California, United States. The 2010 census reported a population of 167,815. Santa Rosa is the largest city in California's Wine Country and fifth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area, after San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and Fremont and 26th...

and White City, Oregon

White City, Oregon

White City is an unincorporated community in Jackson County, Oregon, United States. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined White City as a census-designated place . The census definition of the area may not precisely correspond to local understanding of the area with...

. New processing plants are being built in Corby

Corby

Corby Town is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure...

, England, and Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville, South Carolina

-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...

. The corporate headquarters is now located in Petaluma, California

Petaluma, California

Petaluma is a city in Sonoma County, California, in the United States. In the 2010 Census the population was 57,941.Located in Petaluma is the Rancho Petaluma Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. It was built beginning in 1836 by General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, then Commandant of the San...

.

Both proprietors had been long involved in the organic food business; Rachel's family had been growing and advocating organic vegetables and fruits since the 1950s, while Andy was formerly the president and majority shareholder of the Magic Mountain Herb Tea company. Because Amy's Kitchen is a private entity, reports of its annual earnings are not public knowledge.

Product

While Amy's products are vegetarian

Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...

and vegan

Veganism

Veganism is the practice of eliminating the use of animal products. Ethical vegans reject the commodity status of animals and the use of animal products for any purpose, while dietary vegans or strict vegetarians eliminate them from their diet only...

, focus is also given to people on kosher diets, as well as those who are unable to tolerate ingredients such as wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

gluten, soy, lactose

Lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance, also called lactase deficiency or hypolactasia, is the inability to digest and metabolize lactose, a sugar found in milk...

, and maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

derivatives. Most of Amy's meals are frozen,but they also make line of canned soups, chili, beans, pasta sauce and salsas. Amy's places a great emphasis on organic ingredients and will only use conventional ingredients where no organic alternative exists. Amy's never uses meat, eggs, seafood or peanuts, though some contain animal-derived elements (such as dairy and honey). Amy's products are non-GMO and do not contain hydrogenated fats or oils.

Because most of their products are frozen, they compete directly with similar companies, such as Stouffers, Uncle Ben's, Lean Cuisine

Lean Cuisine

Lean Cuisine is a brand of frozen entreés and dinners sold in the United States, Canada, and Australia by Nestlé. The brand began as low fat, low calorie versions of Stouffer's products. Today Lean Cuisine includes traditional dinners, ethnic dishes, pizzas, whole grain Spa Cuisine entreés, and...

, and Healthy Choice

Healthy Choice

Healthy Choice is the name of a brand of refrigerated and frozen foods owned by ConAgra Foods, Inc. According to ConAgra's official corporate history, it came into being after then-ConAgra CEO Charles "Mike" Harper suffered a heart attack in 1985...

. Most mainstream supermarkets in the USA sell Amy's products right alongside the others, though some sequester them into "organic food" sections along with the likes of less traditional frozen fare.

Availability

Nearly all U.S. mainstream supermarkets carry Amy's soups, sauces and/or frozen food. Similarly, most local natural food stores will offer a good selection of Amy's. Amy's is now offered at Whole Foods

Whole foods

Whole foods are foods that are unprocessed and unrefined, or processed and refined as little as possible, before being consumed. Whole foods typically do not contain added ingredients, such as salt, carbohydrates, or fat. Examples of whole foods include unpolished grains, beans, fruits, vegetables...

, Costco

Costco

Costco Wholesale Corporation is the largest membership warehouse club chain in the United States. it is the third largest retailer in the United States, where it originated, and the ninth largest in the world...

, Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer, Inc., is a chain of hypermarkets founded in 1922 in Portland, Oregon, by Fred G. Meyer. The company was one of the pioneers of one-stop shopping, eventually combining a complete grocery supermarket with a drugstore, clothing store, shoe store, fine jewelers, home decor store, home...

, Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...

, Publix

Publix

Publix Super Markets, Inc. is an American supermarket chain based in Lakeland, Florida.Founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins, it is an employee-owned, privately held corporation. Publix is currently ranked No. 86 on Fortune magazine's list of 100 Best Companies to Work For 2010 and was ranked No...

, Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

, Giant, Shopper's Food Warehouse, Albertson's and many others.

External links

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