I love Austin, Texas. If you haven’t been there, it’s a wonderful city. Check out the Austinist and their mention of our new Solar Panels at our Austin deli on South I-35 at: http://austinist.com/2007/11/14/texas_recycles.php

November 15th is Texas Recycles Day. Time to remember to reuse it. We have eliminated ALL polystyrene packaging in the deli and replaced it with paper or recyclable plastic.

We are almost rid of all of our aerosols too. One more product to go. We’ll get there.

Rusty

Dear friends,

I have spent the week speaking with the press, which is honestly very new to me. Without a doubt, I would rather be in our test kitchen working with the team on lowering the sodium counts of our food and dabbling with some other wonderful new menu items, but for now everyone wants to talk about our big announcement – removing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) from the food.

Reporters keep asking this week, why did we do this?  The primary reason was taste.  We have done tons of tests and each time HFCS lost to cane sugar, honey and etc.  We also read all the studies about the debate going on between scientists.  Here’s what Dr. Richard Johnson – author of The Sugar Fix and medical professor at The University of Colorado at Denver has to say:

“Fructose itself is not the problem—eating too much of it is. That said, it’s still clear that Americans are being exposed to lots of HFCS every day, since this sweetener is added to many processed foods.  It is my hope that one day there is better labeling on foods so that consumers can check the fructose content. I also believe that food labels should carry warnings stating that excessive intake of fructose can increase your risk for obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions.”

How Did This Happen?

“HFCS came into wide use in the 1970s because it was inexpensive, extended the shelf life of foods, and had other qualities food manufacturers found desirable.  It was intended to replace table sugar—but while sugar intake decreased a little, the intake of HFCS increased dramatically. As a result, Americans are eating 30% more fructose than we did 30 years ago.  One reason for this huge spike in fructose consumption is economics: Food companies saved money by using HFCS instead of sugar, but instead of lowering prices they instead increased the size of soft drinks and other sweet-tasting products. In the 1950’s the typical bottle of soda pop contained 7 ounces. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, 12-ounce containers became the norm. In today’s super-sized market, the 20-ounce bottle has become the new standard size.”

Some say that moderation is what’s needed, but how is that possible if HFCS is in everything?  We believe in Real Food that is less fooled around with and love the fact that most of our customers eat at our all-you-can-eat salad bar.  I stick to the organics and eat lots of fresh vegetables… it’s all so gooooodddd.

Finally, some much-due thank yous. My Partners, Research & Development, Jason’s Deli Distribution Procurement, Vendors, our Test Delis, Trainers, Sales Team and everyone who encouraged us to get it right!

Keep it real,

Rusty

Okay, so I’ll admit that these social network things are a bit odd, but heck, it’s clear that lots of folks dig this stuff.  We have almost 200 followers in Twitter without promoting and nearly a half dozen friends in our Facebook group.  Please sign up today so that you can stay in touch for a big announcement on October 28th.  To join:

Facebook: The Official Jason’s Deli Fan Club

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=31291991178&ref=ts

Twitter

http://www.twitter.com/jasonsdeli

Speak with you online,

Rusty

Society was pushed back a few decades this past week thanks to hurricane Ike. People have been forced to slow down and live off the grid. Yet this reveals true life. The simple stuff now means much more and you appreciate life for what it is, a natural paradise that’s diminishing before our very eyes. Oh the beautiful sounds I’ve rediscovered with the windows open. Mother Nature has a plan so we’d better treat her right. Hopefully it’s not too late my brothers and sisters, in the mean time I lay in the dark and enjoy Sgt Pepper.

Oh yeah, as I jog and ride by bike thru Beaumont people don’t ask me how I am or if my house survived the storm…all they want to know is when the deli will be reopening.

Regards,

Rusty

Dear Friends,

Thank you for completing our survey. We never expected 800+ votes and we honestly had no idea what the outcome might be.

Unlike other voting systems, the popular vote counts with us and has already made a difference. In fact, we are speaking with a large soda company who still needs some persuading about switching away from high fructose corn syrup to cane sugar products; and we’re bringing the survey results and your voice to the table. So keep making comments to our blog and tell your friends to vote too. Of course, let them vote anyway that they would like to!

Thanks again,

Rusty

Everyone craves the tastiest, deli-cious food that they can get; and, of course, a lot of people want healthy food too. I can tell you that the purest food almost always tastes the best. Trust me, we have a R&D kitchen and we taste different versions of the same dish all the time. These are some of the reasons that got us to ban artificial trans-fats and MSG.

For more than a year, we have been looking into High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) for the same reasons. Today we are a few items away from victory. One obstacle is the soda fountain. Before we move further, we want your opinion.

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Thanks for your help!

Rusty

Hey folks,

We received an unusual customer email this week.  They compared Jason’s New Yogurt & Organic Granola Parfait to McDonald’s Yogurt Parfait.  Now, I’ve been at this for a few years now, OK… for more than fifty years (counting those years growing up in my Dad’s grocery store), and I was disappointed, honestly, since we are so selective about ingredients, serving real food and avoiding the artificial stuff. Our Guest Relationship Manager – Lisa Hooper – wrote up the story below, which I must say, is well done:

Recently, we had a customer question the difference between our fruit and yogurt parfait to the one served at McDonald’s. The guest was responding to an e-mail that we sent out about our new parfait. This was such a great question that I felt all of our customers should know the answer.

There are so many differences between our parfait and the parfait at McDonald’s that it is like night and day. Our portion size is substantially more than 9 oz., while their portion size is 5.3 oz.  We serve “Real Food,” which means we don’t believe in adding preservatives or adulterating the product for a longer shelf life.  Also, we only use high-quality Driskoll strawberries, Hawaiian premium pineapple and premium grapes in our parfaits.  Plus, our produce is delivered on a daily basis so it is always fresh.

As for our yogurt, it contains cultured grade A reduced fat milk, sugar, natural vanilla flavor and pectin.  Their yogurt contains the same type of milk as ours and sugar, but it also has food starch modified, fructose, whey protein concentrate, corn starch, kosher gelatin, artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (added to maintain freshness) and artificial color.  Based on this comparison, you can see our yogurt is more natural and doesn’t have a bunch of unnecessary items added to it.  Our granola is also organic; whereas, their granola is not organic and contains dried high maltose corn syrup, brown sugar, baking soda and sodium aluminum phosphate.  Our granola contains items such as organic rolled oats, organic crispy brown rice, organic maple syrup and organic sunflower seeds.

We believe in providing a nourishing portion of food that hasn’t been fooled around with.  I encourage you to try our new fruit and yogurt parfait because I think you will definitely be able to taste the difference in freshness and quality.

Lisa, thanks for telling the story so well!

Hey Ya’ll – try our new yogurt parfait and please let us know what you think.

Rusty

Hello friends,

Must apologize about the long lag in posting to the blog but summer vacations and beach time with the family hopefully provides for a good excuse.

Last month I posted a short piece describing what we have done at Jason’s Deli to go green (on June 1^st I think). Then a few days later I wrote another posting asking for your help as we really want to do more (June 6^th). Plus, we offered a gift card to Jason’s Deli as a reward to the top entries. Well, we were surprised at both the number of responses as well as the amount of really good ideas. In fact, this blog prompted us to talk with Green Mountain Energy about a partnership in numerous regions as well as calls/emails from major city governments about ways to work together and make our communities greener. That was far more than we ever expected.

But the email that really caught our fancy and won a $100 gift card to Jason’s Deli came from Jen Quirk who comes to the deli often with her family. She shared not just one idea, but ten I think. While we can’t implement all of her wonderful suggestions immediately – not that I wouldn’t like too – they are all really smart ideas. A portion of her winning email is in italics. Yeah, sure, some competitor might steal her ideas, but heck in my mind… that would be great for the environment. So feel free to use these ideas with your business too!

Did you know that if Americans ate 1/4 less beef it would be like all of us driving a hybrid car?!?!  I have been so impressed with the 0 high fructose corn syrup:  Does that include your bread too?  Most breads that is the 2nd ingredient!!

I work at a “green” certified commercial printer so some ways are borrowed from what we do here (let us know if you need any menus!! We’d love to print them!)

1. Purchase Solar/Wind credits to offset power that’s used
2. Instead of plastic trays use Molded Fiber Trays that are 100% Recovered Content Processed Cholrine Free
3.  I’m always stuck with the horrible smell/tingly nose after employees clean our tables: Switch to earth friendly cleaning products! 
4. Print new menus on certified green pa us, per that won’t leave any carbon footprint
5. Not sure how much catering y’all do: but have a Prius or some form of hybrid vehicle to help with emissions
6. Don’t use  the to-go  cups at the ice cream station- have the ones that get washed instead.  Same with the spoons- take out the plastic and have flatware! 
7.  Change your bathroom towels and napkins to 100% Recovered 60% Post Consumer Waste Recycled Processed Chlorine Free
8.  Change the table salt to SEA SALT.  Iodine is very bad for our bodies!

Okay- I’ll stop now!  Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks, Jen, for writing us, but we hope you don’t ever stop saving the planet.

Regards,

Rusty

On this Father’s Day, I want to take a moment to honor mine.  He passed away some years ago, but like all of us, he shaped me into the man I am today. For that and more, I’m grateful.

My Dad owned a grocery store in Beaumont, Texas.  At one point he was actually in business with my uncle.  His son – my first cousin – is actually my business partner and the CEO of Jason’s Deli today.  When we were kids, we would watch the produce come in daily.  Back in the day, we received what’s known as seasonal produce.  That is, strawberries in the summer along with high-bush blueberries, melons and all the other juicy berries.  Checking these shipments in, washing a few fruits right away and tasting them instantly were special moments for me and my Dad.

I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because all of Jason’s Deli nearly 200 locations check in fruit and vegetables the same way my Dad and Joey’s Dad did years ago.

To all the Dad’s out there – thank you for sharing your dreams and teaching us some good lessons.  I hope that I’m doing the same with my children.

Rusty

The last time I posted to this blog, I listed everything that we have done so far to eliminate waste, conserve water and energy. As this headline says – we are eager to do more – and are seeking your help.

When you get a minute, I really would like you to go by your local Jason’s Deli and look for ways that we can become “greener.” Then e-mail me your ideas at rusty@jasonsdeli.com I’ll respond to each and every e-mail; although, it might take a couple of weeks! The best ideas will receive a $50 gift card to Jason’s Deli (if you send me your mailing address) and the ones that get implemented will be written up on my blog … with full credit to you! Like I’ve always said, we’re just naïve enough to think that we can make a difference. Join up with us so that together we can do some good.

Rusty

P.S. I’m the guy to the left of the tree!