Does Big Organic Scare You?

Because it scares Kay Steiger

To me, this isn’t a problem specific to the grocery industry or even Big Organics. This is more of a problem with how our economy is set up. We reward stores that resemble the corporate structure, even if they’re advocating something that theoretically liberal. Consumers look for chain stores because that’s what’s familiar. We really don’t give much credit or support to independent retailers. Instead, it’s not enough to be a good corner store. If you have a good business model, you aren’t supposed to inspire other store owners in other cities, you’re supposed to form a franchise and open up your own stores in other cities. We’re far too dependent on the brand name.

I’m very confused by this argument. How is our economy set up? Who is doing this setting up? What reforms would Kay introduce so that it would be “enough to be a good corner store.” The reason people like chains is because they have lower prices, a wide variety of goods, higher average quality of goods, constant high volumes and because one can basically get the same quality of product in a wide variety of locations. The reason we don’t “give much..support to independent retailers” isn’t some kind of “choice” in the way Steiger seems to conceptualize it, but because the chains can offer standardized high quality and variety at lower prices than the independent retailers. Independents deserve all the credit they get, that’s how a market works.

Steiger’s second contention, that good corner stores turning into franchises is somehow undesirable (wait, I thought corner stores were good!) is even more baffling. Let’s say I run a successful organic grocery in Oakland. I have good deals with suppliers, high quality products and offer competitive prices. Should I try to “inspire” potential organic grocers in Berkeley and San Francisco to follow my business model and start poaching my suppliers? No, my business model kicks ass, I’m a good grocer, my brand is becoming respected, of course I should start the new grocery stores. How could that be bad? This is a feature of how our economy is set up, not a bug.

I think the base of our disagreement is her assertion that the “corporate business model” is somehow illiberal or unprogressive. I see no reason to think this is always and necessarily true. The success of Whole Foods, the spread of organic foods to Wal Mart and the proliferation of fair trade coffee at Starbucks would seem to prove otherwise. If organic foods and the like are good things, which I imagine Steiger thinks they are, don’t you want them to be sold in the most widespread and efficient manner? The model isn’t good or bad in and of itself, it’s a question of how good it is at providing the goods we like. If corner stores and indepedent retailers can’t do that as well as Big Orgnaics like Whole Foods and Wal Mart, too bad for them.

It’s also important to remember that many of these “corner stores” big box centers and Wal Marts replace aren’t that great. In urban areas, it’s not all that uncommon to see rotten produce that is much more expensive than what is being offered at Wal Mart. Yglesias wrote a superb column on horrible mom and pop grocery stores can be, and it should be read and reread by all.

Afghan Fine Dining…No, Really

Garance has some fun with Gourmet’s spread on dining in Kabul. Turns out that finding high quality cuisine in Kabul can be difficult:

the subhed to “Kabul Nights” is “Most of the restaurants in Afghanistan’s capital, where there are few named streets and no addresses, are tough to find. One clue: Look for the guards.” I love when the upscale glossies do spreads on such places.

Afghan food in the United States, however, is both delicious and can be rather upscale. Hamid Karzai’s brother is a restaurateur, with three restaurants named Helmand with locations in Baltimore, San Francisco and Cambridge. I went to the one in Cambridge about five years ago, and from what I can remember, it was fantastic. Afghan food is, not surprisingly, something of a mix between Indian/Pakistani food and Middle Eastern/Iranian food. So lots of rice, yogurts and lamb. Also, Fremont, California — a city about 40 miles southeast of San Francisco — has a very large Afghan community and has many smaller and lower scale Afghan restaurants which are also quite good.