Contact Us
1609 Trumansburg Rd
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone: 607-319-5150
Fax: 607-319-5156
food@regionalaccess.net
Office Hours:
Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm
Warehouse Pickups:
Thurs & Fri: 12pm - 4pm
Order Guidelines
Orders must be received by Mondays at noon for same-week delivery or pickup.
Orders may be called, faxed, or emailed* in (see contact info above).
*PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL WITH ORDERS. IT IS LIKELY IT WILL END UP IN OUR JUNK MAIL BOX AND GET MISSED.
PLEASE START A NEW EMAIL TO FOOD@REGIONALACCESS
.NET INSTEAD.
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We still have
Fresh Local Organic
produce
for produce availability please email
jay@regionalaccess.net.
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Greetings!
And welcome to our December newsletter. Above you'll find links to our catalogs and this month's specials. Below, you'll find little bits of news, information on our featured vendor and some in-house recognition.
As we look ahead into 2011 we have some exciting product lines in the works and some great projects in the making. We'll share more on both fronts when we're closer to rolling them out.
Lastly, before we leave you to the rest of the newsletter, just a HUGE THANK YOU for your continued business throughout the year. We are constantly amazed at the plentiful bounty that our region has to offer and at the hunger you and your customers have for it. Will will continue to seek out new and exciting products from our region and beyond and look forward to sharing them with you!
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News
- Our New Phone System - If you've tried to call us in the past week, you may have noticed we're answering the phone a lot less. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused but assure you it's for the best. We realize that a large majority of the calls that come through the phone lines are for the wine department, the traffic department or for our GM, Dana. In an order to free our sales staff to do the things they do best (service you), we must limit the amount of unrelated calls they take. So, when you call us, please listen carefully to the prompts. If you know your parties' extension, you can dial that at any time. Here are some of the more useful extensions: Sales Dept - Ext 5, Wine Dept - Ext 6 & Traffic Dept - Ext 7.
- Passive Demo Kits from Once Again Nut Butters (OA3500). These kits are meant to be set up at an unmanned, self-serve table and are free. Each kit includes: 12/1# jars of assorted nut/seed butters, spoons, napkins, one garbage bag and marketing material. You supply crackers, pretzels, apples, etc. This is an easy way to boost your nut butter sales without much work. If you would like one of these demo kits please ask your sales rep. Kit will automatically be included for all 3+ case stack orders of Once Again Nut Butters in December.
- Product Name Change from Organically Hip (OH12 & OH14). Organically Hip has changed the name of two of it's products and needs you to check your shelves for them. Cowboy Cookie Mix has been changed to Cowgirl Cookie Mix and FairyTale Brownie Mix has been changed to TellTale Brownie Mix. If you have any of these products on your shelves, please notify your sales rep. Organically Hip would like to send you new self-adhesive labels.
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 Featured Vendor
KALLARI
Sustainable Pleasure for Palate and Planet
We were recently visited by two traveling delegates from the Kallari Association. Nearing the end of their two and a half month tour, Marla and Roxanna came to share the Kallari story with us. Roxanna, a young Kichwa woman from Ecuador, is visiting the US to educate people on Kallari's bean-to-bar process and on how they went from making $.25/lb for their beans to getting over $2/lb for them. Marla is her interpreter. Together, they told us their story.
The Kallari Association is a self-governed coalition of Amazon artists and organic cocoa producers. Their cooperative began in 1997 with less than fifty families and has now grown to over 850 families. In an area that has been damaged by logging, Kallari has created sustainable income so Kichwa people can fulfill their basic family needs without logging their rainforests or selling their land. Just ten years ago, middlemen kept profits for themselves and set low prices for cocoa beans. Today Kallari communities sell as a single unit; their leaders traveling to Europe and North America to negotiate prices for their harvest. Today, Kallari is the only farmers' cooperative in the world that harvests, markets, and enjoys all profits from its own line of organic chocolate. 
After watching their slide show (we attached an abridged version below), we of course got to taste some of their chocolate. Roxanna, with Marla's help, instructed us to take a square of the chocolate between our fingers and gently rub it to "warm it up". She invited us to smell the chocolate and finally to put the square in our mouths and let it melt on our tongues. I never took chocolate so seriously. It reminded me a little of wine tasting. And every bit as enjoyable.
Kallari chocolate is intensely flavorful and delicate. Unlike other artisanal dark chocolates which generally blend multiple-source cacaos, Kallari chocolate acquires its flavor through harvesting endemic varietals found on small, family-owned Kichwa farms. Kallari's fresh, unadulterated taste and its absence of bitterness derive from this field blending of single-source noble varietal beans, primarily the rare and much esteemed Cacao Nacional.
Each square on a Kallari chocolate bar is beautifully stamped with a cacao leaf. The entire bar is wrapped in foil and comes in its own box. These bars are as delicious as they are beautiful. At 70%, 75% & 85% dark chocolate, these will be great on any retail shelf and perfect stocking stuffers.
View the Kallari slide show.
Product Ids KC500 - KC524
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Recognized Employee
Nick Gardner
We just wanted to take a moment to recognize one of our own. We don't do it often (maybe we should) but we couldn't let another month go by with shining the light on Nick Gardner. Nick started at Regional Access as one of our mechanics and currently is our official jack-of-all-tradesman in the warehouse. He loads trucks, and even fixes them if need be, he puts up shelving in our kitchen, mows our lawn (we think he just likes driving our antique tractor), sweeps the warehouse, and more. And sometimes he even does it on his own time.
In talking with his colleagues, Nick was described as " amiable, professional, considerate, thorough, consistent & dependable" Another said, "when you're having your coffee, he's loading a truck. When you're eating your lunch, he's fixing something. When you're leaving for the day, he's mowing the lawn. And when you're home with your kids, he's taking out the trash."
Need we say more?
We want to thank Nick for always doing what needs to be done and doing it with a smile. We couldn't do it without you!
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