Couple transforms Sault Ste. Marie health food store

When Kathy Twardy decided to retreat from the city and return to her roots in Sault Ste. Marie with husband Steve, the couple couldn't have found a better fit for their skills and interests. What awaited was a health food store needing a buyer. The store had been doing a steady business but was in need of some upgrading.

 

"It had a good base of customers," says Steve Twardy. "What we wanted, though, was a full line grocery store where people can get everything they need--organic--in one place."

 

Kathy is a certified Master Nutrition Therapist, has a degree in holistic nutrition and has worked as a nutritional counselor, while Steve has extensive experience in business. Harmony Health Foods has turned out to be a good project for the pair to take on.

 

"We always wanted to do something we could do together, to be in a good place to raise our kids, get out of the corporate world," says Steve, who isn't originally from the area.

 

The first three years they spent mostly trying to figure out what people wanted and making updates to the store, including remodeling the inside of the store to make it bright and cheery and setting up a computerized point of sale system that tracks inventory better. They also invested in necessary food handling equipment and storage space for the basement work area. 

 

Two grants helped the process along, one from the Downtown Development Authority for signage out front, and one for coolers for produce and other food items from the Michigan Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the Upper Peninsula Food Exchange; the Marquette Food Co-op facilitated the grant.

 

After four years in the making, Harmony Health Foods is a vibrant part of downtown Sault Ste. Marie, filling a definite niche for people looking for organic food and healthy supplements. At the same time they've managed to put six additional people to work, going from a store of only two employees to eight on the payroll.

 

"We've added over 2,000 items to our offerings--it grows every week," says Steve Twardy. He says they do their best to give customers what they want and will special order items for people on special diets, even if it means only stocking one or two of those items at a time. Harmony Health Food caters to the health conscious, including those who want organic food, but also those on vegan diets, gluten free, nut free, etc.

 

"We're always adding new things," he says. The couple go out of their way to showcase locally grown and produced products, including maple syrup, fresh-ground coffee and salad greens. Steve Twardy says he strives to stock the shelves with at least 10 percent local products and would like to see that increase to 20 percent.

 

Twardy says he and Kathy consult each other often on the direction they want the store to go and the products to be offered. He says he doesn't like strict goal setting, which can be restrictive in this business. However, they do follow a general mission statement which includes giving the customers what they want, selling local goods as much as possible, and getting actively involved in the community. 

Neil Moran is a copywriter living in Sault Ste. Marie.