This week we are featuring our customer Anita Shepard, owner of Electric Blue, a Brooklyn, New York baking company. Anita is a chef and food writer for Bon Appetit Magazine and various food blogs. She is also a menu consultant for vegan and gluten-free options and has recently started a cooking video series. We are very pleased to share Anita with you in her own words:
My small baking business means the world to me. I put my heart into everything I make, and that includes not just how it’s made, but what it’s made with. As a vegan baker, I try to source ingredients that are not just easy on your body, but also easy on the earth. So, it only made sense that my bakery packaging should be sustainable, too.
Before I discovered Nashville Wraps, I had two choices: eco-friendly packaging that looked like bark, or pretty packaging that was produced with no regard for where the materials came from or where they would end up. Nashville Wraps’ 100% recycled and recyclable boxes (also biodegradable) come in shapes and colors that exceed the selection I’ve seen anywhere else. They even have eco-friendy ribbon available in the same color as my logo.
Last month, I taught a holiday confections class at the Brooklyn Kitchen Labs. I knew that I had to have some boxes from Nashville Wraps so that the students could have the added bonus of giving the candy they made as gifts to loved ones. It was important to me that the boxes be as attractive as the contents, but also as sustainable.
When the class was over, everyone left happy. We made sugarplums, hazelnut maple halva, chocolate almond brittle, and peppermint caramels. All from plant-based, unprocessed ingredients…many of them organic. For me, the ultimate expression of love is to give a treat that delights the senses, and also has the recipient’s health in mind. My packaging helps me take that one step further.
It is pretty incredible to consider how much of an impact those boxes made. Nashville Wraps made each one for me. I gave it to a cooking student, and she in turn gave it to a loved one. That person may have shared the treats inside with friends, and then re-used the box to give yet again. With each transaction, less of a footprint on the Earth was made. The value in that is what businesses like mine are built on.
Anita Shepherd
