Errol Schweizer - Profile and Journalist Details
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Errol Schweizer
Verified
Contributor, Forbes
Austin
Beats
Biography
Errol Schweizer was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. He has over 25 years experience in the food industry and started his food career as a deli clerk and grill cook in college, while helping coordinate a student run food Co-op that stocked local and Organic foods. After graduating, Errol worked on food justice and advocacy projects, including Community Supported Agriculture, farmers markets and urban community gardens in the New York area. He did several stints as a community organizer in The Bronx and helped start a successful campaign to overturn New York's draconian Rockefeller drug laws. He eventually landed at Whole Foods Market as a stock clerk, and worked his way up through a variety of store, regional and national positions, including leading the NY/NJ Grocery division from 2006-2008. He spent the next 7 years as Vice President of Grocery, and was accountable for the merchandising, product assortment, promotional programs and financial performance for over 80 product categories and $5 Billion in annual sales. His team launched thousands of innovative new products into household names, including Zevia, Harmless Harvest, Suja, Beyond Meat, Justin’s, Califia Farms, Maple Hill, Saffron Road and popularized trends such as Non GMO Verified, Biodynamic, and Fair Trade, including pushing over 10,000 items thru Non GMO Verification. He helped implement procurement standards for pasture raised eggs, grass-fed milk, green cleaning products, sustainable tuna and plant-based foods, while achieving aggressive sales and profitability targets. Supermarket News has selected him as a Retailer of The Year and Hemp Industries Association awarded him with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Errol departed Whole Foods in March 2016 and has stayed prolific in the Natural and Organic food industry, working as a founder, director and advisor to over 25 enterprises, including plant-based food companies such as Farmer Direct Organic, Nuttzo, Good Catch and Smallhold, as well as regenerative projects such as Patagonia Provisions. Errol is deeply involved in working for a more just and healthy food system, including board service on the Austin/Travis County Food Policy Board and implementation of Good Food Purchasing standards for public institutions, as well as Farmshare Austin, Demeter Biodynamic and the Non GMO Project. Errol is an organic intellectual and a frequent public speaker , with a regular column in Forbes and a popular podcast on food, justice and labor called The Checkout. Follow him on IG @grocery.nerd & @thecheckoutradio and Twitter @grocery_nerd & @checkoutradio.
economics, supply chains, food justice food technology, plant based foods,Grocery industry regenerative agriculture, animal welfare, pricing and inflation labor, ethical sourcing
Topics that don't fall in the lifestyle and wellness wheelhouse
Content
By Errol Schweizer| Forbes Verified The Trump USDA continues its regressive policy approach to food and agriculture. U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins recently instructed the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to allow increased line speeds at pork and poultry plants, while no longer requiring plants to submit data on worker safety.
By Errol Schweizer| Forbes Verified A new survey examines the experiences of frontline grocery store and drug retail workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lasting effects five years later. As farmworkers start to fall ill with a rapidly evolving avian flu, the lessons of the last pandemic loom large for the food industry. Around 100,000 grocery workers fell ill and hundreds died from the Covid-19 pandemic. These deaths climbed into the thousands when families and community members of food workers were included in statistics.
By Organic Bytes, Errol Schweizer, Al Rabine, Scott Faber| Organic Consumers Association@ **UPDATE 3/6/2025: After five hours of deliberation, with a vote of 97 in favor and 16 opposing, the Mexican Senate approves the constitutional reform to ban GMOs. In a closing statement the director of the Morena party Adán Augusto López Hernández stated, “We must continue protecting our country, we will not fail.” The Sin Maíz No Hay País (No Corn No Country) campaign, with the help of our sister organizations Organic Consumers Association and Vía Orgánica, and other activists,...
Company Info
Forbes
Austin, United States