Success Came Naturally to 3 Companies

Besides having many natural foods stores in the area, North County is also home to several companies that produce natural food and organic products that are widely distributed.

Among them are Dr. Bronner’s Soap, Bernard Jensen’s vitamins and Three Sisters’ burritos and tamales.

DR. BRONNER’S SOAP AND FOOD PRODUCTS

All-One-God-Faith Inc., P.O. Box 28, Escondido, 745-7069

Emanuel Bronner, 83, has been making soap and natural food products since 1949. Since the 1960s, his concentrated liquid soap--especially the peppermint variety--has been a favorite of campers and counterculture types across the country. He now sells about 400,000 gallons of liquid soap a year, as well as 600,000 pounds of bar soap and several food-based powders and concentrates.

Dr. Bronner’s products distinguish themselves from others on the shelf by their unusual labels. Plastered on every quart bottle of his peppermint soap are 6,000 words worth of Bronner’s personal philosophy. His almond, eucalyptus and lavender soaps also each have their own lengthy text on the label.

The text of the labels adds up to Bronner’s “Moral ABC.” It’s a collection of Bronner’s off-the-cuff observations on world issues, from birth control to rain forests to the Holocaust. The labels also include references to a wide range of thinkers, from Karl Marx and Mikhail Gorbachev to Mark Spitz and Jesus.

Dr. Bronner’s food-based products include a Balanced Mineral Bouillon, Balanced Mineral Seasoning, Balanced Protein Seasoning, Barley Malt Sweetener, and instant soups.

BERNARD JENSEN PRODUCTS, INC.

124 E. Cliff St., Solana Beach, 755-4027

Bernard Jensen Products serves natural foods stores around the United States, shipping an assortment of nutritional products, including vitamins and minerals, fruit concentrates, broths and seasonings, chlorophyll products and more than 45 books published by Jensen.

The product line was started in 1959 by Jensen, now 83. In 1973, Jensen sold his interest in the business to his partner, Joe Stoller, said Chuck Ody, who manages the Solana Beach warehouse.

Bernard Jensen Products has never advertised, but the 10-employee company has never had a down year, Ody said.

Business is seasonal, with a dramatic increase in the winter, when colds and flu hit and when many people change their diet in an effort to make good on New Year’s resolutions, he said.

Open for walk-in retail business, the company’s Solana Beach warehouse stocks products from Emanuel Bronner and other natural foods producers, in addition to a full line of dietary products originally formulated by Bernard Jensen.

Although one company that bears his name continues to serve a small but steady market, Jensen continues to lecture, travel and write, and sell videotapes, audiotapes, books and food products through Bernard Jensen International. The company also markets his Whole Life Food Blend, a powder containing colostrum, chlorella, bee pollen and sesame seeds, produced by Bricker Labs, in Valley Center.

Bernard Jensen International, 24360 Old Wagon Road, Escondido, 749-2727

THREE SISTERS NATURAL FOODS

3139 Roosevelt St., Carlsbad, 729-2528 Three Sisters Natural Foods specializes in organic burritos, tamales and sugar-free pastries and cakes. Yes, there were three sisters involved, at least when the company began.

“My whole family has been involved with food for a long time,” said Sita Villasenor- Aganza, founder of Three Sisters.

“One sister wanted not to be indoors all the time, and the other sister was going on 60 years old when we started, so we parted ways,” Villasenor- Aganza said. “But it’s never been me, by myself. My husband helps, and now my son is helping. It’s always been a family affair.”

Founded in 1984, the company delivers to 36 accounts, including several natural foods stores in North County.

A new line of Italian foods is on the drawing board. This month, Three Sisters will open a takeout counter at the factory, where people will be able to buy bulk foods and ready-to-eat burritos and tamales by the case. The counter will be open Wednesday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.