Press
Bay Area specialty stores take
stigma out of WIC* (Article on 24 June 2011)
By Paula King
For the Contra Costa Times
Posted: 06/24/2011 02:44:38 PM PDT
When his daughter was an infant, Ayman Sulaiman came home one day to find
expired vouchers from the federally funded Women, Infants and Children program.
When he asked his wife about them, she cried and explained the humiliation she
experienced at their local grocery store when trying to take advantage of the
supplemental nutrition program.
It was 1993, the couple lived and worked in San Francisco, and Sulaiman
was attending college. He accompanied his wife to the store and witnessed what
he said was unfair treatment from both the clerk and manager, but the
business-savvy college student saw a huge need for stores that catered to the
families and children served by WIC*.
"It was just degrading," said Sulaiman, who studied computer science at UC
Berkeley and Heald College and worked in Silicon Valley. "I knew that I was
doing my best to improve our lives, and everyone was staring at us. I knew there
was a niche for WIC* clients at that point."
WIC* provides a variety of food staples each month to low-income and
working-class pregnant or breast-feeding women, infants and children under age 5
who are not meeting certain nutritional guidelines. It started in 1972 when the
federal government recognized that low-income women and children were suffering
from malnutrition and began to supplement food stamps.
Today, Sulaiman leads the largest co-op of WIC* specialty stores in
Northern California, with 45 stores under the Baby Nutritional Care name and
double that number helping smaller neighborhood WIC* markets that were struggling
with marketing, operations and inventory.
That number will grow with a store opening in Brentwood this week and
openings in Vallejo, Richmond, Hayward and San Pablo later this summer.
Sulaiman's first store was an old San Francisco flower shop that he bought
on a whim more than a decade ago for $5,000 while getting a bouquet for his
wife, who was pregnant with their second child. In a few years, he put the store
where he and his wife were mistreated out of business with their first WIC*
store, and started opening stores in Stockton, where he said the city was always
supportive and helpful.
Today, at least 60 percent of vouchers statewide are redeemed at WIC*
specialty stores instead of general grocery stores or big-box retailers that
also carry food through the governmental program.
"We help the consumer to be educated on WIC*-approved items," said
Sulaiman's business partner, Dave Douglas. "Getting a WIC* voucher is like
getting a prescription. It is important that we source products that meet the
WIC* standards."
The Baby Nutritional Care stores aim to make the shopping experience less
stressful and more pleasant for WIC* clients by hiring bilingual and
knowledgeable staff who know the WIC* guidelines, carrying all or most of the
WIC*-approved food items, and catering primarily to WIC* clients.
WIC* clients say they often face rude comments, stares and scrutiny from
both customers and employees in traditional grocery locations in addition to
poor customer service and ignorance about the WIC* program.
Antioch resident Raquel Cardenas works at the Pittsburg store and knows
the ins and outs of WIC* as a recipient for her 3-year-old daughter. The
21-year-old recalled one shopping experience when she selected the wrong baby
formula and had to return to the traditional grocery store for an exchange
"The clerk was so rude, and she wouldn't exchange it for me," she said.
"That is why people really like it here. We are polite. A lot of guys come in
here too because we help them out, and we are helpful."
Cardenas said customers come all the way from Brentwood for quality
customer service and a quick checkout. Amid the seasonal fruit and whole-grain
options are ethnic food items, including tofu, black-eyed peas and various beans
and lentils.
"This is the best thing ever," said Pittsburg resident Monique Smith, who
is raising her 3-year-old grandson and receives WIC* to supplement their
groceries. "It is much more convenient than a grocery store. They take too long
to ring up your items at a grocery store, and they don't know enough about WIC*."
The chain also tries to make the shopping experience easier for parents
and fun for children, with cartoon characters on the walls, free candy and play
areas.
Amid the Gerber cereals and baby food in these stores is the Early On
brand, an all-natural and preservative-free baby food line created by Baby
Nutritional Care. The gluten-free, certified kosher baby food was launched last
year, and is now also sold in Food 4 Less stores.
"We pack from fresh fruit. Most national brands are packed from puree,"
said Douglas, who previously worked for Hansen Beverage Company.
The Early On brand started more than a year ago with baby food and will
expand with next month's launch of a handful of dry cereals and oatmeal,
followed by bread, milk and cheese later this year.
"We are the Whole Foods or Trader Joes of WIC*," Sulaiman said.
The baby food is made with California produce; the milk will be packed in
Richmond; the company's main distribution center is in Manteca; and most of the
other products are manufactured in the state as well.
Sulaiman is proud to be producing jobs in a down economy throughout
California, and he now calls the Central Valley home as a resident of Ripon.
Baby Nutritional Care hopes to garner the same type of brand loyalty with
the Early On label as brands such as Gerber and Beech Nut.
"Our strategy is that a person on WIC* won't be on WIC* forever" Sulaiman
said.
Customers at Baby Nutritional Care stores also receive additional products
when they obtain the Early On brand through clever packaging based on the WIC*
item limits.
Sulaiman also intentionally situates many of his stores near WIC* offices
and public transportation for convenience.
"We now have a five-year plan to make our stores synonymous with WIC*," he
said. "It has been an amazing journey."
STORE LOCATIONS
Baby Nutritional Care
East Bay locations
3025 Foothill Blvd., Oakland
2630 International Blvd., Oakland
900 Market St. # A, Oakland
7351 Brentwood Blvd., Suite F, Brentwood
2344 Stanwell Circle, Concord
1295 E. Leland Road, Pittsburg
32970 Alvarado Niles Road #752, Union City
39180 State St., Fremont
917 North Central Ave., Tracy
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