Last week I had the opportunity to meet with a knowledgeable and passionate group of Walmart Mom-Bloggers in Bentonville, Arkansas.  They came from all over the country and asked insightful questions about Wild Oats products. We snacked on great tasting Wild Oats organic chips, salsa, pretzels and popcorn and displayed many of our new products, including pasta sauce, hot sauce and ketchup.  In the interim, I’ve enjoyed reading Walmart Moms’ commentary and want to thank them for their support.

The following are highlights from the their great questions:

(1)  How is Wild Oats able to offer high quality organic food at prices comparable to conventional national brands?

For most pantry items, less than 15% of the cost at the shelf goes to the organic farmer. The other costs are mostly in manufacturing, distribution, marketing and retail markup. Using Walmart’s scale and world class logistics,  Wild Oats and Walmart are able to reduce costs and pass savings on to customers.

(2)  How quickly will products be rolling out? Will Wild Oats offer fresh and prepared products?

Wild Oats currently has over 50 products at over 1,500 Walmart stores and 160 Fresh & Easy stores on the west coast.  Our goal is to have at least 100 products nationally in September 2014. Wild Oats fresh products, including organic sandwiches and salads are currently available at Fresh & Easy.

(3)  Will Wild Oats offer gluten-free products?

Wild Oats recognizes the growing importance of organic gluten free products.  Our first priority is to give customers the opportunity to begin with the most frequently used pantry items and replace conventional national brands with comparably priced Wild Oats natural and organic products.  Gluten free products are in our longer range plan.

(4)  How do I find which stores have Wild Oats products?

On the Wild Oats website, you can click on the “products” tab and select “where to buy”. Clicking on Walmart will take you to the Walmart website where you can search for Wild Oats products at nearby Walmart Stores. All of our products are listed on the Wild Oats website.

(5) Do Wild Oats products include Genetically Modified Ingredients (GMOs)?

Wild Oats product offering is currently over 90% organic and organic certification requires products to be non-GMO.  For the remaining 10%, Wild Oats uses simple ingredient lists, prohibits 125 unwanted ingredients listed on our website and minimizes genetically modified ingredients.

(5)  Where are Wild Oats products manufactured?

Wild Oats currently works with 20 high quality manufacturers, including 18 in the US, 1 in Italy and 1 in Canada. We’re pleased to be associated with our supplier partners and appreciate their support.