What You'll Learn
- How a small conventional producer made the transition to certified organic.
- How yearly supplier agreements strengthen your supply chain.
- What to check at receiving so invoices, lot codes, and COAs all line up.
- How organic recordkeeping builds a single audit trail from finished product back to receiving.
- Why ingredient choices should weigh organic availability and audit risk, not just cost.
Watch Time: 10:38
This video profiles Nana Joes Granola, a small organic granola and granola bar maker in San Francisco, and follows founder Michelle Pusateri’s path from conventional startup to certified organic handler. She started the company in 2010 after making her own granola between surf sessions, and though she wanted to go organic from the beginning, the cost and the intimidation factor kept her conventional for years. Everyone told her certification was scary, and she took that as a challenge. The story is a useful one for small producers because it shows both the real difficulty of getting certified and the fact that a small operation can absolutely do it.
Much of the video focuses on supplier management and recordkeeping, the two areas Pusateri found most demanding. She stresses vetting suppliers carefully, working farm-direct or one-touch wherever possible, and treating suppliers as relationships rather than transactions. She gets to know them by subscribing to their newsletters, asking about likely shortages, and refreshing supplier agreements every year. When formulating, she weighs not just ingredient cost but whether an ingredient can actually be sourced organic and how much audit risk it carries, using risk databases to avoid ingredients that create extra work.
She’s candid that she cried through her first audit because her invoices and receiving log were a mess. Working with her organic consultant Ellen Rawley, she learned that most organic records exist to build one thing, an audit trail that traces a finished product all the way back to receiving. Her systems have since moved from paper to Google Drive, with COA and invoice links embedded in each batch log so inspectors can find them fast.
The video also reframes inspections and ingredient choices in a practical light. Pusateri encourages new handlers not to get defensive at that first inspection. Organic inspections are meticulous but collaborative, and hers have gotten shorter every year as she’s gotten more prepared. She closes on why sourcing organic ingredients matters to her personally and environmentally, and on her pride at being certified as a small handler and offering more organic product options to consumers.
About the Featured Operation
Nana Joes Granola
- Organic Granola Manufacturer
- San Francisco, CA
- 9 Employees
- Certified Organic since 2018
A manufacturer of organic granola and granola bars, founded by a trained pastry chef who built the business around quality ingredients from the start. It has favored steady, sustainable growth over growth at any cost, emphasizing product integrity and a consistent team, and treats supplier relationships as partnerships rather than transactions.
