Limited edition “Dirty 30” ice cream from New Leaf & Mission Hill Creamery
New Leaf Community Markets is celebrating its 30th birthday with lots of discounts through Sunday, Oct. 25, at its stores in Santa Cruz, Capitola, Half Moon Bay and Pleasanton. Also, the Westside store will hold a community block party on Saturday, Oct. 24. Visit Visit New Leaf’s 30-year anniversary site for details on events and promotions.
Discounts & More
Through Sunday, there are 30 different product lines being sold at 30% off—choices vary each day. There are three or four on each weekday, and 14 Saturday/Sunday specials. For Oct. 20, selections on sale included packages of fresh pasta and ravioli from Pasta Mike and raw organic sauerkraut from Farmhouse Culture (both wonderful Santa Cruz area companies). Thursday’s discount items will include all bulk items except for coffee, tea, and herbs. The weekend deals include all New Leaf-brand cheese, organic local apples, and Talenti gelato.
The store created a few fun “30th anniversary exclusive products” including limited edition stainless steel pint cups (Klean Kanteen produced them) and a limited edition “Dirty 30” ice cream made by local Mission Hill Creamery. Only 1,000 pints of this delicious-sounding dessert are being made. It features organic vanilla MHC ice cream made with Straus Family Creamery dairy as the base, infused with a generous caramel swirl made with organic ingredients. The ice cream is blended with deluxe rich chocolate cake donated by Black China Bakery (a family-owned wholesale bakery in Santa Cruz), and chocolate Newman-Os, chocolate cream-filled cookies made with organic flour and organic sugar by Aptos-based Newman’s Own.
Birthday Party
New Leaf’s birthday party, 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Westside New Leaf (1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz), has free admission. It features music by The McCoy Tyler Band and the Painted Horses band, an in-store tasting fair, kids’ arts and crafts, and lots of food and drinks for sale. Food vendors include Uncie Ro’s, Mission Hill Creamery, Beckmann’s Bakery, and Farmhouse Culture. Drink vendors include Uncommon Brewers, Bonny Doon Vineyard, and Hallcrest Vineyard. Proceeds benefit Second Harvest Food Bank, a longtime New Leaf partner. If you donate a can of food to SHFB during the party, you’ll get a free raffle ticket (prize to be announced).
History and recent news
New Leaf has accomplished a lot over the years. When their very first store opened, it stocked produce from local Route 1 Farms—and Route 1 vegetables are still found at New Leaf today (in the regular produce bins and in the store’s popular, ready-to-eat Coastal Kale Salad). This is just one of the many local produce growers that New Leaf carries. In 2002, New Leaf became the first retail partner with non-profit marine conservation organization FishWise and launched a sustainable seafood labeling program.
In 2013, Portland-based New Seasons Market purchased New Leaf Community Markets. New Seasons was the first grocer in the world, and New Leaf the second, to become certified B Corporations, which recognize businesses that meet the highest standards of social and environmental responsibility. In late September 2015, New Leaf announced that effective January 1, 2016, it’s increasing the starting wage for all store staff from $10.30 to $12/hour. The pay rate for any staff whose rate falls below the new scale will move to the scale’s minimum, and any staff who have been with the company for more than two years will receive an additional adjustment based on tenure.
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