Organic food store growing - Jeff and Chris Emerson plan to expand into surrounding states in the coming years

There was a point when the charm of starting a business had worn off.

Jeff Emerson was holding down a full-time mechanic's job at American Airlines. His wife, Chris, had to nudge along the couple's new organic food store, Naturalfarms.

Chris needed her husband's help, but they also needed his paycheck as insurance.

"These are your cows. I hate these cows. This is your business idea. I hate this business," Jeff recalled his wife saying several years ago. "Then, of course, we started to get along further and make some money, and she was saying, 'Well, our business is starting to do pretty good.' "

Married 25 years, the Emersons can laugh about it now. Jeff quit his job at American Airlines, and the couple opened their second Naturalfarms organic food store earlier this month in south Tulsa.

The store, at 6560 E. 91st St. in the Heatherridge Shopping Center, is the Emersons' first expansion beyond their original location. It has a full-service delicatessen offering soups, sandwiches and salads, a sit-down dining area and a full range of organic food items on grocery shelves.

The deli will also be equipped for wireless Internet access.

The 2,300-square-foot store will employ six to eight people, including a certified nutritionist. A grand opening is planned for Dec. 1.

"We've been wanting to come down here for several years, because we've had a lot of south Tulsa customers already," Chris Emerson said. "We finally got our ducks in a row and made it happen. We're very pleased to be here."

The Emersons aren't stopping there. In the next five to seven years, they plan to open two more stores in the Tulsa area and expand into Wichita, Kansas City, Mo., Oklahoma City, Springfield, Mo., and northwest Arkansas.

They believe the market exists in those cities for a sit-down restaurant that serves locally grown, organic beef and produce.

"You can go into Wild Oats and get a sprout sandwich or some other pretty weird stuff. But to have something that most people want -- steak-and-taters types of things that are organic or all natural -- they're not out there. Not in this region.

"We see a small niche that can possibly be very profitable."

Naturalfarms' beef comes from locally grown Piedmontese cattle, which the Emersons say produces healthy, tender cuts. No stabilizers, growth hormones or other chemicals are given to the family's farm animals, who dine on organic feed.

While the new store experienced a quiet opening two weeks ago, the response in south Tulsa to Naturalfarms hasn't been quiet. Chris Emerson said a steady stream of old and new customers has come by, and existing customers are excited they won't have to drive several miles to get organic food.

A retired butcher living near the store was so impressed with Naturalfarms' beef that he offered to do some networking for the store, Chris Emerson said.

"People who know us are so happy to have us," she said. "New customers are buying a few things, trying us out, and some are coming back. We're seeing lots of repeats of new people already."

Some Naturalfarms customers in Tulsa have worried that the original location at 420 S. Utica Ave. might close -- but it won't, the Emersons said. It will become the primary processing center for Tulsa's Naturalfarms stores. The retail services will also remain.

In fact, the Emersons plan to expand the Utica store to keep up with demand for Naturalfarms' meats. That depends on whether the property they own behind the store can be rezoned.

The store that Naturalfarms occupies at Heatherridge was an old eBay consignment shop. The Emersons spent at least $100,000 renovating the space and installing a full-service kitchen, washable walls, special ceiling and floor tiles, grease traps and walk-in freezers and coolers.

On Fridays and Saturdays, they plan to have special, reservation-only dining hours with dimmed lights and white table cloths. Locally grown beef, chicken and vegetables will be promoted.

The Emersons, who raise some of their own cattle, are optimistic about their plans. They already have ranchers growing Piedmontese cattle for them near Kansas City, and investors are showing interest in their business plan.

They would like to attract investors who have a genuine interest in their stores.

"That person who runs the store will come in and have an ownership stake, maybe a minority stake," Jeff Emerson said. "That gives them an incentive to make sure the store makes it."