Submitted by Amanda Connelly, St. Croix EDC Administrative Assistant
HUDSON, WI – The food industry is in Doug Audette’s blood. A year and half ago, Audette signed on as CEO assuming the helm at Ciranda, a leading North American provider of certified organic, non-GMO and fair-trade ingredients based in Hudson, Wisconsin. His resume includes more than 30 years of general management, sales, marketing and operational experience primarily in the food industry sector.
Audette joined a company that has experienced consistent growth commensurate with its role as a leader in the organic food industry. Ciranda won the St. Croix Economic Development Corporation’s (EDC) 2023 Business of the Year award in February of 2024. The company specializes in gluten-free flours and starches; syrups and sweeteners; cocoas and chocolates; coconut products; liquid and powdered lecithin; and vegetable oils.
Ciranda was formed in 1994 by Brazilian-born entrepreneur Hans Friese and his wife Joan, dedicated to the premise that organic food and farming was better for the planet and for the people inhabiting the planet. They initially focused on navigating the ambiguous regulations in the U.S. governing organic at that time to export North American farmed ingredients to more receptive markets abroad.
But by 2000 the demand for organic products in the United States was gaining momentum. The potential convinced the couple to capitalize on their connections with foreign suppliers and reorganize their business model from exporting North American raised ingredients to importing organic, non-GMO and fair-trade ingredients produced by farmers in markets from South America to Asia to feed the awakening consumer market in America.
“Organic is still the primary focus of our business, non-GMO, fair trade, we still carry that vision forward. We believe that these certified ingredients really are important to the future of a healthy planet and healthy people,” Audette said.
Products are branded Ciranda – Suppliers bag and box ingredients in Ciranda labeled containers then ship them to one of six warehouses located strategically around the U.S. Ciranda draws from those inventories to fulfill business to business orders for many of the largest food companies in the U.S.
“We are the connectors. We import 100 percent of what we sell. We work with suppliers around the world and help connect them to customers here in North America,” Audette said.
Although the business is agriculturally based, Ciranda’s expertise is really transactional, securing and then moving commodities from suppliers located all-around the world to customers in the U.S. Technology including AI allows the company to be more predictive about where the market is moving so it can deliver the right inventory at the right location at the right time to keep prices competitive while still servicing customers dependably.
“We try to forecast what customers are going to need and match that up so that we’re not carrying too much inventory and have that wasted capital,” Audette said.
Organic and fair trade are key – From the inception of Ciranda, Friese and his wife embraced a visionary mission to share their success to lift up the global communities they partnered with. They believed that organic and fair-trade practices could impact the developing countries in enduring and positive ways.
Ciranda has understood and championed the value of organic certification from the beginning. Commodities certified as organic translate into a better standard of living for farmers and local processors who manufacture the ingredients into importable forms.
Conventional Coconut is a popular commodity in high demand worldwide. Growing it is a labor-intensive process and traditionally farmers make almost nothing.
“When those farmers choose to farm organically, they receive a better premium which means a better standard of living including educational opportunities for their children,” Audette continued, “When a farmer in Thailand converts to organic, he stops getting sick from the pesticides and herbicides he previously had to apply by hand.”
Ciranda has built an enviable reputation, trusted by its U.S. customers, global processors and farmers, by interfacing extensively with certification agencies then substantiating those certifications with audits by their own quality sourcing group.
“We work with our suppliers to help them meet the quality standards of the North American market and to obtain the certifications they need especially related to organic, non-GMO and fair trade,” Audette said. “We also conduct our own quality audits to make sure they are doing what we want or need them to do and that it’s accurate.”
Fair trade stories – Because Ciranda has invested, in many cases, years of face-to-face effort advocating for organic and fair-trade practices, it has been able to cultivate dependable, productive relationships directly with farmers.
“Trust is truth over time,” Audette explained.
Today those farmers have the education and resources to farm safely, efficiently and maximize their production and they are receiving a fair price for their produce.
Ciranda is more than a business partner. It is about cultivating a larger relationship with more depth, a comprehensive concept of care leading to better production and better lives for farmers and their families.
Those relationships are the cornerstone of Ciranda’s success.
“Taking advantage of people is not sustainable. The currency of (our) business is trust,” Audette continued, “That goes all the way back to our founders Hans and Joan. They believed it’s about building those relationships and networks and building that trust, especially as it pertains to our suppliers. A lot of these relationships have been built on trust that’s been established for years. We need to nurture that, be stewards of that legacy.”
Those stories were documented in a book “Stories of Impact” published by Ciranda in 2020.
Audette explained, “A story can be about how somebody in South America or Southeast Asia grows their food and how they are treating their farmers making sure that they have a living wage. That story translates really well to this market.”
He believes human connection, respect for one another is integral to the success of Ciranda and that extends to processors as well as farmers.
“We want to be partners in their business. When you are a partner, you don’t tell the other person what to do. You learn about each other, and you respect each other. You grow together, he said. “They are for-profit businesses as well. They understand when we do better, make more money, they do better, and they can offer more opportunities to their farmers and employees.”
According to the Organic Trade Association’s (OTA) 2024 Organic Industry Survey, the industry is continuing to grow with organic food sales totaling $63.8 billion in 2023.
Ciranda’s customers are paying attention. And with the access made possible by social media, younger consumers want to know more about the stories behind their food.
“Our clients, some of the largest food companies in the U.S., are gravitating toward the sustainability side of things and the importance of growing food in the right way. They want to tell those stories because it’s good for their brands and because consumers, essentially younger consumers, want to hear those stories,” Audette said. “We have those stories ready-made, it’s about connecting the stories across the supply chain.”
Just the Facts: Ciranda, Inc., Doug Audette – CEO. Formed: 1994. Address. 708 2nd Street, Hudson, WI 54016, phone — 715-386-1737, Website: ciranda.com. Employees: 60.
Next week in “EDC ’23 Business of the Year interview – ‘Trust is truth over time’ – Part II,” we learn how Ciranda deals with the challenges of risk.
