Essential Living Foods

The absolute highest quality superfoods available. Throughly knowledgeable and passionate people. Nothing cheep, no cut corners. I love that the company is a certified B corp and working directly with small farmers is helping to cultivate more organic sustainable agriculture around the world. We are luck to have their warehouse located here in Culver City!

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the ELF warehouse to spend a GatherGreen coupon. The coupon was a $ 25 for $ 50 deal, and had expired, so I went in only expecting to trade it in for the original $ 25 I spent on the coupon, NOT the $ 50 coupon deal. As it is standard with online coupon services such as Groupon and AmazonLocal that although the promotional value will expire on a specified date, the amount paid WILL NEVER EXPIRE and will continue to be honored by the merchant after the promotional value expires, I assumed there would be no problem.
However, where many vendors will not only allow one to spend the amount paid but will even allow the customer to use the promotional value of expired coupons as well, ELF would not even allow me to trade in the GatherGreen certificate for $ 25 worth of product. I would understand if they simply wouldn’t let me use the promotional deal of $ 50, but just – keeping my original $ 25 and not giving me $ 25 worth of products? I was only asking for $ 25 worth of merchandise, for the $ 25 I had already paid, yet the girl acted like I was demanding a special favor.
She kept saying that the coupon had expired and could no longer be honored. No matter how many different ways I explained it, she couldn’t understand that I WASN’T ASKING FOR THE COUPON TO BE HONORED. I wasn’t asking to spend the promotional amount of $ 50, I only wanted to spend the non-​promotional amount of $ 25. This is STANDARD PRACTICE with every other online coupon service I’ve tried.
Finally I gave up, when my phone alerted me that my meter was about to expire. Probably for the best, as my capacity for civil interaction felt like it too was about to expire. I am not one to yell or throw tantrums, but as I walked back to my car, I could see how one might be driven to such behavior. I also felt sad, because previous to this experience, I would have given ELF five stars like everyone else. Their products – with the exception of the Indonesian cacao – have never disappointed me. I’ve been in the raw lifestyle and a regular ELF customer for years.
Maybe I’ve been lucky with exceptional service in the past, but this is the only one star review of a business that I’ve ever given, and I’m not giving them one star because their products aren’t good. I’m giving them one star because my experience with the GatherGreen coupon situation was so negative that I was in tears when I left. I’m giving them one star because I don’t feel good supporting them by purchasing from them any longer.
This was especially upsetting because the other reason I’d gone in to ELF was to set up a wholesale account. Our raw food business has been using ELF’s raw pitted botilla olives on a new pizza we released this month, and we’ve been going through $ 100 worth of their olives every week. Pizza orders are skyrocketing and we expect to use much more in the near future.
However, today with only a little research I found the same raw peruvian pitted dried olives online through another one of our suppliers for $ 6.25 RETAIL for 8 oz., as opposed to ELF’s price of $ 8.69 WHOLESALE for only 7 oz. We will be saving several hundred dollars a month, thousands a year, by NOT buying through Essential Living Foods. ELF would have made $ 300 – 400 a month from us, to start.
I hope it was worth it to the ELF customer service lady to treat me as she did, because she lost the company she works for $ 1000s a year; I just placed an order for three cases of the olives from the alternate supplier I found, in time for next week’s orders. At least I have her to thank for inspiring us to look for olives elsewhere. Because of her we will be saving $ 1000s a year. To me, that’s worth the $ 25 they kept.
…I would also advise against purchasing their GatherGreen coupons. The reason my coupon expired wasn’t because I forgot about it. To the contrary I was online several times a week for the duration of the 3-​month promotion period, waiting for the items I wanted to come back in stock, and they never did… yet they continued to be in stock at Erewhon and other health food markets (where the coupon wasn’t applicable, as it was an «online-​only» deal). When I mentioned this to the customer service rep, she informed me that they only do the coupons to advertise their business and to clear their inventory of less popular items. Fair enough. But I won’t be buying again.

@EssentialLivingFoods is as good as it gets. High-​quality (and sometimes rare) superfoods galore, a helpful & amazing team with tons of integrity and superior customer service. Order online or stop by and see Jeffrey (you’re the best!) on Saturday’s at the Buyer’s Club at their HQ in Culver City. They sell everything from cacao powder to Gourmet gift baskets and pristine oils to fair trade foods such as grains, powders, teas and nuts. Really truly one of the best places in LA.

The raw in my life generally gets cooked, to be brutally honest, but the quality and selection of gluten-​free, raw, organic goodies and super foods that i needed to know about but never saw before to add to my very special diet (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) are unparalleled. And, I am inspired to be more raw-​esque. Their fabulous website has given me an over site into the land of the raw vegan superfood-​eater and I am fascinated & inspired!

ELF was my business’ go-​to wholesale ingredients supplier for years, and the fact that the company I handed my business over to utilizes them too definitely sweetened my licensing deal. These same ingredients have been staples of my diet, and they are also available at health food stores– you may have never noticed where those bulk brazil nuts or cashews you buy come from, but often it’s Essential Living Foods on the bin labels.
They sell everything from nuts to cacao powder to very niche raw superfood ingredients like maca and mesquite. Their wholesale prices are comparable to the larger corporate devil UNFI, and their retail prices are fair. I haven’t tried any of their snacks, since I generally make my own, but they are made with the same high-​quality ingredients and available at every health food store I frequent.

I’m a real person with a real sweet tooth. I also happen to love organic raw foods, especially when they come guilt-​free and from such a support-​worthy company. I go to their warehouse on Saturdays and stock up on everything from coconut oil to trail mix to a plethora of raw alchemy powders. This stuff is the sh… wait…that would be the wrong word now wouldn’t? Ok let’s just say that I’m happily in love. With ELF! And their prices rock too. Buy their stuff. It’s at Erewhon and other health conscious places around LA and if you can, go to their store in Santa Monica on Saturdays. You won’t be disappointed!

Quality without killing my wallet. I love to take ELF’s trailmix, brazil nuts, chia seeds and jungle peanuts on climbing trips. The maca blend is fantastic to keep endurance up all day. Almond butter, seriously I haven’t found another one that comes close. You gotta taste it to see what I’m talking about. Companies like this one make it easier to eat superfoods on the regular… if you live local… you can’t beat the deals at their warehouse on Saturday mornings