Organics dot com

Vegetarian Times, Nov, 2001

You may know a great source for organic cotton, but what about organic housewares, furniture or even backpacks? Organic devotees are lucky to have enthusiasts like Tom Foerstel and Michael Galli in their corner, the forces behind two new organic resources on the Web.

* AllOrganicLinks.com was launched by Foerstel last spring. In just six months, the site--a comprehensive, one-stop free listing system for the organics industry--has grown to more than 1,400 links in 65 categories from foods, pet care and clothing to whole-sale information for organic business owners. Foerstel's personal commitment to organics gave him the idea; Foerstel Design, his graphic design business in Boise, Idaho, gave him the expertise. It does marketing and promotion for some of the biggest names in the food world, including Heinz, Delmonte and Ocean Spray. "I knew I could help the organic industry sell its stuff, especially since I have such a huge emotional investment in organics. It's how I live my life."

* RedJellyfish.com, which celebrated its first birthday in September, was founded by Michael Galli out of personal frustration. When his knapsack, made out of recycled soda cans, broke, he hunted everywhere for another, with no luck. He realized that if there were an all-organics search engine, he'd be able to find what he was looking for. So he built one himself.

The success of the site has stunned Galli--it gets about 3 million hits a month, with 39 percent of the users searching for information about vegetarianism. "In my wildest dreams, I could have never predicted this amount of interest."