Conscious Living

Thrive Market revolutionizes access to healthy food

By Michele Robinson / Photo courtesy of Thrive Market

Nick Green, co-founder and CEO of Thrive Market, envisioned a better way to shop for healthy food with a platform that is completely online.  With this ingenuity, Thrive Market has revolutionized how customers can access a wide range of healthy and organic foods.

“Thrive Market is the first online platform offering the highest-quality healthy and sustainable products through a shopping experience purpose-built for conscious living,” Green says.

Located on Alla Road in the heart of Playa Vista, Thrive Market chose their office headquarters on the Westside of Los Angeles. They wanted to be near popular spots like the Venice boardwalk, because it is close to their roots.

They offer great perks for employees, too. The office is dog-friendly, supports a casual atmosphere and has a kitchen stocked with Thrive Market products. Employees enjoy free Thrive Market membership and a discount on Thrive Market–branded products. Outside of the facilities, they offer their employees fully remote work, inclusive growth opportunities and other benefits. 

“Today, Thrive Market is becoming the leading platform of the rapidly-growing conscious living movement based in LA—a broad based shift in consumer lifestyle toward health and wellness, environmental sustainability and social impact,” Green says.

Growing up in the Midwest in the ‘90s, Green saw first-hand how hard it was for his mom to put healthy food on their table. Thirty years later, while many things may have changed he realized it was still hard to find a trusted, convenient and affordable way to shop for healthy food. He knew there had to be a better solution, so he built it.

“We are the answer for our members,” Green says.

Launched in 2014, Thrive Market is different from other shopping experiences because, “we bring our members the best products at affordable prices – a concept that’s somehow radical in the industry, but fundamental to who we are,” according to Green.

Green knows what his customers are looking for.

“Consumers aspiring toward more conscious living seek the most innovative and trusted brands, not an ‘endless aisle’ of products of varying quality,” he says.

A yearly membership to Thrive Market costs $60; however, potential customers can try it for $5 for 30 days. In exchange for the annual fee, members gain exclusive access to more than 5,000 better-for-you staples and more than 600 sustainably-sourced Thrive Market-branded products, all at member-only prices.

Examples of items that members can have delivered right to their front door include an assortment of high-quality organic products, pantry food, vitamins, home and personal care, frozen food and wine and pet food.

“As an online, health-first membership, we make healthy living accessible and affordable to the lower 48 American states,” Green says.

The proof of the success is in their numbers. Since 2014, Thrive Market has delivered more than 10 million orders and generated more than $1 billion in revenue. Their online company employs more than 1,000 staff members and their customer base has grown to a community of more than one million paid members.

Thrive Market is deeply committed to giving back to the community. Since their inception in 2014, with every new paid annual membership they donate to one family in need, student, teacher, veteran or first responder. In 2021 alone, member donations helped support over 32,000 people in need.

“Through Thrive Market’s community outreach arm, Thrive Gives, our community has raised more than $6 million toward food access causes to date,” Green says.

They also partner with outside nonprofit organizations like Baby2Baby, FoodCorps and FoodCycle LA. Through Baby2Baby they supported 5,000 families with healthy groceries. Similarly through FoodCorps, they donated 10,000 memberships for families to access healthy groceries and funded food education for 8,000 kids in Mississippi.

In 2020, they launched their Food Equality Now campaign with a goal to raise $10 million in healthy groceries by 2025. In January 2022, they began a partnership with FoodCycle LA which reroutes excess food away from landfills and distributes it to people experiencing food insecurity. 

Thrive Market is also an environmentally-conscious company working to support climate action. They were recently awarded TRUE Zero Waste Certification.

“Two of our three warehouses are now TRUE certified, meaning we recycle, compost or reuse more than 90% of materials that enter our buildings,” Green says. “Our third is on track to be certified by the end of the year.”

Additionally, they’re working to be carbon negative by 2025.

“We’re well on our way and carbon-neutral today thanks to ground-only shipping, investments in regenerative agriculture, and matching 100% of our facilities’ electricity use with purchases of renewable energy certificates,” Green says.

By 2023, Thrive Market’s private-label lines will be sent with plastic-neutral packaging and shipping materials.

“We’ve started by measuring and offsetting all plastic associated with our packaging, and we’ll move onto shipping materials next,” Green says. “We’re also developing smarter packaging alternatives and exploring end-of-life recycling solutions for members.”

 

Thrive Market

thrivemarket.com