Company Profile for Our Health Co-op.

Business Editors

--(BUSINESS WIRE)

Founded in February 2002, Our Health Co-op is a Florida-based company providing scientifically promising health products (primarily nutritional supplements) made affordable. Our Health Co-op focuses on healthy aging and serving those with limited means, particularly fixed-income seniors, who often have had to choose between, for example, heart and joint health prior to finding Our Health Co-op.

The company emphasizes science, whether assessing new products to carry or investing in independent laboratory testing to ensure product quality. Even many industry insiders believe that a manufacturer's status as good manufacturing processes -- or GMP -- certified at the state level is sufficient to ensure quality. What many do not know is that state-level GMP status primarily ensures safety, since certification is done through the state's health department. Nutritional supplements actually have a long record of being very safe for this reason.

What is not determined by state health departments, however, is label claim accuracy, a variable that affects specific health objectives for consumers. Our Health Co-op has made a significant investment in independent laboratory testing, to ensure suppliers deliver only the highest-quality production runs, and the company publishes test results, a highly unusual practice in this industry.

Our Health Co-op consistently avoids carrying products that are positioned primarily through marketing hype versus credible science (weight loss and beauty creams, for example, which have been promoted heavily based on "miraculous" results).

Prices are unusually low because Our Health Co-op does not have the typical industry overhead of retail stores, sales middlemen or major marketing programs. Instead, the company opts to sell directly to consumers and, through discounts, encourages members to buy online (versus over the phone or via mail order -- there's no toll-free number and phone orders are possible only Monday-Friday). Our Health Co-op also largely relies on members to "tell a friend" to promote the company's products and good service.

In addition to strong science, Our Health Co-op believes in the power of humor and connection in promoting health, going so far as to state in the company's vision that "Health includes smiling together." With a quirky sense of humor, the company's mascot, a well-loved "kat" named "Guido," writes a regular newsletter. Members, in turn, send jokes and write silly notes to the "kat," sometimes signing their pets' names to their notes. Chatty humor is part of Our Health Co-op's culture and lands well with members, especially with seniors who have already proven themselves in the world and appreciate more personal relationships that bring a smile.

Our Health Co-op serves members in all 50 states and has a distributor in Toronto, Canada (www.oradix.com) for international customers.

   Company:                Our Health Co-op

   Headquarters Address:   931 Village Blvd, Suite 905-480
                           West Palm Beach, FL 33409

   Main Telephone:         [phone]

   Type of Organization:   Private

   Industry:               Health: Alternative Medicine

   Key Executives:         CEO: Cindy Marteney
                           COO: Stephen Fason

   Customer Service
     Contact:              Teri Cherry
     Phone:                561-656-4011
     Email:                [e-mail]

   Public Relations
     Contact:              Cindy Marteney
     Phone:                801-533-9300
     Email:                [e-mail]