Natural Food Retailers Association

Concord, Mass., Dec. 13, 2010 – A home-town soup-to-nuts natural product store announced it has been recognized as one of the top women-led businesses in the region.

The Commonwealth Institute and the Boston Business Journal hosted the organizations' Top 100 Women-Led Businesses Awards ceremony last week on December 8, 2010, at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston.  This standing-room only event honored the region's top women-led businesses. Debra’s Natural Gourmet (Debra’s) ranked 90th on the list that ranked businesses by 2009 revenue.  There was no ranking for heart and soul. "It’s a thrill to be included in such company,” said Debra Stark, founder of Debra’s Natural Gourmet, which opened during the recession of 1989,“and we love that folks outside our own natural products industry recognize how hard we work." Debra’s is no stranger to rave reviews.  Yankee Magazine’s readers selected Debra’s take-out kitchen as a “Best of New England — Readers’ Choice” winner for 2010 along with only two other delis, one in ME and one in NY.    National television shows like “20/20” have featured Debra’s Natural Gourmet, rated one of the top 100 natural food stores in the country.  Inc. Magazine selected Debra’s Natural Gourmet as one of the five home-town powerhouse businesses, and Debra has been the subject of articles in Investor’s Business Daily and Cooking Light Magazine. Debra is the founder and president of Stark Sisters Inc. (1992), a company which manufactures award-winning, gourmet granolas praised by the likes of Bon Appetit, The Boston Globe and Chicago Tribune.  Marian Burros chose Stark Sisters Granola as one of the 10 best food gifts to give at the holidays. This Top-100 Women-Led Businesses honor coincides with the release of Debra’s third cookbook, Blue Ribbon Edition: From Our Kitchen to Yours (Lightning Source, 2010).  Today there are 48 people who work hard at Debra’s.  Among them writers, musicians, a nurse and cancer survivors.  Among them people with interests as varied as organic gardening, sustainable fishing, GMO’s, bee-keeping and holistic education.  Debra’s son, Adam Stark, founder of AdamHerbs, loves the business as much as Debra and is the Next-Gen who will carry it on.  Debra was born into a family that embraced organic before natural became a buzz word.   Today, when asked about her philosophy of life, Debra says she needs a secretary, live-in masseuse, and a personal trainer.  But mostly, like the rest of us, she is trying to find balance and harmony in life.  Debra’s Natural Gourmet does the same for its staff and customers."To learn more, visit http://www.debrasnaturalgourmet.com/ or call 978-371-7573.

CONTACT: Debra’s Natural Gourmet, Inc.

         Debra Stark or Adam Stark

         (978) 371-7573

         debra@debrasnaturalgourmet.com; adam@debrasnaturalgourmet.com

 Debra Starkwww.debrasnaturalgourmet.comwww.starksisters.com