Rossmoor Pastries Serves Things Up Sweet and Green

Charles Feder, owner and operator of Rossmoor Pastries, didn’t start out to be a front runner in the green business movement. He bought his first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered delivery van at a great price at a government auction. When he compared then-soaring gas prices to the price of natural gas (less than $1 a gallon), he convinced his partner to convert to a fleet of 9 CNG vans and to set up their own fueling station next to the bakery. The savings in fuel costs paid for the initial investment within a year with the added bonus that his vans can cruise the carpool lanes on the freeways. Feder smiles with pride, noting, “I’m saving a ton of money, I’m green, and I feel good about what I’m doing.”

Feder has found other ways to save money and avoid waste. His bakery and retail outlet are located in the same facility and his large warehouse allows him to order in large quantities. Rather than order non-recyclable drums for oil, he uses a 100-gallon vat that the supplier cleans and reuses, saving delivery and materials costs. Feder even has a deal with a local cabinet maker to supply him with Formica cake plates from his carpentry scraps.

As much as he would like to add solar power to the bakery, Feder has not been able to find any solar panel design that would begin to make back the cost of installation within 15 years. “Take a look at this gray head,” Feder says, “I want to live to see fruit of my efforts.” He has approached California legislators with a plan to mandate solar power on all government facilities as a way to promote the growth of the solar power industry and lower the cost of solar installation for consumers. “I remember how we pulled together during World War II and made things happen against all odds,” he says, “and I believe we can win this energy war too.”

Rossmoor Pastries
2325 Redondo Avenue
Signal Hill, CA
(562) 498-2253
Monday through Saturday 7 am to 6 pm

Clean Jobs, Green Jobs

Sorry for the dry spell. I've been doing research for my novel, brainstorming about new ways to bring in an income, and doing a lot of work around the house and the garden. I only made it to March last year, and I definitely hit a wall last week. I’m jazzed about all the events coming up, though, so hopefully that will pull me out of my slump.

I just signed up for an event next week sponsored by a local MoveOn.Org group called Green Energy Jobs Day. It’s a tour of four businesses in Long Beach that have incorporated eco-friendly practices into their daily routines. The fun begins this Thursday, May 28, starting at Rossmoor Pastries at 8 am, which is a wee bit early for my metabolism, but with any luck there’ll be coffee and sweet, flaky morsels there to make it worth hauling myself out of bed that early.

After an hour and half where employees there will talk about what they are doing to help the environment, we’ll move on to three other businesses, Solar Source, Fern’s Garden, and Cisco Burgers. There’ll be opportunities to buy the businesses’ products—sweet rolls and fries, yum! And, with any luck, maybe there’ll actually be job offerings. In this economic draught, that would not only be green, it would be golden.