In this episode of Common Roots, we sit down with Emily Kanter, INFRA Board Member and Co-Owner of Cambridge Naturals in Cambridge, MA. As a second-generation owner of her family’s business, Emily’s journey towards business ownership has been shaped by years of personal and professional growth. Emily’s parents, Michael and Elizabeth Kanter, opened Cambridge Naturals in 1974, and Emily recalls that the business was a formative fixture of her childhood.
“I worked in the business throughout high school into college,” she says, “It was really a big part of our family dynamic. We always used to joke that the business was the fourth child in the family and got all the attention.”
Michael & Elizabeth Kanter, 1974
Although Emily wasn’t initially interested in taking up the mantle and running the business herself, she says that her experiences in business school began to shape her thinking. “I ended up going to a unique business school that believed that business could be a catalyst for good in the world,” she says, “I realized that those concepts tied back to what my parents had been doing for 40 years. I was really inspired by that.”
Emily and her husband decided to move back to Cambridge to take on the family business. “We hit the ground running pretty much immediately… It was like drinking from a fire hose at first. There was a ton of information to learn, and I made a lot of mistakes, but I learned from them.”
More than a decade after taking over the business, Emily is sharing her business expertise as Chair of INFRA’s Board of Directors. Although Cambridge Naturals has been a part of INFRA since 2013, they encountered a few road bumps over the years when it came to joining.
“Our application to become an INFRA Member was actually rejected twice,” she says, “We were such a unique store format and didn’t quite fit the mold.” Cambridge Naturals persisted, however, and became fully involved in the INFRA community.
“When we joined in 2013, we went full force into being very strong, active members of INFRA. My parents were active participants on the listserv, we attended every conference, and we gained a lot from the early versions of share groups and having other members give us feedback on what we could do better,” she says.
Cambridge Naturals Interior
Emily says that one of her favorite parts of being on the INFRA Board is the uplifting spirit of the natural foods industry. “I love the commitment to making the world a better place. So many people in this industry genuinely care about the entire supply chain, from the farm workers to the packagers to the shippers to the distributors to the cashiers,” she says.
Beyond the individuals that make up the industry, Emily also believes in the good that independent businesses can do for their communities. “When you shop at an independently owned natural food store, your money is having a greater positive impact on your local community than if you take that money and spend it at a big corporation,” she says.
Listen to the full episode here.
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