Producer: GT’s Living Food
Location: Beverly Hills, CA
Found at the Littleton Co-op: kombucha and probiotic yogurt
Website: gtslivingfoods.com
Pride Month is an annual month-long celebration to recognize and uplift the cultural contributions made by those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+). Pride is celebrated in June to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a 1969 anit-LGBTQ police raid of a New York bar recognized as a major turning point in the fight for gay rights. The phrase “gay pride” is said to come from activist Craig Schoonmaker, saying “I authored the word ‘pride’ for gay pride … [my] first thought was ‘Gay Power.’ I didn’t like that, so proposed gay pride. There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power. People did not have power then; even now, we only have some. But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change.” As a community-owned co-op championing an ethos of “Everyone Welcome,” the Littleton Food Co-op supports our local LGBTQ+ populations and is happy to recognize relevant producers from our store during Pride Month. Read more about Littleton Co-op’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work here.
The story of GT’s Living Foods starts in a place of family tragedy and adversity before triumphing in unimaginable ways. At age fourteen, GT Dave (George Thomas)’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and found solace in the family’s homebrewed kombucha. His family had a reverence for the power of food for whole-body wellness and healing akin to that in Eastern cultures. After witnessing his mother’s journey, he followed his family’s values and recipes to start bottling his own kombucha at age 15. His Original (Classic) flavor is the first known kombucha to be on grocery store shelves in 1995. While his product was quickly gaining notoriety, GT Dave struggled internally with his identity. After coming out as gay at 13, he was met with little acceptance by his peers and even dropped out of high school because of it. So when he started his business shortly thereafter, “for the first 90% of my career I wasn’t out.” However, he ultimately decided around 2015 to publicly come out as gay to share his full life experience with others.
While GT Dave didn’t have a LGBTQ mentor to look to growing up, he is excited to be one to others now. In addition to his company’s donations to non-profits and the previous Synergy Scholarship for LGBTQ+ youth, GT Dave works towards inclusion by urging other brands to make sure their LGBTQ+ employees are not only siloed to one stereotypical role. “Make sure it’s clear that there’s not just one role this community can exist in.” The role he currently occupies: CEO of the world’s number one selling kombucha brand.
Status of product availability at the Littleton Co-op, and labeling of producers (such as local, Black-Owned Business, NH-made, etc) and product status or ingredients (gluten-free, vegan, etc) is based on available information at time of publication. The food world is an ever-changing landscape and information presented here may not reflect the most up-to-date information available.
