From Consulting to Compost

Twelve years ago, Stephen Reiter led the life of the stereotypical businessman. He was based in New York City, working as a financial analyst and spending his days running numbers. “I had the typical New York consulting job,” Reither said. “But I hated it.”

Over time, as an analyst and environmental consultant for a medical waste disposal company, Reiter began learning more about composting and recycling – and discovered a passion for environmentalism. Soon, Reiter found himself avoiding upstate getaways and Manhattan sightseeing on the weekends. Instead, he spent his days off researching a topic far from the common corporate lifestyle: composting.

“On weekends I researched composting,” he related. “Over time I saw that New Jersey had banned leaves, grass clippings and other items from landfills.” Suddenly, Reiter recognized the need to recycle yard waste such as leaves and grass clippings – and the idea for organic mulch was born. “I saw a piece of property out in New Jersey and quit my job,” he remembered. “We started an organic mulching company out of my dining room. Those were the good old days.”

Today, Reiter is chief executive officer of Nature’s Choice, a $15 million, Union, N.J.-based company that has grown from its humble dining room beginnings in 1991 to include 14 facilities and more than 100 employees. All locations include production facilities, but eight sites also allow area contractors and homeowners to dispose of their yard waste and pick up organic landscape products, including mulch, topsoil and hardwood bark.

“We take in leaves, grass, brush, Christmas trees, stumps, etc.,” Reiter listed. “We then put it in elongated rows called windrows, which we turn once a week. After six months it turns into topsoil that’s completely organic.” Reiter insisted that his mulch manufacturing processes stemmed not from new-fangled techniques or technological advances, but from techniques more than a century old. “I don’t have any background in agriculture – I just read about it,” he said. “Composting has been around for hundreds of years, and ‘keep it simple’ is my philosophy.”

Reiter claimed the company sells nearly 400,000 yards of topsoil each year, an accomplishment based on his own business savvy. With his financial background, the company was able to positively manage cash flow from the beginning, finance acquisitions and understand the method behind banks’ madness.

From the beginning, Reiter recognized the challenges to selling products with the “organic” stigma. “Organic often leans more toward slow-release, and customers are not getting instant green,” he noted. In addition, clients tend to view mulch and topsoil as an add-on extra, rather than a necessity for a healthy lawn. “It’s still a commodity, and we’re trying to change that,” Reiter maintained.

However, when clients learn more about the quality, moisture capacity, nutrient content and other advantages of Nature’s Choice compost products, the organic approach quickly becomes a positive, he continued.

Currently, Nature’s Choice is working to build additional facilities, including a bagging plant, since the company’s bagged material is now being sold through the Scotts brand in stores such as Home Depot.

With his Big Apple number crunching days long behind him, Reiter still draws on his financial experience to tackle company challenges. And, since the last decade or so has involved whirlwind growth for the company, Reiter hopes to slow growth over the next few years. “We’ve been growing – last year we grew 30 percent,” he said. “We’re expected to grow another 20 to 25 percent but we’re slowing down and minimizing site acquisitions.” – Kristin Mohn

The author is Assistant Editor – Internet of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at kmohn@lawnandlandscape.com.