New Seasons Market

Forrest went from the night crew in 2002 to being store manager at Arbor Lodge early in 2007. In 2010, he is now manager at Concordia.

Forrest met his wife at our Raleigh Hills store and claims that his young daughter is a full-blooded New Seasons Market baby.

Forrest admits to having been a typical college student surviving on pizza and beer, but now that he's a father, he finds himself calling home for old recipes.

"Lisa is a ‘foodie,' too," Forrest says of his wife. "I guess that's part of what drew us together. Food and gatherings are important to us."

A new baby and a new home keep Forrest from spending as much time hiking the woods as he'd like, so he compensates by being active on a flag-football team made up entirely of New Seasons Market employees.

"We've assembled through the years from different stores," he says, "and we're pretty good. We won the championship twice; but we don't look anything like the other football teams, and we like to surprise people by being better than they think we'll be. The same group of guys has hung out together a lot. We've gone backpacking in Utah and had a softball team, as well.

Forrest's social life centers around the company-as do the lives of many New Seasons Market employees-and he can't see himself doing anything else in the future. A new child and a new house and a flag football team: what more could a person want?

"The community,' he says, is the best part of his job; both employees and customers. 'I love introducing first-time customers to the store. I like being a part of the community. I live less than a mile from my work, and I'm proud of that. I'm proud of being a part of this community. I've made a lot of friends here and watched a lot of babies being born,' he says.

You can reach Forrest at forrestg@newseasonsmarket.com.