Laughing Giraffe Organics provides healthy snack foods that are made from the finest organic ingredients. Because our products are made from real unprocessed foods, they are extremely rich in nutritional value. Small amounts will satisfy your snack needs more than “empty calorie” snack foods. Real foods have real calories that are needed to stay healthy and they taste great!
Management
Phil Gilmour, Owner
See comments under Owners and Directors.
Justin Baumgartner: Founder, Chief Chef and General Manager
Justin founded Laughing Giraffe organics and continues to be its soul and energy.
Justin holds a degree in Religious Studies from Northern Arizona University. Justin learned his culinary art by working in the finest vegan restaurants in New York. There he learned everything he could about food from his real life on-the-job experiences. As Justin says, “When it came to food, I just ‘got it’.”
Justin and his wife, Dawn, moved to Phoenix in 2006 and started Laughing Giraffe Organics. He built the company from a scratch operation in his home kitchen to national distribution. His big success has been penetrating Whole Foods Markets. Justin is continues to work with the Gilmours to develop the full potential that Justin envisioned when he formed Laughing Giraffe Organics.
Justin is quick to give credit to his lovely wife, Dawn, for helping him through the earlier trying times. He is also the very proud father of their baby girl, Devi Mae – proclaiming to be a father and husband first and a businessman second. Justin just wants to be able to make delicious nutrient dense food that people can actually benefit from eating and support his family doing it.
David Buckly, Production Manager
Owners and Directors
Phil and Kathy Gilmour, Owners
Phil has a history of building companies. His initial experience was as the co-founder and managing partner of an accounting firm in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1999, Phil founded EVault, a software company that provided data protection and cloud storage services. After selling EVault, Phil developed an interest in health and nutrition. That interest led to developing a small chain of health food stores and, in May of 2010, acquiring Laughing Giraffe Organics.
Kathy retired from a career in real estate to focus on her grandchildren and charity work. Kathy’s was raised in Colorado and graduated from the University of Colorado. Recently, she assumed direct leadership responsibilities for one of the health food stores.
Phil and Kathy have been married for over 40 years. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.
Chelsea Marshall, Holly McShane and Emily Gilmour, Directors
The Gilmour girls work with their parents on different aspects of the business.
Chelsea lives in Orange County, CA and manages the sales support efforts in the Southwest region. Chelsea’s prior experience includes store and regional management positions with Create & Barrel.
Holly lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and runs the marketing and Internet operations. Holly previously worked for the Pottery Barn as a buyer in the catalogue sales division.
Emily is completing her Master Degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area also and helps with store demonstrations and sales support.
David M. Gilmour, Director
David, together with his wife Nancy, owns Paradise Foods, which operates two high quality natural food stores in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, CA. David has a long history in the food industry, where he started working after-school jobs as a young teenager.
David is known in his community for his philanthropic work. He has raised significant funding for local projects and for AIDs prevention in Africa.