Manchester Food Co-op in the Union Leader!

Manchester food co-op seeks members Grocery check: Study shows area could support a member-owned store. By BETH LaMONTAGNE HALL New Hampshire Union Leader 07/02/2011 MANCHESTER — If you haven’t heard about the Manchester Food Co-op yet, its president, Kate Morneau, and its other members want to make sure you do by summer’s end. The organization celebrated its one-year anniversary in June and is in the midst of a membership drive throughout the Greater Manchester area. Thus far about 200 households in communities as far away as Massachusetts have claimed a stake in the co-op at a cost of $100 apiece. The goal is to o pen a grocery store and deli by summer, 2012, that specializes in healthy, local food. Morneau said co-op members are looking to locate the store in downtown Manchester, close to or on Elm Street if possible. “We want it to be a one-stop shop so you can get cereal the same time you’re getting beets grown down street,” said Morneau. “We’d like to have a little seating area where peoplecan stop in for lunch, get soup or a sandwich or maybe a salad, sit down and talk with someone ... really a community feel.” In addition, organizers are also planning to offer community events, such as cooking classes or a “meet your farmer” night. “It’s more than a grocery store, that’s for sure,” said Morneau. Manchester Food Co-op organizers are spending this summer spreading the word and signing up members in hopes of landing grants and bank financing this fall. They have been at the Manchester Farmers’ Market handing out information and holding pot luck dinners at Derryfield Park every few weeks to generate interest. Morneau said the organization’s goal is to have between 1,500 and 2,000 members by the time the store opens. Food co-ops are memberowned businesses that primarily sell local, healthy, organic and affordable food with an emphasis on selling products that support the local economy. Manchester and Keene are two communities that are working to get a food co-op off the ground, while communities like Hanover and Concord have had food co-ops for many years. “The membership gets you stock in the company so you own part of your grocery store,” said Morneau. “You dete rmine what you want to see in it.” Each membership buys one vote at the annual meetings for major decisions. Morneau said the co-op will hold its first membership meeting this fall. If the store is successful, membership can also yield dividends, usually a few dollars. “It’s not a lot of money but it gives you sense of community,” said Morneau. Providing local produce year-round in Manchester isn’t easy, but Morneau said the organization has been reaching out to New Hampshire Cooperative Extension and greenhouse growers. Manchester Food Co-op has also been in close contact with Concord Food Co-op and others throughout New Hampshire about enhancing its buying power to keep prices down. Before launching the membership drive, the co-op held a feasibility study to determine whether Mancheste r could support this kind of store. The study revealed that the area within 10 miles of Manchester could support a 10,000-square-foot store of which about 6,500 square feet as retail space. The study took into account theexisting supermarkets and health food stores as far as Milford, as well as the new Market Basket now being built on Elm Street. It is the Manchester area’s grocery store landscape, which doesn’t have large health food chains like Whole Foods nearby, that has prompted families in not only Manchester but Derry and Bedford, to become members, Morneau said. “Southern New Hampshire as a whole doesn’t have a lot of options for local, healthy eating,” said Morneau. For more information about the Manchester Food Co-op, go to manchesterfoodcoop. blogspot.com. Powered by TECNAVIA Copyright © 2011 Union Leader Corporatio n. All rights reserved. 07/02/2011

Elizabeth Ropp of Manchester shops at the Manchester Farmers Market on Thursday. Rain or shine, the market runs every Thursday through Oct. 20 at Victory Park.
DAVID LANE/UNION LEADER