Growing a Movement…from the Roots Up

  • By Lisa Amstutz
  • February 14, 2012
  • 470
                        
Summary: Local Roots Market & Café in Wooster has been receiving calls from all over the country since market profiles appeared in the Washington Post, Huffington Post and other national media. The success of the market’s unique business model is inspiring other communities to follow suit. Main article: A Wooster store’s unique business model is drawing national attention, with communities all over the country hoping to emulate its success. In the past year, Local Roots Market & Café has been profiled in the Washington Post, Huffington Post, Cleveland Plain Dealer and Mother Earth News, among others. Visitors to the store have included a staffer from Sherrod Brown’s office, Ohio Agriculture Director Robert Boggs, and well-known food writer Deborah Madison. Board members were invited to speak at a recent USDA conference in Chicago, and next month, Local Roots will be featured in a radio show by Vivian Goodman on All Things Considered. “It just hasn’t been done before,” said market manager Jessica Eikleberry. “As far as we know, we’re the only one using this exact model. Most co-ops have either producer or consumer members, but not both. Our consignment system sets us apart as well. That, and the level of volunteerism.” Local Roots opened in 2009 with the goal of providing a year-round market for locally produced farm products and building connections between consumers and producers. Although it is structured as a co-op, no membership is necessary to shop. To date, over 700 members have joined, 166 of whom are producers. Items are sold on consignment, with 90% of the selling price returned to the producers. Sales to date have topped $800,000. Volunteers are key to the market’s success. Local Roots currently employs the equivalent of 1.75 employees but volunteers contribute about 250 hours of labor per month, not including board member contributions. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing—at times it has been difficult to sell perishable items quickly enough and to keep the shelves well stocked during winter months. Despite these challenges, however, the market has continued to grow. In June 2011, Local Roots opened a small café featuring foods from the market, and this spring it will add a commercial kitchen with the help of a $99,500 Rural Development/USDA grant that will be matched with donated labor. The kitchen will allow members to offer more frozen, canned and dried foods and to produce value-added products like salsa and jam. As well as hosting frequent classes, movie screenings and even dances for its members, Local Roots has branched out into the local community in a variety of ways, partnering with the United Way to do preserving and cooking classes alongside a community garden and collaborating with Wooster Community Hospital to offer the Roots of Health Dinner Club. Weekly dinner club meetings feature talks on healthy living served up with a healthy meal. The market is branching out even further this year with a sister market in Ashland, called a ‘sprout’, opening this spring and other Ohio towns poised to follow suit. Local Roots staffers have also been fielding calls from people all over the country wanting to learn more. As a result, said Board President Betsy Anderson, staff are planning a weekend workshop later this spring to share information on how Local Roots was started and putting together a manual on this topic. Both Eikleberry and Anderson seem relatively unsurprised to find Local Roots in the national spotlight. “We always thought it would be big,” said Eikleberry. “We knew it was the right time to start this. There is so much interest in food right now, particularly in local food and building those connections between the farmer and producer. We figured if it would work in Wooster, it would work anywhere.” Eikleberry said she sees all the publicity as a positive thing. “Hopefully we can inspire some new thinking elsewhere!” Local Roots is located at 140 S. Walnut Street, Wooster and is open six days a week. For more information, call 330-263-5336 or visit http://localrootswooster.com.


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