The Grain Train Gathers Steam to Roll in November

The 1,600 household owner-members of The Grain Train have plenty to celebrate for the 30th anniversary of the Petoskey food co-op this year: the opening of a new supermarket-sized store on Mitchell Street.
Over the past few years, The Grain Train‘s membership and staff of 16 have conducted a fundraising campaign to expand and modernize the co-op, which began with humble beginnings in 1972. Here, general manager Bret Huntman offers a preview of what to expect when the new location opens.

NE: How much bigger will the new store be?
Huntman: It will be three times the size of the current location and will have twice the selection. We‘re shooting for a November 1 opening now, with mid-November at the latest.

NE: Are you still trying to raise funds for the new store?
Huntman: We‘ll still be fundraising for the next five years. We‘ve done really well, but it‘s an ongoing thing. Our final goal is $460,000 and we‘re at $330,000 now.

NE: How can a small store compete at a time when so many supermarket chains are being bought up by Spartan Foods or going the route of Meijer‘s?
Huntman: Our primary area is customer service; especially with natural foods there‘s a lot to know about them and you need a special interest to help customers with their selections.
That‘s where we focus our energies. When someone asks what tempeh or tofu is, we can tell them about each and what their benefits are. They might even have the same foods at places like Meijer‘s, but their staff isn‘t going to have the same level of knowledge on natural foods as ours. It‘s estimated that there are 600 natural foods items at some of the bigger chain stores, but we have almost 3,000 natural foods items.
We also have a focus on a local foods selection. We‘re working with five local growers to put the freshest produce on our shelves. The cooler at our present location is only five feet wide, but the new one will be twice as large and we‘ll offer a lot more. We‘ll be able to help provide more of a livelihood to local growers.

NE: Lately, you see companies such as Burger King putting out a veggie Whopper, and other fast food chains seem to be offering healthier menu items. Are people more interested in healthy eating than they used to be?
Huntman: It‘s growing all the time. The natural foods movement is mainstreaming, partly because the baby boom generation is aging and thinking about their health more. It‘s great to see companies like Burger King putting out a veggie burger, although ours is better.

NE: What about the trend towards ready-made meals?
Huntman: You can buy all of those dishes frozen at the co-op. We‘ll have a big frozen food section and our deli will also offer a hot and cold food bar with select dishes and soups which can be taken to go. The difference between what we offer and the market for ready-made meals is that ours are natural, organic and contain slightly less fat -- people here still like their olive oil. With organic meals you don‘t get the chemicals and hormones which are in processed foods.
We‘ll also have a place to dine in, with 27 seats in the store, a waterfront view, and a small outdoor patio. One of the fun things we‘re looking forward to is a juice and smoothie bar with powerhouse and coffee drinks.

NE: What‘s the co-op‘s position on genetically modified (GM) foods?
Huntman: The natural foods and co-op movement spearheaded the labeling of foods in general back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. They got the government to require the labeling of foods in the first place because people wanted to know what they were eating. There were a lot of food additives and fillers back then and there still are.
Today, people want to be able to make their own choices with genetically modified foods. There‘s a big potential for personal and environmental harm with this technology and it needs to be controlled and studied carefully.
There‘s potential harm especially to people who have allergies. When you take genetic material from animals -- such as animal or fish proteins -- and insert it into plant foods, then you risk an allergic reaction. This was revealed by the genetic modification of Starlink corn. Originally, it was meant as corn for animal feed, but it ended up in burritos, corn chips and tortillas. There was a foreign gene in the corn -- an animal protein -- which caused a number of people to have bad reactions. People were eating corn chips and wondering why they had allergic reactions.
That‘s why food co-ops are so important. You don‘t find chain stores like Meijer‘s or Wal-Mart out there lobbying for labeling restrictions on the food they sell. View On Our Website