Press Release for Chester's Co-op Tasting Event

Press Release

Contact: Jan Kirk or Lucille Gyant FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tel: (484)557-2530 or (610)874-4679
E-mail: kirk.3@comcast.net Friday March 16, 2007
www.chestercoop.com

Co-op Members Test Their Taste Buds

Chester, Pennsylvania –

As dramatic an event as the first Coke vs. Pepsi taste test, Chester’s Co-op, a community-owned grocery store in-the-making, held its first taste test of potential food items at the Chester YWCA this past Saturday, March 10.

Some forty people from the evolving member-owned & operated grocery store, the only full-service market for Chester’s 37,000 residents, turned out to sample everything from waffles to cereal, syrup to pickles. The Co-op involves members in every aspect of business from serving on the board of directors to stocking shelves, from input on food choices to services and wellness. Saturday’s tasting and evaluation event was just the beginning of exploring what items the members might want to find on the shelves. “Now I can go the market,” said Gerwayne McElaney, the Co-op’s Wellness Committee Chair, whose husband has done the family shopping for 12 years. “I feel comfortable; I believe that I am buying quality. I won’t go to the market 10 minutes away but I am now willing to drive 20 minutes now.”

The mood was festive, the energy positive, and the Co-op’s leadership from President Tina Johnson to Lucille Gyant and Bernice Sisson, co-chairs of the Product - Pricing Committee, were on hand to taste and rate the food. At each of the six tables, members filled out survey cards ranking items according to taste, appearance, texture, ease of use, and overall quality. Last but not least, Co-op leaders want to know: “would you buy this product?”

The products were culled by members of the committee from among the private labels of the White Rose Food Division. In the near future, the Co-op will open their “Farm Fresh Market,” where locally grown produce will be available to members, even before the store at 5th & Edgmont site is ready. Beginning at the end of March, signs of spring will greet Chester Co-op members in the form of fruits and vegetables nestled on tables under tents on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. Although the renovation to the building at 5th & Edgmont still requires more members to join the Co-op and some outside start up financing, the community can’t wait for the fresh clean produce it needs now, so with good weather coming soon, the Co-op is moving ahead with the outdoor market. Tents have been donated by George Whitfield of State Farm Insurance and neighboring food markets—320 Produce and the Swarthmore Co-op—have offered to share their knowledge of local fresh produce farmers and distributors. In the meantime, the Co-op continues to sign up new members and seek nonprofit status for its wellness, health, and educational initiatives.

The Chester Co-op is the brainchild of Tina Johnson a triple-major (Philosophy, Literature and Cultural Studies) graduate from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Since graduating she has traveled extensively throughout Central and South America, India, and Europe becoming fluent in Spanish. Upon returning to visit family and neighbors in the city of her birth, she found many Chester residents saying essentially the same thing: “We need a real full-service grocery store with a selection of quality produce that meets our community’s needs.”

For nearly sixteen years the City of Chester has not had a supermarket, but things look good for the Chester Co-op. The leaders and members are partnering with people inside and outside Chester. Tara Jones-Stephens, executive director of the Chester YWCA and a founding Co-op member, said that she is willing to give Tina Johnson and team “anything they need until the building is up. Tina and I are both happy to be part of the renaissance in Chester,” added Jones-Stephens, who has just secured a federal grant to make possible the reopening of the only indoor pool in Chester. “We work together and help each other out. It is an awesome partnership.”