WASKATENAU, Alta. — A group of northern Alberta farmers and their friends have formed a co-op to help sell their produce, strengthen their community and have a place to meet.
The writing was on the wall for the group of small-scale farmers who were finding it increasingly difficult to make a living selling their farm produce, said Mandy Melnyk, one of the 14 co-op share owners.
“If we wanted to stay in business we needed to work together. More and more there was imported produce from Lethbridge and B.C. When I started in the business in 2011 there were about 10 people supplying organic food boxes to Edmonton,” said Melnyk, who farms about three miles from the new co-op restaurant and food store.
“We needed a place where producers cannot just sell together but support each other. The real part of the journey is figuring out a true co-op and the desire for something that is unique in the area.
“We are a place for people to gather, but also a place for people to develop a closer relationship with their rural roots and with what they’re eating, and as much as possible, understand why that burger tastes a little bit different and have a closer connection to their food,” said Melnyk.
After a lot of discussion and research, the group agreed they wanted to return to the co-op model that had helped prairie towns and farmers thrive and grow. Early prairie farmers formed bank co-ops, grain co-ops and electricity and gas co-ops to help their communities flourish, but few co-ops remain and the co-operative model is not often used when creating new businesses.
“We need to go back to where we started in these rural communities, which had a very strong co-operative movement,” said Melnyk, who also acknowledged the project had challenges.
“Becoming a co-op was a lot of work. We had to make sure we could use the space we wanted and it was quite a process to become a co-operative. We had to find information and learn how to set up a co-operative. That was part of our first step,” said Menlyk.
“Trying to access financing co-operatively was a wild ride and continues to be a wild journey.”
Hours were spent writing bylaws, creating and negotiating share structures. Rules were created and amended. In the beginning the group only had producer class shares. A producer is described as someone who makes, grows or raises produce. The share structure was later amended and the supporter share class was added.
“A supporter is someone who, bless their soul, just believes in this cause,” said Michelle Melnyk.
Once the rules were finalized, the Gathering Place Co-op leased a building and 10 acres of land that had once been a bustling restaurant on a busy highway outside Waskatenau. The building had sat vacant for about 10 years and required extensive renovation. It took about 18 months to redesign and rebuild it with a new restaurant, commercial kitchen, market space with walk-in cooler and freezer.
Doug Scott, a member of the co-op, through a supporter share, said the original dream was to have a location where farmers could sell their produce in a desirable location.
“None of us had a clue how large a project this would be. It involved a total rebuild of the building. It was derelict with asbestos in the ceiling and needed to be gutted to the outside walls.”
Now six months after their doors opened, the group is learning about running a restaurant and how to create a market for their farm produce. While the building was under construction, the group launched an online store to sell their turkeys, lasagna, perogies, smokies, sausages and figured out the popular products.
“We just started to try some recipes out and see what stuck to the wall,” said Michelle.
The co-op’s producer members sell their grass-raised beef, chicken, turkeys, potatoes, onions, garlic and vegetables to the co-op, which in turn create meals for restaurant guests or to sell through the market.
Michelle has organized a group of local women to come to the restaurant regularly to make perogies for sale in the store, on-line and in the market, using the potatoes and other produce grown by the members.
“They’re older and we have a rule that what happens at the perogy table stays at the perogy table. It is kind of like Vegas. It has become something they look forward to,” she said.
On other days, members and staff make “gallons and gallons of borscht” and pickled carrots and beets and beans.
“As much as this model is a valuable model, there is no mistake about it, it is an extremely labour intensive model to manage to do all those things in house,” said Michelle.
The menu items aren’t made exclusively from the farm produce, but most meals contain some produce supplied by the growers.
“There is no way we can source everything that we need to run the restaurant locally. It all takes more time. We do the best we can,” said Michelle.
Several people have asked to sell their food through their market store, but it is tricky, said Mandy.
“We’ll get a call from someone who wants to sell their salsa through the co-op store, but buy their ingredients from large box stores, make it in their kitchen and want to use the co-op store as just a retailer. We try to explain to them, when you are a member, the co-op buys the member’s ingredients and use the commercial kitchen in the co-op.
“I ask them are you willing to make it in our kitchen with our members’ tomatoes and onions and garlic.”
Co-op members agree it will take time for everyone, including customers, to figure out the process.
“We have had some people call and ask if they need to be a member of the federated co-op or the Gathering Place Co-op to eat or shop at the store. That will take time,” said Michelle, who hopes their restaurant and store will not be a foreign concept, but simply a great local restaurant.
“We get asked on a regular basis why you choose a co-op model. There is a lot of misinformation or disinformation about co-ops and really it is just another business model. It is one conversation at a time. Hopefully we need to begin to figure out how to engage in our community a bit differently and educate people about co-ops,” said Michelle.
