By LINDA McGURK
Indiana Correspondent

DANVILLE, Ind. — There’s a bit of a revolution going on with the Indiana food scene. Organic and natural foods – once fringe niches dominated by the “crunchy granola” crowd – are becoming mainstream, and farmers’ markets are flourishing thanks to growing support for locally produced food.

At the same time, people’s interest in nutrition and their own health is on the rise. When they can’t find the wholesome food they’re craving in their local grocery store, they’re taking matters in their own hands. The result is a slew of new natural-food co-ops opening across the state. “To get the type of food I want, I have to drive to the north side (of Indianapolis),” said Katherine Ogawa, a stay-at-home mom involved in starting a food co-op in her neighborhood just east of downtown.

Indy Food Co-op is still only in the planning stages, but Ogawa said it would fit right in with the city’s plans to spruce up the area in time for the 2012 Super Bowl.

“There have been three supermarket closures in the area and most of the people who live there don’t have their own transportation. It’s a really underserved area and we’re hoping to draw in some people who wouldn’t normally shop at a (natural-foods store),” she said.

Ogawa, who was networking with other sprouting food co-ops during the Oct. 9 Indiana Cooperative Summit in Danville, said Indy Food Co-op will focus mainly on organics and healthy, locally sourced foods. “We won’t carry very many processed foods. Cereal will be the most processed food we’ll sell,” she said.

Ben Alkire, a horticulturalist with Purdue University, has a similar vision for a food co-op in downtown Lafayette, Ind., which doesn’t have any grocery stores.

Alkire already has the experience, since he was part of a group that ran the former food co-op Goodness Groceries in Lafayette.
That store went out of business 15 years ago, but with a trolley service between Lafayette and the Purdue campus in West Lafayette, and downtown hopping with new bars, restaurants and condominiums, Alkire believes the time is ripe to make another attempt at a co-op in the heart of the city.

“Our focus will be on supporting local foods and on being a gathering point for the community,” he said.

This time around, he said the co-op effort is mainly driven by young people. The new cooperative, which goes under the name City Foods, Inc., has a six-member board of directors that meets every two weeks. In February, the cooperative sold tickets for a meal made by local-only ingredients as a fundraiser for the future store.

“We sold out,” said Alkire. “There’s great community interest. It’s spilling over from the farmers’ market.”

Last year, a cooperative opened a natural-foods store in rural Paoli, Ind., and in Bloomington, Ind., food co-op Bloomingfoods boasts three locations. Bloomingfoods’ newest store has increased sales by 50 percent this year alone. “Our business is booming. I think people are frustrated with big-box stores and we work hard to keep our prices competitive,” said Ellen Michel, who works with marketing and outreach for Bloomingfoods. “What really strikes me is that a lot of young people are interested in us now. They’re much more active in environmental issues and food issues. It’s fantastic.”

While some economists predict the more expensive organic and local foods will go out of fashion due to the spike in energy prices and general downturn of the economy, Ogawa thinks the market conditions could favor a small, cooperative store.

“We don’t see (the economy) as a challenge,” she said. “Since we’re sourcing our food locally, we can keep our overhead down even with higher gas prices. We talk about the current economy as being an asset; we think it will bring more people in to the store.”
Michel sees a lot of potential in the cooperative business model.
“Co-ops are more appealing to people with the economy the way it is now,” she explained. “In a cooperative, there’s more shared responsibility for the success of the business.”