Kent Natural Foods Co-Op is making waves on TikTok, drawing in nearly two million views on their account in two months. The videos highlight the co-op's stock of locally grown, organic produce and hand-crafted goods available to the community. The attention on social media comes as the number of food cooperatives across Ohio is decreasing.
Inside the storefront, nestled right the heart of Downtown Kent, visitors can find fresh organic fruits and vegetables, skin care products, vitamins, homemade crafts and more.
"We have honey, we have eggs, we have milk, we have health and beauty items," Produce, Bulk and Facilities Coordinator for the co-op Jeff Ingram said. "Lots of stuff you find at the farmers market you find in here too."
Showcasing the co-op's stock on TikTok helps spread the word, Ingram said, which brings in more Kent State University students along with 200 co-op members who shop regularly in store.
A food cooperative provides community ownership and access to local produce. But there are only about a half-dozen brick-and-mortar food cooperatives in all of Ohio, according to the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Center for Cooperatives at Ohio State University.
Food cooperatives can face some insurmountable obstacles, said Program Director Hannah Scott.
"Food retail is a pretty competitive space, and so ... that can a challenge for emerging food co-op," she said. "Also, food co-ops can be fairly capital-intensive to start, especially with a brick-and-mortar retail model."
The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Center for Cooperatives published a comprehensive study of cooperatives across the state in 2020. Credit unions were the most common type of co-op in Ohio, Scott said with more than 600 operating at the time.
There were only 13 food co-ops operating out of storefronts at the time of the report. The number has since decreased to around half a dozen, Scott said.
"From the national perspective, Co-ops have gone through ebbs and flows," she said. "Food co-ops, for example, experienced a growth period in the 1960s and 70s, [to] my understanding, around the natural foods movement."
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As a business model, investment and support from the community is essential for co-ops to thrive, Scott said, but that takes time to build.
"That can be one of the powers of cooperatives," Scott said. "[For] early development cooperatives it can take a lot of energy and effort and be a challenge."
At the Kent co-op, Ingram works directly with local famers, business owners and customers. Supporting local businesses comes with many benefits, he said.
"It's really about knowing where your food comes from," Ingram said. "It also creates less of a carbon footprint because you don't have to have the food ship for so long, and we appreciate not only just food that's good for you, packed with nutrition, but good for the planet as well."
Anyone is welcome to shop at the co-op, Ingram said, but those who volunteer to pack produce, stock shelves or assist with social media marketing become members.
"If there's a policy decision that needs changed or something in our bylaws that needs changed, any member can put that on the agenda and then have that voted on," Ingram said. "It doesn't come from just a simple board of directors. It comes from all the membership of the co -op."
Membership also comes with a 5% discount in store. The co-op has about two thousand members to date, Ingram said.
Mick Luber founded Bluebird Organic Farm in Cadiz, Ohio in 1985. He grows varieties of organic kale, lettuce, garlic and other produce that he sells through the Kent co-op and others.
Selling his produce locally gives him the opportunity to talk directly with customers about the food he grows, he said.
"It's the educational pride," Luber said. "You do the same thing in a co-op. that you do at a farmer's market. You educate people about the food and various foods and various ways to cook it."
There’s a health benefit to eating locally grown organic food too, Luber said, but for those used to eating produce from the "big box stores," the taste is unbeatable.
"I'd go to Kroger's and buy a bag of carrots, and I'd take carrots from the farm and have people taste them," he said. "The first time they ate the Kroger carrot, they got more taste out of it, but the aftertaste was bitter. And when they took the organic carrot and ate it, you could see their faces change."
