Rooted Carrot leadership still looking for future site, calls for more participation from members

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CEDAR FALLS – A longstanding co-operative grocery store initiative is seeking more support in its journey to find a physical location.

Leaders of the Rooted Carrot Co-op Market called two special meetings — July 24 and Aug. 15 — in hopes a number of its 1,203 member-owners from Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and surrounding communities would attend and show signs of stepping up to forge the future direction of the organization.

They made the call for action in light of a decrease in participation, and are looking for more core organizers to put in volunteer hours and play a larger role in the push to find its future site and construct a physical store, according to Board President Jodie Huegerich.

The first special meeting July 24 saw member-owners pack the Cedar Falls Community Center.

They’ll offer members the opportunity to cast an “advisory vote” virtually between Aug. 15-31, which Huegerich said is a multi-faceted effort to determine what the future could look like. Results will be discussed at the October annual member-owner meeting.

Huegerich affirmed the project scope has not changed. The goal is a 7,000- square-foot store near or in downtown Cedar Falls at a cost of around $3 million.

The board president could not say whether the project might be shelved. However, she noted the first meeting was encouraging with 86 members in attendance.

“It was very well attended,” she said. “There was great energy and great questions.”

The Rooted Carrot is a 501(a) domestic cooperative, and describes itself as being based “on the idea of social enterprise, meaning the purpose is to re-invest any profits into the co-op itself, or other activities approved by the membership” who shop there.

Rooty the Carrot, the co-op's mascot, stands next to the site it had hoped last year to call home at the corner of Seventh and Main streets in Cedar Falls.

It can enter into agreements with other organizations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, while maintaining democratic control and co-operative autonomy. Members make a one-time investment of $200 to build that equity.

Its values center around buying from local producers and farms, promoting a culture of acceptance of all people, educating on issues of food and wellness, and choosing a sustainable products and practices.

Out of the approximately 700 participants in a recent Main Street market survey, 38.2% selected a grocery store from 12 options for a business they’d like to see pop up downtown, which was the third-highest choice. The other two choices were bookstore and women’s clothing store.

Twenty-seven thousand volunteer hours have been committed since Rooted Carrot’s incorporation in 2014, and 22 possible sites have been reviewed in the last three years alone, according to Huegerich. The idea of a co-op market in Cedar Falls was brought up about a decade ago after Roots Market closed on Main Street in 2012.

“All co-ops are going to be different and have a different story,” she said. “They’re based off demographics, community support and location.”

Huegerich said the efforts have not resulted in a first home because of a “long list of challenges.” Of the sites considered, the vacant one at 123 W. Seventh St. was the only one to be publicly revealed. Plans saw challenges last year with meeting the downtown code and not being able to provide adequate parking.

St. Patrick Catholic Church eventually acquired the land from developer Brent Dahlstrom for a future parking lot. The church is now wrangling with the city code and needs political support to move its plans forward.

Huegerich described the Rooted Carrot as needing more “boots on the ground” to move its own project forward. She was not able to say whether the organization was close to the finish line.

The co-op needs more member-owners to commit to being board members or be on one of the organization’s committees – finance, operations, membership, communication, site or capital campaign. A person does not need to be a member-owner to serve on one of the committees, she said.

In addition to seeking support, the two special member-owner meetings — not open to the public or press — were called to give an overall update on what’s been happening the last nine years; more information on the sites being considered; answers to the frustration from those who are not happy with the progress; and facts to combat misinformation about the initiative.

“Besides attending the meetings, the best place to learn more is our website, our social media pages or board members,” said Huegerich. “We want to keep people informed, and we want to be transparent.”

Nearby success stories are the Oneota Community Food Co-op in Decorah and Wheatsfield Co-op Grocery in Ames, as well as Oshkosh Food Co-op in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, as well as several communities in Minnesota.

The Rooted Carrot’s second meeting is 6:30-7:30 p.m. Aug. 15 at the Community Center, 528 Main St.

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