A huge milestone has been reached as PFC took possession of the site in January! With this step now behind us, we have shifted our focus to our buildout phase. This work entails working closely with our General Contractor, W.B. Olson. First step is finalizing our contract, which should be wrapped up shortly. After that, W.B. Olson will start the contract bidding process for the trades (plumbing, electrical, HVAC, etc). This process can potentially take up to eight weeks. This step is critical because  our federal and state grants having strict requirements in place by which those trades need to abide. It is imperative that we hire the right people, as a misstep here could jeopardize a timely opening!

On the grant front, both the federal and state grants are awaiting final approval. We hope to have the grant funds very soon!. 

Hopefully you had a chance to attend our Site Tour Event that took place on Saturday, February 3rd at our location in Eastgate. If you did, thank you for attending! I want to give a big thank you to the Village of Lombard for allowing Prairie Food Co-op to stage this event on-site.  

MY VISIT TO LITTLETON FOOD CO-OP

In mid-January, I was given the opportunity to visit Littleton Food Co-op (LFC) in Littleton, New Hampshire, to shadow their General Manager, Ed King for a week. LFC is a well-established co-op, having opened in 2009. It is also a well-respected and accomplished co-op, having won the prestigious Cooperative Excellence Award in 2023.

During my time there I had the chance to soak in Ed’s wisdom and advice on running a successful co-op. It was a very inspiring experience that included spending time with quite a few of the co-op’s employees, many of whom opened the co-op in 2009 and have worked there since. The employees are engaged, provide great customer service, love what they do, and are all participants in creating an energetic and satisfying shopping experience. You can feel the positive culture and vibe as soon as you walk in the door!  Co-ops exist to serve their communities, and Littleton is no exception as they are intrinsically involved in just about anything and everything in the small community of 6,000 people. Thank you to Ed and his team at  LFC for being so hospitable and allowing me to visit!

Additional Thank Yous

I want to take this opportunity to also thank a couple people who have been extremely helpful in this pre-opening journey - John Lawrence and Dean Albright. John is a Project Manager of Oakwood Contractors in McHenry,  and he and his team stored PFC equipment, namely our three checkstands, in his warehouse until we took possession of our site. Once we got possession John had the checkstands delivered from his warehouse in McHenry. Those checkstands come courtesy of Dean, a PFC owner, who was able to source them from another grocer at no cost to PFC. Thank you John and Dean, PFC appreciates your help!

Thank you for taking the time to stay up-to-date on all things PFC. 

See you in the aisles!

Jason Krapausky
General Manager
Prairie Food Co-op