About The Show:

“The Co-Op is not just a grocery store, it's a place to connect with other people in the community”.

- Mark Laney

Marc Laney began his journey with Ozark Natural Foods Co-Op as a skeptical college student. Drawn in by the fresh produce, he quickly transformed from a casual customer to a dedicated employee.

While working at the Co-Op, Marc experienced a shift in perspective. He witnessed how the Co-Op prioritized values over profits, fostering a strong sense of community among its members. Unlike large corporations, Ozark's emphasis on sustainability and ethical sourcing has made it a hub for conscious consumers.

Marc's time at the Co-Op cemented his belief in the power of the cooperative model. Local partnerships and a focus on ethical sourcing make for a purchasing experience that's grounded in trust and pride.

Today, Marc isn't just an employee; he's a devoted member of a community that cherishes sustainability, ethical sourcing, and the betterment of its local environment.

What You Will Learn In This Episode:

• Discover the significance of supporting neighborhood farmers in creating a sustainable, quality-driven future.
• Apprehend the advantages of joining a Co-Op, such as cost savings and increased community engagement.
• Recognize the stringent safety measures Co-Ops took to weather the pandemic storm.
• Comprehend how the Co-Op model prioritizes ethical values over monetary gains, paving the way for a conscientious marketplace.
• Analyze the opportunities for ingenuity and progress offered by the collaborative nature of the Co-Op model.

All this and more on this episode of Ozark Natural Foods The Co-Op Podcast.

Important Links and Mentions In This Episode:

• Visit Ozark Natural Foods in Fayetteville to experience the community and locally sourced food.
• Check out the Taproom at Ozark Natural Foods for a variety of beverage options and prepared foods.
• Purchase organic and locally sourced produce and groceries from Ozark Natural Foods to support sustainable and healthy food practices.
• Connect with like-minded individuals at Ozark Natural Foods to build a stronger community around food and nutrition.

This Episode is Sponsored By:

Ozark Natural Foods

Connect More With Ozark Natural Foods:

• Grab our Newsletter 
• Email Us at Info@ONF.Coop
• Connect With Our Facebook Page 
• Join The Facebook Group
• Connect With Our Instagram 
• Connect With Our LinkedIn Page
• Learn more about the History of Food Coops

We get by with a little help from our Co-Op Members and Friends!

Please consider rating and reviewing our podcast on Apple Podcasts or your Podcast player of choice. A little Love goes a long way. 

ONF - THE COOP - RANDY WILBURN and MARC LANEY

ONF Open [0:00]

Welcome to Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop podcast featuring stories and information about the largest food Coop in Arkansas based in Fayetteville and serving all of Northwest Arkansas. The Coop has been around for 50-plus years, providing community and encouraging a love of food that is good for us and our planet. Learn our history and standards of quality. Meet our Coop members, employees, and vendors, and understand why being locally focused is vital to our food, products, and economy. The Coop has leveraged Cooperative economics here in Northwest Arkansas to bring the freshest and the best food to our whole community. Listen to Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop Podcast today to learn why.

Randy Wilburn [0:58]

Hey, folks, and welcome back to another episode of the Coop Podcast. I am your host, Randy Wilburn and I'm excited to share with you another episode. We've had a chance to bring so many amazing people that have been affiliated with this company that at the time of recording this has been around for 51 years. A Coop like no other. The only food Coop in the state of Arkansas and today we have assembled a guest. His name is Marc Laney and the easiest way for me to describe it is that he was originally a customer and I say a customer because he wasn't a member at the time then he became an employee then he became a customer and now he's a member of the Coop and we're excited to bring him on to share his experience here at this place that we call home. This location at the corner of Lafayette and North College. It means so many different things to so many different people. And so without further ado, we want to welcome Marc Laney to the podcast. How are you doing?

Marc Laney [2:04]

I'm really good, Randy, thanks so much.

Randy Wilburn [2:06]

Well, I'm glad that you're here and I would love for you to give a quick, brief introduction as to who you are and then we'll talk about your experience as a whole here at the Coop.

Marc Laney [2:19]

I’m Marc Laney. I've been a resident of Fayetteville for about 22 years and I've been a graphic designer for about 8 now. I've been a shopper at the Coop pretty much since I moved here to go to the university and found it was one of the only places to get nice organic food. Honestly, once I had the first Apple I was sold. It was like this is not the same, this is a different apple. And so, I started with the Coop. At the time I was working at Walmart Corporate doing supply chain logistics and sourcing things in the produce area. I was also training at night to do design because I'm an artist and I wanted to do something more creative. So while I'm training as a Replenishment Manager at this corporate Walmart, I'm doing this side thing and saw a posting for an Open Graph Designer position at the Coop. So Lisa, over here, Lisa was my connection at the time. I’ve known her for several years. I contacted her and she said great, apply for the job. Quite a bit of change when I talked to actually quite a few co-workers because it would have been a step down in terms of pay and seniority and all that stuff, and realized just doing what I love was key. With that, the culture where I worked before wasn't exactly sort of my day-to-day lifestyle. So coming to the Coop, it matched my culture a lot closer, it's Fayetteville, it's local, etc, and really match a lot of my values. So, lo and behold, a couple of months later started working at the Coop, and just some of my most enjoyable experiences as a graphic designer as my first gig, and really just learning everything by the seat of my pants. The interesting thing too was taking that knowledge from Walmart and how it fits in, not only with regard to boots on the ground. The actual thing I did talking with Pauline, the Produce Manager at the time, and there are other people saying, hey, what's going on with waste? Where are we at on waste? Asking these questions that the designer doesn't ask, et cetera? At the Coop, you do have a greater sense of, you know, everybody's in it together that kind of thing. So it was nice to know that my voice could be heard. But obviously, I’m more focused on design from that point forward. That's been and I'll take you there and I don't know where we want to go from there. If we want to keep going.

Randy Wilburn [4:57]

That's good, and I'm glad you gave me the foundation and framework for what got you to the Coop. I’m going to back up to when you went to school and you started going to the Coop because of their amazing apples and produce. All of the cool things that the Coop has to offer, what was your familiarity with the Coop model? When you were in college were you aware of it?

Marc Laney [5:23]

I was confused. Those are learnings that are interesting because I remember taking some of those back when I was working in the Marketing Department but was confused. Initially, I wasn't sure if I could shop there. I had to be told I was or I could, and then for a while, I felt like it was like an unspoken rule that you had to be a hippy. Old as in you are acclimated with Fayetteville hippie history, the 70s. But no, as it turns out, you don't. You’re just any old person that can walk in there, or young, I should say. Lots of different things going on there in terms of that model. And it brings a lot of interesting ideas and environment to the whole place. So you're quite a bit different than your harps or Walmart experience as you walk in as a 20-something-year-old.

Randy Wilburn [6:13]

And I think the cool thing is that you actually had experience working at Walmart so you had some understanding of the inner workings of a much larger company. It's a Fortune One company. It's hard to ignore Walmart, they loom large in Northwest Arkansas. But the thing that's cool about the Coop is that the Coop itself looms large in Northwest Arkansas as being the first Coop here in 51-plus years. And you mentioned the back-to-land folks and the people that really gravitated to the Coop from its origination to now. I mean, those folks still come on a regular basis. There's a lot of loyalty there as far as that's concerned. I think your arc within the Coop, like I said, customer, employee, customer slash now member is unique because you've kind of seen a lot of different things. What was your understanding of the Coop model once you got employed by the Coop as a graphic designer?

Marc Laney [7:09]

Understanding of the model. I'm trying to think if I knew of something similar. I guess maybe I was sort of familiar with that model somewhat but really just providing an opportunity for folks to pool resources to come together and share ideas around food, nutrition, lifestyle, etc. How far that extends from that core depends on who you talk to, no pun intended. It is an organic thing. One can come to approach the model as, well, I'm going to save some money because I like to come here and get my bulk items. I can get X, Y, and Z cheaper and for others, it's a whole model lifestyle. They're interested in conservation and sustainability and so it's a fun, interesting cross-section. And what I initially felt like was more transactional in terms of X amount of year you're at the time and owner, and then you're in for live ya ya ya. What I thought was more sort of transactional at that point, feels more like social, and cultural ideas are more of the currency there now. So it's more of, do I want to be involved? Do I want to contribute or donate this money to this cause as part of my life? Well, yeah, because I want to be a part of that. I want that to be a thing so I'm going to contribute.

Randy Wilburn [8:36]

As I always like to say, I think membership has its privileges too and there is a source of pride that I feel when I come to the Coop and they say, are you a member and I say, yes, I am, here's my member number. I used to struggle with remembering it now it just rolls off the tip of my tongue. It's cool to meet people whose member numbers are in the single digits. It's like you're an OG when it comes to the Coop and your experience here. I think it's important for people to understand that and with any organization or any business, it's how you create belonging. And one way to do that, which I think the Coop model is perfect for, is that whole idea of membership, and that idea of a bunch of people collectively coming together around one major cause, which is in the case of the Coop is the food Coop of Ozark Natural Foods is to provide the healthiest food possible and to shorten the distance between where that food comes from and how we actually get it within the store itself, which is huge. It’s a big deal.

Marc Laney [9:49]

And nimble. It can totally be nimble. I mean, it's one of the reasons why the Coop prides itself on recycling and using as much of the materials and resources that we use and making sure that they are not going to waste, which is a big thing. And so, we're trying to reduce our footprint as it pertains to waste and every year the Coop gets better and better at doing that. And I know other organizations do that but you hear about carbon offsetting and things of that nature. That's something that the Coop takes to heart and it’s one thing to work with local farmers and have them provide their produce and all of their goods within the Coop. It's a whole nother thing to be able to do that and then couple that with the ability to just create a sustainable environment as a whole where they're making things better for all of us collectively here in Northwest Arkansas. I know that people think about that like well everybody has those goals and ideas around their organizations or their businesses but I would say that's not always the case. And I think with an organization like the Coop, because it is smaller as you said earlier and it can be a bit more nimble, my word, I think that it presents plenty of opportunities to really meet the needs of local individuals right where they are. And so I think that's exciting just the fact that the Coop is able to be nimble, because of the fact that they're smaller and they can focus on all these matters that matter to the Coop in the sense that not just the food, but it's also the environmental footprint that the Coop offers. It's also just the fact that it is a neighborhood store. I tell people all the time, whether you're in Bentonville, Rogers, and Springdale, it's worth the trip down to come visit. And that's the beauty of having a Tap Room. And for those of you that don't know, we have a Tap Room where you can come in and grab a beer in the afternoon, and maybe grab a Kombucha. You can certainly get a great cup of coffee, they pour onyx. If you're not pouring onyx, you're really not pouring coffee. That's a whole nother story. But the bottom line is that you have options and you can just come down there just to hang out. You can get a meal. They have a salad bar. They've got amazing soups, breakfast burritos, grab-and-go, you name it, all the prepared foods as well as the options in the Tap Room. It's more of a holistic environment that offers not just the ability to come in and shop, but you can also just come in and connect with other people that are part of the community. I tell people all the time, come on down and see what it's all about. Maybe you're not going to make it your mainstay grocery store place to shop, but it's a place where you can come and really connect with different people in different ways.

And that's a really good point like that third place to connect with folks that you have certain things in common but maybe you wouldn't see them otherwise. For me the impact of knowing that the core of it is the focus is feeding people nutritious food and feeding people what's good for them. The focal point isn't the bottom line and that is the bottom line. I think when you have that it's much different to know what's going on with this food. Is it healthy? Aside from the fact that you know at the Coop that there's no artificial flavoring, no preservatives, it's knowing because of that Coop model that's different, that's weird, right so people who may not understand that is why they can trust that this is like getting to them in the best way possible that all these decisions are made that are sort of in alignment with their values and that kind of thing versus where you're like, oh, 70 cents for a pound of meat. Great. Perfect. I love that price. What are you paying for that price, right?

It is that meat? [Cross-talking] It says meat on it but we don't really know.

And that comes to an interesting point. What am I being told that's wrong about the world and the government conspiracy, etcetera but I understand as a person who's been around for a while that sometimes things are not the way they should be and that we have to actively dig and try to work to make them that way legislatively as well as otherwise. So you look at certain foods with artificial colorings and things that are proliferating in candy and regular food and whatever and you learn not to question it because you think its fine. And then being around the Coop and talking with folks and talking with all the knowledgeable folks in the various departments, you get a sense that maybe there's a different side of this story. No one is necessarily trying to poison me per se but there might be some things that I might need to get ahead of.

And there are always cost-cutting measures, there's always cutting corners and that would be the thing that I would say when people ask me why I would shop at the Coop. I can go to Whole Foods or Natural Grocers or some other place but the bottom line is you can be certain at the Coop that they don't cut corners, and you can identify where everything comes from. And sometimes it's almost to the Coop’s detriment because the challenge is that there are a lot of people that have a lot of different offerings but you can rest assured that everything that comes out of this building and out of this organization is highly vetted. And there were 51 years at the time of recording this of time and effort that's been put into creating a brand that has a level of sticktoitiveness that you don't always find in the grocery industry and so I think that's important to remember. And I hope that it's here 75 years from now and that people will be looking back listening to this relic of a podcast saying, those people probably long dead that were on that episode, but they were right. I mean, the Coop is still here and it's still relevant and even though I cook all my food in the evaporator like they did in Back to the Future, I can appreciate the fact that all of these carrots came from this local farm that's just right outside of Eureka Springs.

And I see that just as the future. Let's go back, say the 50s industrialization, and folks are moving around for suburbs away from the city or whatever, over time it seems like people get to a point where it's like, I might want to be around people, let's celebrate density and no cars, let's do this differently. Like, maybe we were okay. I just look at it like that. I see something like having been raised around the Walmart model my whole life, it just doesn't make sense and really what's cheap to me exactly. As you said earlier, what is in this food, what is in this meat, or whatever? At the end of the day, it's just like, the more we know about nutrition and that sort of thing, the more we realize local is important. Getting food as fresh as it's possible is important and sometimes some of the adulterated methods in which you make it work to sustain a week-long trip across the country, for example, are not good for you. So it's just interesting, like the more we learn about food and that kind of science that the more we want to get back to this older model of the local grocery shop, and people want to extrapolate from the paradigm of Walmart as a corporation. It doesn't work like that.

It’s very hard and it's interesting because I've experienced it since I've been coming to this Coop just about eight years from the time that I physically moved here. My experience has been everywhere I go, I look for a Coop to see what it's like and experience that and compare. Obviously, nobody's better than Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop, but there are other Coops out there. They all do a great job and my expectation when I go into any one of those Coops is that okay, I can experience something very similar to what I have back home at this Coop and I've been to several. I've been to some in Pittsburgh. I've been to some in Southern California. I was at two in South Dakota. I feel at home when I'm at the Coop, Ozark Natural Foods and I have that feeling when I go to some of these other Coops because I know the length that people go to make sure they're putting out a really good product that the end user can, not only appreciate, but can be proud of. You don't always find that. The Walmart model works because there are so many people in the world but there are other sustainable models that make sense and I think the Coop model is one of those that could actually proliferate even more than what we experienced now. Is there space for another Coop or maybe Ozark Natural Foods opens up another location somewhere else in Northwest Arkansas? In general, I think the idea is that there are plenty of opportunities to provide what Ozark Natural Foods does to a wider audience and it's just how we make that happen. And I think some of it comes from people like yourself who have had the experience of the Coop as a customer, as an employee, and then as a member, and you see the value, the long tail value of what the Coop represents. And so I think it's important for people to hear this and hear from people like you, which is why we're doing this podcast in the first place, right? Because we want to tell these stories and just give people a better understanding as to the why behind why they should step foot in that store at the corner of Lafayette and North College.

I absolutely agree. And it's interesting to talk about potentially opening another store because there are lots of things that haven't been tried here that would be a hybrid for the best practices that we might have learned at a large corporation. I'd love to see that too. Is it using the backend store as part of a warehouse for distribution? Is it creating spots in between that are little stands that you can serve as essentially little mini shops? And the fact that the Coop is nimble like you said, you have this ability to turn on a dime if you can get everyone together to make those decisions. And like you said, you go anywhere, and you really are going to have that same kind of experience. What is it that those people are focused on? The best product. What does that mean? Well, it's nutritious. It doesn't have this, it does have that and it's wonderful to see. It speaks to the community because then you're saying, what are your values? It's less difficult for me to have a divisive argument about my beliefs when we're talking about food versus many other things and so to be able to come together under anything like that, that everyone values and that sort of thing is wonderful. It brings people of different backgrounds together.

I certainly would be remiss if I didn't ask you this question. As we wind up here, somebody listening to this that maybe isn't a member, but has said I've been coming here for a couple of years, and I don't know why I haven't joined and become a member of the Coop. What would you say to them as to the why behind becoming a part of what I think is a movement? I think it's a mentality. It's a way of life? Why would you tell somebody that's had some experience with the Coop but has never committed to becoming a member? Why would you tell them they should join the Coop and become a member?

Somebody in marketing, I guess, I would have to ask what their user profile is. Let me know their needs and wants, and what they want. For me, honestly, and I've mentioned this before, it's not like an economic or financial proposition, it's a social-cultural one, and so it's about sorting something I believe in, sustainability, like healthy foods, etc. Like stuff, that seems pretty normal. I don't know, maybe it isn't to some folks, so we have to double down on those beliefs. It's being able to invest in that and also invest in something that I think is good, and something that I believe in. It's not every day that you get an easy chance to invest in something that pays back quickly. Along with being a part of that community and exchanging that knowledge, you have those deals. And of course, there's the other benefit of, well, I can save money. My proposition is to be a part of something bigger.

And you're absolutely right about that. It is a social and cultural thing. Obviously, at the time of recording this 13,500 people can't be wrong about that. And I think the number of members that the Coop has it's somewhere hovering around there and that's a lot. That’s a lot of people. That's the size of a small town. There are a lot of people that have bought into the mission of Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop, and the difference that it makes. Certainly, hearing your story today is very helpful for us to recognize it. I think we're on the right path. I'm just thankful to have you not only originally as a customer as a former employee, and as somebody that has bought into this whole concept of the food Coop and what it represents. I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to share your story with us here on the Coop Podcast. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Marc. Any parting thoughts that you'd like to share before we close up?

Try the pizza. That's my parting thought. I love the Coop. Try the pizza.

I would encourage anybody listening to this, if you haven't had anything from the salad bar if you haven't tried their prepared foods, the sushi is essentially amazing. You can’t beat that. There's just so much. But I have to say that my go-to since the Tap Room opened with the full coffee bar and everything, that's where I get my lattes. And actually, they're cheaper than Starbucks. [ML - That's good to know]. That is good to know and you know that it's good coffee. I know, John Allen and those folks over at Onyx. They don't play any games. As a matter of fact, they did a lot of the initial training of the people that worked in the Tap Room when we initially opened the brand new location at the corner of Lafayette and North College. There's a kinship there. They’re like our cousins from the folks at Onyx and that's why we pour their amazing coffee because a lot of times we could spend less money at other places and get something similar. I like going to Onyx, and I like drinking Onyx coffee because I know how John treats the growers of the beans, and that matters. These are people that he knows on a first-name basis, in the same way at the Coop, we know a lot of the farmers on a first-name basis, so we can reach out to them and chat with them, and that matters. These are the people that are bringing your food to you that are pulling it out of the earth and then putting it out in front of you in an appetizing and appealing way. And so those kinds of things matter. As we get to a place where everything is being AI this and AI that and artificial intelligence, all the great things that are happening. I love technology, and people are living longer, but we still have to eat. And I think we need to eat well, and part of us living well is making sure that the stuff that we're putting in our bodies is coming from a good place. That’s one thing I can say about the Coop is that just about everything that's in there is coming from a good place.

And often local. You're supporting local and the financial impact of that is huge as well.

It is without a doubt. A big sense of pride. My chest is pushed out as you say that because that local does matter. Whether you go to the local farmers market, or whether you decide to stop in there at the Coop, you'll see how important local is. Just take a look at that produce section and that will give you a sense of pride knowing that just about everything that's in there comes from within about 100-mile radius of the store. That's huge. That is huge. Well, listen, Marc, thank you so much for joining us on this podcast. We really appreciate your perspective and certainly will make sure that people have an opportunity to listen to this in its entirety but you've definitely given us some things to think about. And it's certainly anybody that's listening to this that's on the fence about becoming a member of the Coop, what are you waiting for, you just need to sign up. And so I want to encourage you to check out the Show Notes for this episode. There'll be a direct link where you can find out more information about membership to Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop because like I said, membership does have its privileges and we look forward to welcoming you to the family. So thank you so much, Marc.

Randy, thank you so much. Appreciate.

Well folks, there you have it another episode of the Coop Podcast from Ozark Natural Foods. I'm your host Randy Wilburn and we'll see you back here with another new episode soon. Peace

Thanks for tuning in to the Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop Podcast. Whether you are new to the area and looking for a healthy grocery store, or you've been here for ages but didn't know the whole story about Ozark Natural Foods, the Coop this podcast is one of the best places to start. For more information about the Coop, please visit our website at onf.coop to learn more. That's onf.coop@ozarknaturalfoods, the Coop, we mean it when we say keeping it local since 1971.