There’s more to the New Deal’s new deal than meets the eye. One can, perhaps, take for granted that two cooperatives cooperating confers the square of the benefit from just one cooperative operating alone. In fact, however, the realities are, if that’s possible, even more intriguing. The new Café venture is not just a feel-good thing but a solid business proposition designed to cut both ways and benefit both the Greenbelt Co-op Supermarket and Pharmacy and the New Deal Café as they set out on this adventure together. Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment.
The Co-op grocery store has significant buying power for ingredients and disposables that results in discounts far beyond the scale of those accessible to the New Deal’s food service alone. The additional cups, coffee, bagels, sugar, milk, vegetables and meat for food service are merely an increment to what the Co-op already buys – resulting in lower costs for operations and more potential profit for all. The Co-op has deep refrigerator pockets.
Transparency
The Café’s operation will be run as a separate cost center for the Co-op, so for the accounting-minded, just like the deli, the pharmacy and the beer and wine, tallies of how well the Café does are kept separate and visible, so Co-op members can have transparency into how well the food service venture is going in contrast to the past when the food operations were privately run.
The New Deal benefits from a food service provider that is nearby and cost effective with ready access to discounted supplies. The Co-op benefits from additional revenue opportunities. But there’s more to the story than that.
Prepared Synergy
The grocery store industry has moved in the past few years, and even more so during the pandemic, to prepared foods. Patrons of the Co-op may have noticed its evolving meal deals: meatless Monday, chicken Wednesdays and Friday salmon. General Manager Dan Gillotte, who is clearly enthusiastic about the opportunities for the Café and store together, said that they are now serving about 50 to 60 meals on each meal deal day, up from about five per week on the weekly chicken special before his arrival in early 2020.
But the Co-op’s own ability to create a wider variety of take-out prepared food options is limited by its kitchen capability. Co-op itself can only bake, but with access to the more sophisticated New Deal kitchen, they will presumably be able to broil, boil and braise; simmer, smoke, stew, sauté and sous-vide; desiccate and deep-fry to create a wide variety of options to serve in the Café or sell from the store. Take that, Whole Foods.
Gillotte has a vision for the Café’s food service and how it links to the grocery store. With a daytime menu that serves great coffee, espresso, drip and cold brew and fresh bagels with toppings, he envisages a lunch offering that includes protein bowls with a mix and match potpourri of grains, vegetables and a protein. In its first few weeks of operation, dinner options will be a few classic favorites, American comfort foods but with healthy options: ribs, chicken, salmon, mac’n’cheese and lasagna, for example, but will broaden further as the kitchen picks up to warp speed. And did you know that the Co-op already bakes its own croissants?
Gillotte characterizes the food as “tastes good and good value” and uses a designation current with the food industry called Fast Casual. This means nothing fancified or over-blown and shows up PDQ. Michelin stars not sought.
Back Off, Bezos & Branson
A quick nose round in the Café revealed a place almost ready to launch. The computerized till is up and running, a space-age espresso machine with its very own grinder and a whopper of a drip machine are poised for action – blue LEDs signifying readiness. A modern and sleek paint job on the walls juxtaposes a very light cream with a restfully, soft seal gray to provide a serene ambience and the tables, chairs and sofas look inviting.
The coffee beans have arrived and there’s frozen fruit ready for smoothies.
Beam Greenbelt Up, Scotty.