Founder of Sugar Beet Cheryl Muñoz, Senator Don Harmen, Mayor of Oak Park Anan Abu-Taleb, CCLF’s COO and VP of Programs Robert Tucker and Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin at the ribbon cutting for Sugar Beet on August 14th
Sugar Beet Food Co-op opened its doors this summer, making it one of the first food co-ops in the Chicagoland area. The Oak Park River Forest Community attended both an opening reception and a grand opening weekend full of events, from a ribbon cutting to cooking demonstrations. The opening reception featured acknowledgements and celebratory toasts by Cheryl Muñoz, the founder of Sugar Beet; Chris Roland, the Co-op’s General Manager; Peter Nolan, the Vice President of the Co-op’s Board and many others.
During the ribbon cutting, CCLF’s COO and Vice President of Programs Robert Tucker joined Founder Cheryl Muñoz and local politicians in celebrating the official opening of Sugar Beet. Tucker serves on the Village Board of Trustees along with Oak Park’s Mayor Anan Abu-Taleb, who remarked on how the Co-op shows a true partnership between the private and public spheres. It was financed by the Village of Oak Park with Tax Increment Financing (TIF) funding, the Community Bank of Oak Park River Forest, over 1,200 individuals who are now owners and the non-profit organizations Shared Capital Cooperative and the Sustainable Local Food Investment Group (SLoFIG). CCLF also closed a loan of $640,000 for the Co-op in the fourth quarter.
Clockwise from top left: CCLF’s Director of Portfolio Management, Lycrecia Parks, checks out Sugar Beet’s produce; Founder Cheryl Muñoz speaks at the Co-ops Opening Reception; a wall of the Co-op adorned with its owners’ names; a worker at Sugar Beet’s cafe prepares locally roasted coffee for new customers
Located in Oak Park, Sugar Beet offers its community healthy food options and an innovative business opportunity. The founders have worked hard to make it a one-stop grocery store for the convenience of those in the community, stocking shelves with local, organic and sustainable products of all kinds, from produce to body care products. Tom Hollinden, the Board President, remarked that the Co-op was developed “from a simple idea – that everyone deserves to have fresh food at good prices while knowing how and where their food is grown.”
Sugar Beet is exactly the type of social enterprise that CCLF is looking to finance as part of its Strategic Plan. Sugar Beet circulates money back into surrounding communities by purchasing as many local products as it can. It also offers a unique cooperative business model to residents in the area. These factors combine to make Sugar Beet an ideal partner for CCLF, one that is focused on meeting the needs of its community and involving them in that process.