February 8, 2021 at 12:12 p.m.
Lake Country Foods Co-Op moves to Davenport Street
Local buying club offers members healthy, organic foods
Lake Country Foods Co-Op moves to Davenport Street
By Stephanie Kuski-
Locals Nancy White and Carole Hansen have been involved in the effort for several decades. It started off in 1978 as a group of friends who banded together with the purpose of living healthier lives. Although their pick-up location has changed several times over the years, their mission hasn't.
At its inception, a small group of locals would meet each other in their homes or garages to exchange bulk orders of organic, healthy food.
"We had probably about six people that would get together over at another member's house and they would get the orders together," White recalled. "Everything was paper and pencil."
But over the years, Lake Country Foods has also occupied several storefronts in Rhinelander: on Brown Street across from Forth Floral, on Rives Street behind the former Onson's Inn and most recently at their previous location on Thayer Street, which the co-op had been located for the last 14 years.
Now the group serves approximately 65 members and orders from several co-op distributors such as Frontier Foods, Country Life Natural Foods and UNFI, among others. Since the beginning, the group has only advertised through word-of-mouth.
Lake Country Foods is membership-owned and only members may purchase and order products. Members pay an annual membership fee in addition to a 15% markup on the products they purchase in order to sustain the cooperative, which White referred to as a "buying club."
"A buying club is just a group of people that get together, then they order in bulk and divide it among people... But I really think ours is different," White explained. "We're very unusual because most buying clubs do not have a storefront."
Although their brick-and-mortar store does not carry too many products, members can order from a variety of distributor catalogues to purchase a diverse array of items. Every other Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m., members can pick up their ready-to-go orders and receive a new order form for their next pick-up.
Lake Country Foods offers a medley of organic and bulk items for members to choose from, including an assortment of spices, coffee, tea, condiments, nuts, dried fruit, personal items and so much more. Because many of these items are purchased in bulk, members get a better price and can choose how much of a particular product they would like to purchase.
For example, the co-op sells different spices by the ounce, so if you were looking for an obscure spice you only needed for one recipe, you could buy it in a smaller quantity at the co-op rather than purchasing an entire container at a supermarket.
The co-op is also completely run by volunteers like White and Hansen. When asked what drives the duo to continue Lake Country Food's mission after all these years, Hansen noted that the quality, freshness and price of the products available is hard to beat.
White also noted that staying active in the community and providing healthy food for her family has always been important to her.
"I was a (home economics) major in college," White explained. "My favorite subject was nutrition; I loved that class. I continued studying it my whole life."
"I have six children and I was concerned about their health when they were young," she continued. "We didn't have insurance, because you didn't back then... So I knew it was important to take care of their health."
Now with 36 grandchildren and 46 great-grandchildren, White continues to provide nutritious food not only to her family, but to locals across the Northwoods. White had only been in Rhinelander for two years when she became involved with the co-op at its inception in the late '70s and hasn't looked back since. She volunteers as the ordering coordinator and works with other steadfast members of their group on pick-up days.
White and Hansen said they are excited about their new location on Davenport Street and welcome new members to join. Those interested in learning more are encouraged to visit Lake Country Foods Co-Op on their pick-up days to ask questions and see what it's all about. Their pick-up dates in February are from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9 and Feb. 23.
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