BATTLE CREEK, MI — A seed planted 15 years ago on a snowy winter evening has sprouted into Battle Creek’s first food co-op.

Known as Uproot Market and Eatery, the member-owned business is scheduled for a late September opening, says Stacy Niemann, General Manager of Uproot. An official date has not been announced because she says some logistical and construction pieces need to be completed.

When the doors do open, the co-op will be filling a void and the stomachs of all residents in Calhoun County and neighboring communities, with an emphasis on the word “all.” The location of Uproot at 119 W. Michigan Avenue was intentionally chosen to serve underserved communities living nearby.

“It’s right on the bus line, which will help people who don’t have cars and can’t get out to Beckley Road,” Niemann says. “What we’re filling in is a food desert area.”

The Co-op will accept EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer), and Niemann says they are looking into any WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) items Uproot might be able to carry.

John GrapStacy Niemann is the General Manager of Uproot Market and Eatery in downtown Battle Creek.“We will have things in every price range to meet the community where they’re at and make things as affordable as possible,” she says.

Uproot is offering lifetime memberships for $200. So far, 350 memberships have been purchased.

“For this community, that’s really good. We would love 1,000 members,” says Adam Dingwall, President of Uproot's Board of Directors. “We had some people give more than the $200 membership fee and make sizable donations.”

He says he wants to see a downtown food retail establishment that is sustainable.

“If we’re not providing to the community what it needs and wants, we’re not going to make it, and the doors are going to shut.”

John GrapUproot Market and Eatery is located at 119 West Michigan Avenue in downtown BattleMembers get discounts and perks. 

Niemann says members also will receive a 20 percent discount on orders filled by the case. She says the biggest non-monetary benefit is having a say in how the store is run.

However, people won’t have to be members to shop at Uproot.

“The store is open to everybody,” says Jeremy Andrews, Chief Excitement Officer (CExO) for Sprout, which birthed Uproot. “Members get certain perks, but we will have very low-margin staple items for better food access for the surrounding neighborhoods and high-margin items for customers who are more affluent.”
Andrews has been and remains a member of five different co-ops, including one in Lansing, since 2002. 

“A lot of think customers of food co-ops represent a crunchy granola and hippie lifestyle. Co-ops are really just a business, a collective of people using their buying power to get what they want. In co-ops, there’s a broad spectrum of political beliefs, but everybody cares about where their food’s coming from, and it’s not a ‘left’ or ‘right’ thing.”

John GrapEmpty shelves and spaces in the Uproot Market will soon be filled with foodstuffs.Niemann agrees that people love knowing where their food comes from. The fruits and vegetables, and the majority of other items at Uproot, will be locally grown or produced, many within a 30-mile radius.

Sensory Farms in Union City, Crisp Country Acres out of Holland, Fontana Farms in the Union City/East Leroy areas, and Willow Oak Micro-Farm and Orchard in Battle Creek are among the growers Uproot is working with. 

Niemann says they will also feature vendors from the Battle Creek Farmer’s Market. The hyper-local growers will be providing foods unique to Uproot.

Non-perishable, shelf-stable items will be supplied by KeHe, which has a nationwide network of bulk distributors providing specialty, organic, natural, and fresh food items. Van Eerden, a Grand Rapids-based food distributor, will supply produce to fill in gaps.

John GrapEmpty shelves and spaces in the Uproot Market will soon be filled with foodstuffs.“We will have national organic brands throughout the store and a lot of Michigan products,” Andrews says. “There will be fruit that doesn’t grow in Michigan. It will all be as clean as possible and as organic as possible.”

“One of the biggest things I know people are excited about is the vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options we’ll have,” Niemann says.

Plenty of options for healthy eating

In addition to shelves stocked with fresh and healthy food options, Uproot will offer coffee, Grab 'n' Go lunches, Take & Bake dinners, a hot food bar with two entrée choices each day, smoothies, salads, and fresh-pressed juices. Many of these items will be available in the co-op’s café area. There will be limited seating inside, with plans for outdoor seating on the banks of the Battle Creek River.

“The hope is that employees who work at businesses downtown, students from Battle Creek Central High School, and residents from throughout Calhoun County and neighboring communities will grab lunch or snacks or drinks there,” Dingwall says.

When Horrocks relocated to the Lakeview Square Mall from its downtown location in early 2023, residents of all socioeconomic circumstances living nearby lost their grocery store, Dingwall says.

John GrapLooking out from two windows inside the Uproot Market and Eatery toward West Michigan Avenue“The reason why we located where we did is that it’s accessible to people in a lot of underserved neighborhoods and those within walking distance to Uproot who have not had access to fresh food,” he says.

Niemann says she anticipates that the café offerings will be the most in-demand, followed by the produce section and the bulk food section. Demand from the community will drive the products carried.

“No one person decided where our things come from,” Andrews says.

The lead-up to Uproot

Battle Creek’s first food co-op was the result of a gathering of community members brought together by Andrews to talk about what they wanted in a local food system. He founded Sprout after moving back from East Lansing in 2004. While there, he was the cheese buyer and deli manager for a food co-op.

John GrapLooking out from two windows inside the Uproot Market and Eatery toward West Michigan Avenue“That’s where I learned where food and community collide,” he says. “When I came back home, I saw that we lacked a developed food system. We had a farmers’ market and defunct community gardens. We didn’t really have anything to show as far as organization.”

Earlier travels throughout the United States and internationally had already exposed him to the many benefits of food co-ops. In 2019, the Sprout team began to solidify its plans for Uproot.

The $2 million cost of developing the co-op was covered with $1 million in loans, including from the Battle Creek Community Foundation, LISC, and Fair Food Network. One million dollars in grants from Battle Creek Unlimited, the Feldpausch Foundation, the Miller Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Bronson Battle Creek Community Health Partners.

John GrapUproot Market and Eatery is located at 119 West Michigan Avenue in downtown BattleUproot will occupy 4,500 square feet of space on the main floor of a four-story building developed by Cody and Caitlynn Newman, owners of Restore 269, a building restoration and development company. The remaining floors house six to eight apartments.

“This is a labor of love,” Andrews says of Uproot. “It’s no longer Sprout’s, it is the community’s now.”

This story is part of Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative’s coverage of equitable community development. SWMJC is a group of 12 regional organizations dedicated to strengthening local journalism. Visit swmichjournalism.com to learn more.