Green Top Grocery 2024: It All Comes Together at Green Top Grocery. Eat Well! Do Good!

In a world where the quality of our food and the strength of our communities are becoming increasingly intertwined, Green Top Grocery stands out as a beacon of hope and sustainability. At the heart of this remarkable grocery store is Mary O'Meara, the dynamic Marketing and POS Coordinator who plays a pivotal role in connecting families with fresh, delicious food and fostering a sense of community. Green Top Grocery isn't just about filling your pantry; it's about nourishing your family, discovering the rich tapestry of local foods, and building lasting connections with those around you. Join Delivery Rank as we delve into the inspiring mission of Green Top Grocery and explore how Mary O'Meara is helping to create a healthier, more vibrant community where eating well and doing good go hand in hand.

How does Green Top Grocery foster a sense of community among its customers and local suppliers?

When your staff, customers, and local suppliers are active community members, it's easy to foster strong connections. The same faces we see in stores every week, we see shopping and vending at the weekend Farmers Market downtown, and out and about at other town events creating a sense of familiarity and trust. Our community members actively support us, local farmers, and other businesses in town, forming a strong network of mutual support.

In our store, we seek to connect customers to producers by hanging informational posters about the farmers who supply us with milk, grains, produce, and more. These posters tell the stories of the hardworking individuals behind the products, giving a personal touch to our offerings. Local goods are specially tagged on our shelves, making it easy for customers to identify and choose them. We frequently highlight these items, emphasizing their importance and the unique qualities they bring to our store. Our appreciation for these local goods translates into customer appreciation, as they feel a deeper connection to the products they purchase.

We've hosted farmers' markets in our parking lot, bringing customers and suppliers together in a vibrant, community-oriented setting. These events allow our customers to meet the people who produce their food, fostering those relationships. We also attend events for local businesses, showing our support and strengthening our ties within the community. By inviting local makers to sample their goods in-store, we provide a platform for them to reach new customers and receive valuable feedback.

Even when our customers aren’t in the store, we keep them connected to producers through social media posts where they can see what farmers are growing, which local coffee is being restocked, and learn more about them.

What unique marketing strategies have you implemented to highlight Green Top Grocery's commitment to local foods and community building?

In the grand scheme of marketing strategies, we keep it pretty simple, opting for organic content, views, and growth because our audience connects well with that. – and let’s face it we are a small business with no grand marketing team!

We highlight the best parts of our store and have a very organic personal touch. You will see farmers, staff, and even customers all over our social media because these are familiar and personable faces, and their products are from just down the street. We regularly shout out local products, tag the companies, and share stories, and pictures, about the people behind them. 

When we run larger ads beyond our social platforms, we often spotlight specific farms we source from. This approach not only helps get our name out there but also promotes local producers. By marketing these local farms, we create a mutually beneficial relationship that strengthens both their business and ours, fostering community building.

How do you engage customers in the mission of Green Top Grocery, encouraging them to "Eat well. Do good."?

We are a Co-op, meaning we are owned by the community, today we have over 2,500 owners (and anyone can become one!). Our presence today is thanks to the earliest owners who founded this mission because they believed in creating a space where it could thrive. 

Every time someone shops here, they have the opportunity to Eat Well and Do Good. This principle is at the core of everything we do. It drives the products we offer, which has resulted in over $4 million purchased from local producers that goes directly back into the local economy. This mission is why we only offer paper bags – to cut down on plastic waste, and why we have our Round-Up at the Register Program. When your total doesn’t come to an even dollar, you have the opportunity, in every transaction, to donate the change to a local organization. Last year alone, this program raised $21,000 that went directly to organizations in our community. By simply shopping here, you support these do-good practices, and more. While typical grocers generate large amounts of food waste, our goal is to mitigate that. Through partnerships with multiple organizations, we have several systems in place to ensure food doesn’t go to waste. We compost food scraps, donate to the local food bank, offer discount food boxes through Flash Foods, and more.

You can make a positive impact directly through donations or indirectly by simply supporting our store. Your patronage helps us champion eco-friendly practices, sustainability, and the local economy. Every time you shop here you will Eat Well. Do Good!

What initiatives or programs does Green Top Grocery offer to educate customers about the benefits of fresh, local foods?

Currently, the majority of our educational content is accessible online. We spotlight this information on our website and through social media posts, reaching over 12,000 followers across various platforms.

We are also working with owners, chefs, and educators alike to launch classes in our Teaching Kitchen, a space created to do just that! Before COVID you could attend classes with local producers to learn about them, their products, and the benefits of great foods. We have brought back cooking classes from third-party organizations, and now we are turning towards Green Top events, and hope to launch them in the coming weeks. This will magnify the education we provide to the customers.

How do you curate the product selection to ensure it meets the diverse needs and preferences of your community?

It's all about listening to our customers—they know what they want and are eager to share. The early owners of our co-op created this storefront for healthy foods, emphasizing local products. We understood their needs and collaborated with them, farmers, and prominent industry figures to fine-tune every detail. 

Fortunately, our grocery co-op community is tightly knit, and we're lucky to have incredible figures right here in Bloomington, and surrounding areas like Chicago and Champaign. They've played a crucial role in offering product insights, performance evaluations, and sharing personal experiences from their stores.

Lastly, we lead by example at Green Top Grocery! Our dedicated staff passionately embraces our mission, attracting team members who share our vision. This means team members understand our customers' needs because we're all united in our commitment to promote healthy eating and create positive change.

To read more about Green Top Grocery, please visit https://greentopgrocery.com/