More than 200 owners attended WSM’s second annual Co-op Fair at the Food House in Hillsborough. This year’s fair featured Food House tours with demonstrations from chefs and bakers. Owners visited with Board members about the co-op’s long-term plans and sampled new local products on the Food House patio.
Owners attending the fair were given a map to guide them through a maze of stations setup throughout the 27,000-square foot facility. For many owners this was their first visit to the facility, which houses a commercial kitchen, a sushi kitchen, a meat-processing facility, bread and pastry bakeries, and warehousing facilities.
Food House Demonstrations “Put a Face on WSM-Made Products”
Owners started with a tour of the Food House kitchen where WSM’s prepared foods are made for the hot bar, salad bar, and the grab ‘n go case. Several owners told us they had no idea how large the facility was nor the scale of the production.
The kitchen chefs sampled new products and showed owners some of the specialized equipment used for smoking and chilling prepared foods. Owners gave a big thumbs up for a new sriracha tofu recipe being developed for the hot bar.
The sushi station was a favorite stop on the tour. Many owners did not realize that our sushi is made in house daily. WSM has had a long-standing partnership with Sujin Sushi for 11 years. Last year we sold over 64,000 packages of sushi!
Bread bakers demonstrated to curious owners the multi-stage process of making WSM bagels, which includes boiling and baking the bagels. Owners were the first to sample the new softer bagels, which are now available in the stores. (Learn more about the bagels on our blog, here.)
Fresh baked pies from WSM’s award-winning pastry bakery awaited owners at the last stop on the tour. Pastry bakers tempted owners with samples of WSM’s Chocolate Cream, Cherry, and Vegan Apple Pies. Owners eagerly accepted to-go boxes of pies to take home.
Local Producers Greet Owners with Delicious New Products to Taste
The Food House patio garden provided a welcoming setting for owners to relax and enjoy sampling the latest products from new and favorite local producers.
Owners sampled fair trade wines from La Riojana Winery, a sister co-op in northwest Argentina. Walter and Marcos Carol, who were visiting the states from the winery, poured the wines and answered questions. WSM has been instrumental in bringing the co-op’s wines to the United States. Owners tasted three of the wines currently being sold under the Riojana label—a Malbec, Chardonnay, and Cabernet. (Learn more about La Riojana in this video on our blog, here.)
WSM’s award-winning bakery sampled its new rye bread—the first WSM bread to use only flour from grains grown in the Southeast and milled in North Carolina. All WSM breads use locally milled, organic flour.
Owners also met bakers from two local gluten-free bakeries and sampled their made-from-scratch products.
Bakers from Imagine That talked to owners about their all natural gluten-free breads, which WSM has carried since March. WSM sells more than 120 freshly baked loaves of Imagine That bread each week, with Hearty Grain, Country Sunflower, Classic White, and Millet Flax as favorites.
JP’s Pastry sampled their seasonal gluten-free pastries and talked to owners about the growing demand for gluten-free pastries. WSM recently started carrying a variety of the delicious gluten-free pastries, which can be found at the coffee bars in the store. For the fall, JP’s is making Pumpkin Bread, Sweet Potato Cupcakes, and Apple Muffins.
The tastings also included JuVn8 100% fruit smoothies featuring North Carolina berries and muscadines from Cottle Farms, bottled on the farm by the Cottle family; tempeh pate made in Hillsborough with organic North Carolina soybeans, from Tempeh Girl; and craft beer from our Food House neighbor, Mystery Brewery.
Owners Learn about the Co-op Plan through Poster Exhibit
Owners also interacted with Board members while perusing the poster exhibits about the co-op’s plans for 2016 and our progress toward the 2020 goals. The poster exhibits will be available on the website soon.