November 2017

MEET...
... Chris Maher, general
manager of BriarPatch
Chris Maher is general manager of BriarPatch, a consumer-owned retail food
co-op in California and Nevada County’s first commercial building certified by
the US Green Building Council’s LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design program. In addition, he is vice president of National Co+op Grocers,
which is a business service co-operative for 148 food co-ops with combined
annual sales of nearly $2.1 billion. We caught up with him at NCBA’s Co-op
Impact conference in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE
CO-OPERATIVE SECTOR?
u Clockwise, from
top left: BriarPatch’s
eco-friendly store; dairy
products in the store; the
solar panels, which
power BriarPatch
My background was in food service. I was a
professional chef and I got into food co-ops because
of the food – learning about new food, wanting to
get the highest quality of food. When I started to
work in the co-op for the first time I realised that
the whole model itself – structure, ownership and
the attention to the social mission – as well as the
financial success of the business, was something
that really resonated with me personally and, once I
started, I just wanted more of it.
WHAT DOES A REGULAR WORKING DAY LOOK LIKE?
It really varies. It’s a retail operation we see about
3,000 customers come through our store each day,
which brings a whole variety of activities. It can
range from working on the floor and interacting with
customers and staff to participating in meetings with
our management teams and our board of directors.
I do work that’s strategic to help guide the mission
of the co-op and I also work with the various teams
in the co-op to implement systems to make sure that
the business is run efficiently.
WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT THE JOB?
I love interacting with people – having such a wide
variety of people who are part of the co-op is the
thing I find the most inspiring. We have connections
with our community, we support a lot of the nonprofits
and community missions in our area.
AND THE HARDEST?
What’s difficult is that the food industry in the
USA is incredibly competitive. Amazon has bought
Whole Foods, which is likely to be a game changer.
We are seeing a lot of pressure on price. Customers
are hearing a lot of different mixed messages about
the quality of their food, from genetically modified
“SINCE THE RECESSION THERE
HAS BEEN AN INCREASED LEVEL
OF INTEREST IN CO-OPS
20 | NOVEMBER 2017