Great Harvest Bread Company, at Oak Park Avenue and Lake Street, may close by year’s end, and the local Farmers’ Market might be to blame.
That was the message two-year owner Cathy Yen delivered to the Oak Park Farmers’ Market Commission last week at its monthly meeting.
With the market deciding to include a bread baker this year-the Chicago-based Red Hen Bread-Yen claims it has led to a direct decline in sales at Great Harvest. She had to lay off an employee to offset some of her losses.
“We’ll shut down shortly if we don’t sell bread,” Yen said at the meeting. “Right now we don’t sell bread because they buy it at the market, and it’s that simple.
“We won’t be around in the winter because a full third of our sales on Saturdays now go to a Lincoln Park-based bakery that neither grows their stuff, nor supports our community. That’s my reality.”
Yen wants to take part in the market, saying she had discussions with previous commissioners last year who told her Great Harvest could not be included because it’s a “grower’s market only.” She was told her application would not be heard if she didn’t grow the wheat used in her bread, she said.
The commission said including Great Harvest this season is unlikely for a number of reasons: Space is limited, all vendors have a contract till the end of the year, and the commission prefers that retail vendors-Great Harvest is a franchise-are not included in the market.
The market also prefers vendors who grow their own ingredients, as stated in the language of an ordinance. However, some Oak Park retailers are upset that four sellers were included in the market despite the fact that they don’t farm their supplies. Red Hen is one example.
Value added
This past February, the market’s commission was forced to make a decision: kick out three vendors that didn’t meet requirements-The Cheese People, Herbally Yours and Scotch Hill Farms-or change the rules.
The three businesses were allowed to enter the market by previous commissions, despite not farming any of their products, but since they had been a part of the market for years, the new commission wanted to keep them.
So a new “value added” category for the three vendors was created because their products are naturally made and seem to complement the farm products provided by the market.
The commission discussed adding a fourth value vendor, deciding that bread was a product needed in their market mix.
According to Market Manager Meredith Conn, the process was unorganized and hectic, with certain growers backing out or jumping back in at the last minute and the commission was unable to get a precise gauge on how many spots were open. Golden Rise, formerly of Oak Park, was the first bread choice, but the owner had to relocate from its Oak Park location and the arrangement fell through.
Seven Generations Ahead-a non-profit organization fighting for healthier foods for children-suggested a few bread places it felt were “highly qualified as far as health and nutrition”: Crest for Bread and Red Hen, both small-batch artisan bakeries.
Crest for Bread backed out May 31, two days before the market started, because the owner worried he couldn’t produce enough bread to meet the market’s demands, Conn said. So the commission made a last-minute decision to go with Red Hen.
The value added category was limited to four vendors, or 12 percent of the market, to retain its current makeup.
“This is still very much a growers’ market, and we wanted to keep it a growers’ market,” Conn said. “We didn’t want to turn it into a French market or a flea market or an arts and craft show.”
Conn said the commission was put in a tough position, having to choose a vendor under time constraints. She said the market receives hundreds of calls from vendors year-round trying to enter the market, selling anything from organic dog food to arts and crafts. With limited space, it’s impossible to give everyone a chance.
“This is a really big farmers’ market,” she said. “Oak Park is one of the best markets in the Midwest. It’s very well known. It’s very well established. It’s a very busy market, so people wait in line to get in. We’ve never really had to look for anyone; they’re waiting at our doorstep.”
It’s unlikely that any new vendors will be added this season because all 26 have signed a one-year contract and space constraints keep the makeup of the market in place for now. However, it’s possible that a vendor might drop out or things could change next season. Conn said Great Harvest’s previous owner participated in the market several years ago.
Others upset
Yen is upset that she was never informed that the value added category was created, especially since she solicited previous commissions to give her a spot. She was convinced bakers who didn’t grow their own wheat would not be given a chance.
The situation was made worse when she’d go to the market and see a Chicago breadmaker taking all her business. She said she feels slighted by the community and its “conflicting agendas.”
“Where is the next village commission that’s going to create some other barrier for me?” she said.
Yen acknowledged that letting Great Harvest into the market might open up more conflicts.
“If you let me in as piecemeal, I can name five other [local] merchants who are going to have a fit,” she said. “We’re going to have a merchant uproar that a Lincoln Park-based business that doesn’t grow their stuff got let in, and they didn’t get notified.”
One merchant who wants in is Eric Larson, owner of the Marion Street Cheese Market.
He has been working at a table for a goat cheese farmer whose products he sells at his shop but would prefer to have his own station.
“Based on how I read the ordinance, I should’ve been able to apply for a booth on my own because I sell farm products that are organic in nature and locally made,” Larson said. “I think a local retailer should be given the opportunity.”
Oak Park Business Services Manager Loretta Daly was at last week’s meeting asking that Great Harvest and other local businesses be given consideration to participate. Village Trustee Ray Johnson agreed, saying you can get a lot of the products at the market in many local stores.
“Are we providing an opportunity for local merchants to participate at the same level as others?” he asked.
Some on the commission said that adding local retailers to the market would take away its uniqueness and draw. They also said the market has been in Oak Park for over 30 years and grocery stores or flower shops have never complained.
“People can walk down the street and get bread anytime,” Commissioner Barbara Power said. “Local vendors will kill the market.”
“Kathy Yen is only three blocks up the street from the market,” Conn said. “I don’t think that this market and having a bread vendor at this market that sells very different products than she does is going to put her out of business. That just is really laughable to me.”
The commission brainstormed ways for local businesses to get involved, maybe through passing out coupons, doing food demos at the market, or sharing booths with similar retailers.
Conn speculated that the market does help business by getting people out of bed on Saturday, bringing them to Lake Street and maybe forcing them to wander downtown.
What about the farmers?
Conn asked what about the flip side: the small farmers who are getting eaten up by corporations and need the market to survive? She said it’s important they’re kept in mind when drafting the value added ordinance. She said chains and retail businesses won’t be the focus.
“It’s going to be focused on small, independently-owned family businesses that serve as an accessory to our farmers and what they have to bring for us,” she said.
Steve Owens, growers liaison and a farmer who has participated in the market since its inception, worries that too much local involvement and value additions will “destroy the market.”
“I’d hate to see local people pre-empt farmers under the guise that they have a right to be at this market.”
He talked about French markets that have gotten out of hand in other towns and turned the market into something else.
“Slowly, you can get away from what made you great,” he said.