Avoiding the freshman 15 or the extra pounds put on during mid-terms could soon be easier thanks to a group of students opening a student run co-op store on campus.
Co-op organizer Jake Wellman said the store will be a place for students to get experience running a business while providing healthy food options for students.
“We see this as the type of place you can go and get fresh cauliflower,” he said. “The idea is you can go and get something healthy and fresh, something that isn’t dripping in grease or deeply fat fried like other foods in the area.”
Co-op organizer Abdullah Feroze said the idea came to him during an internship in Washington, D.C., when he stumbled upon a co-op store on George Washington University’s campus.
“It was an idea that really appealed to me, you know, the student-run-student-oriented model,” he said.
Feroze said he has since found several other campuses that have a similar co-op models geared toward healthy cost-effective food options.
Wellman said once the group heard that the Zia Juice location next to the bookstore would soon be available, he knew it would be the perfect location for the store. Wellman said the group hopes to have the store opened by Jan. 2011.
“I think it is a perfect opportunity and a perfect venue to promote healthy eating on campus,” he said.
Wellman said he plans to work with the Anderson School of Management, and students who work at the store can earn class credit. He said students will decide the store’s inventory, its cost and what do to with revune and business management.
The group said they estimate the store will cost about $5,000 to start and is likely be funded by the Anderson Foundation.
The organizers plans to begin community outreach to find out what students want to be sold in the store, Wellman said.
“The primary focus is getting a lot of people interested and getting their opinions and making something that students, faculty and staff are really happy with and excited about,” he said.
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Wellman said they also want to include sustainability principles, like having local foods in the store.
“We want local foods that are grown by farmers in Albuquerque, or even on campus at the Lobo gardens,” he said. “We want to pair with organizations around the community like La Montañita Co-op.”
Wellman said the store idea received support from other food establishments on campus.
“We have worked with the SUB Building Board, and they have given us their full support,” he said. “And Chartwell has also given us support and been very helpful in working with us.”
Co-op organizer David Medrano said he is unsure of how much it will cost to start the store, but the group will work to keep costs low.
“We are looking at as minimum cost as possible, because to stay true to our goal of being cost-friendly to students, we have to keep our costs as low as possible,” he said.
