The Cochrane CookHouse will celebrate the one-year anniversary of the opening of its artisan market on Dec. 16.
But instead of looking at all that’s been accomplished in the past 12 months, CookHouse coordinator Tara Anderson’s sights are focused on the future.
“There is definitely room for more growth,” said Anderson. “About a year ago, this was all just an idea. Now, it’s working and running. And it’s more than just running, it’s getting bigger.”
Originally, the vision for the community-based initiative aimed to support small and home-based businesses, develop a variety of social programs and workshops, and create a venue for the community to come together.
“Much of our original vision has remained the same,” said Susan Flowers, manager of the Family and Community Support Services of Cochrane and Social Planning. “The feedback, for the most part, has been really good...It’s taken people a little while to wrap their head around it, but they are interested in what we have going on.”
Despite the positive feedback, Flowers said running the Cochrane Cookhouse hasn’t been without hardships.
“One of our biggest challenges is making money,” she said. “It takes any small business a few years to break even. But in the last year we’ve had lots of support from the community and groups like the Activettes and the Lions Club.”
The innovative community kitchen opened a few months after the storefront opened to the public. Now, Anderson said the CookHouse has about 20 vendors renting out shelf space in the market and the kitchen is rented out daily. She listed Twisted Basil Food Group as the storefront’s top-selling food vendor.
“We grew a lot more quickly than we thought — we’re still looking for a dishwasher,” she said with a laugh. “I think there is a lot more opportunity for what we want to do and what we can do. We have so many ideas.”
One of those ideas is the concept of a “good food box,” Anderson said. People can order a box full of fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables from local farmers. This box will be offered at a lower cost than you would get elsewhere, she added.
In addition to the food box, Anderson said the CookHouse hopes to get regularly scheduled collective cooking groups underway, as well as to implement additional social programming to increase food security in the community.
