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BURLINGTON -- A small group of friends gathered at Don and Jan Henry's home one Sunday afternoon for hors d'ouvres, wine and a lesson in local foods.

While nibbling on locally made cheeses and figs from a guest's backyard, they learned of the benefits of purchasing food from nearby farms. Although their community doesn't yet have a food co-operative, that's about to change.

A small group of civic and business leaders in Alamance County are working to start a grocery co-operative there. The gathering at the Henry's home was one of several informal "house parties" they've organized this spring to inform people about their efforts — and recruit members.

The Alamance co-op, to be called Company Shops Market, will be modeled after Chatham Marketplace, a co-op grocery that opened two years ago in Pittsboro. Plans, however, call for the Alamance store to be twice as large as the 6,000 square-foot Chatham Marketplace.

A co-op grocery is a community-owned grocery store that carries local, organic and sustainably produced foods. Owners get discounts and can run or vote for positions on the board of directors.

Company Shops Market currently consists of a seven-member board of directors and a project manager. National consultants also are advising them.

They aim to carry produce, grocery, dairy, meat and frozen food items, as well as body-care products and locally produced wine and beer. And like neighboring Chatham Marketplace and Carrboro's Weaver Street Market, they also want to offer fresh sushi, a deli and organic coffee and salad bars. And they want to carry as many North Carolina products as they can.

Market roots

Conversations about a Burlington co-op started about four years ago with the Henry's son, Eric, and local farmers Sam Moore and Charlie Sydnor.

They first talked about the lack of farmers' markets in Burlington, then went on to discuss the possibility of a place — like Weaver Street Market — that sold local organic foods all year.

Eric Henry likes how food co-ops can create a community gathering place. He wants his neighbors to spend their money in Alamance County, not Carrboro. Food co-ops also keep local farmers and ranchers in business. And that appeals to former textile-manufacturer-turned-farmer Moore and opthamologist and rancher Sydnor.

The men met Melissa Frey, who talked about her work in trying to open Chatham Marketplace. She volunteered at Weaver Street Market for a number of years before her involvement with the Chatham project.

Although Weaver Street was just 15 miles from her Pittsboro home, Frey felt that her town could also support a co-op. There's been significant residential growth in Chatham County in recent years, and Frey knew many like-minded people who would support a local co-op.

A couple of years passed without much progress in Alamance. Then Chatham Marketplace opened, and Henry, Moore and Sydnor reconnected with Frey. They each contributed money to hire her to manage the project and they established a board of directors.

What's ahead

Their main goals this year: to sell ownership shares and secure a location.

Since last September, they've sold more than 400 shares and want to increase that to 1,750 before to the store's opening. If all goes according to schedule, they hope to get a space by next year and to be in operation by fall 2009. Burlington Outlet Village and downtown Burlington are possible locations.

One of the consultants helping them is Bill Gessner of the Minneapolis-based Cooperative Development Services , which specializes in helping co-operative businesses. Company records show there are between 250 and 300 food co-ops in the country, most of them founded in the 1970s. There are now about 150 efforts throughout the country to establish food co-ops.

"If 20 of those groups were to be successful in opening a store, I would consider that a success," Gessner says.

He cites Carrboro's Weaver Street Market, established about 20 years ago, as one of the most successful food co-operatives in the country. He also thinks that based on the successes of Greensboro's 32-year-old Deep Roots Market and the Carrboro and Pittsboro stores, the Alamance group has a good chance at success.

Board members have addressed Alamance civic and business leaders, as well as their own friends to promote their efforts. They're also spreading the word with gatherings like the one at the Henry's and potlucks at area farms.

So far, shares are selling faster for the Alamance project than they did for the Chatham project, Frey says.

"We've been very encouraged by the response for the project," Frey says.

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Company Shops Market is made up of a seven-member board of directors and a project manager. Here's what inspired some of them to get involved in the project.

Melissa Frey

Melissa Frey (pronounced Fry) didn't just help start Chatham Marketplace, she buys most of her groceries there.

She purchases all of her food at organic food co-operatives or farmers' markets. It's a lifestyle Frey adopted in her early 20s, about the time she planted her first garden. She learned more about organic and local foods through friends and her travels. She also read extensively about the economic and environmental impact associated with eating this way. It's the way she's shopped for the past 15 years.

Though it's hard to always eat locally grown foods, she opts for products that were grown closest to her. At Chatham Marketplace, signs inform consumers where the produce was grown. Given a choice, Frey will choose the apple from Maine over one from New Zealand.

It can cost more to eat foods that are organic and free-range. A dozen eggs at the supermarket may cost $1.79, while a dozen organic eggs at a co-op like Deep Roots might cost closer to $3.

But Frey, a single mom raising two children, ages 13 and 9, says almost anyone can afford to buy organic foods: "If you shop smart, it's doable for a broad economic range."

She advises consumers to watch for weekly specials; buy grains, flour and nuts in bulk; and purchase produce that's in season. Co-op volunteers also can sometimes earn a discount. Frey received a discount while volunteering at Weaver Street.

She also saves money by preparing meals at home. Frey says her children are healthier from such a diet.

"My children have never had an ear infection even, which is unheard of in this day and age," she says. "We've had to make very few visits to the doctor."

Sam Moore

Sam Moore worked for Burlington Chemical for 30 years before the company was sold in 2007.

He led the research and development department there, and was CEO for three years before its sale. At one time, Alamance County was the world's largest producer of hosiery and men's socks. But with more manufacturers moving operations overseas, it became increasingly clear that the county could no longer rely on textiles to keep it afloat. Moore and his colleagues wondered what to do next.

He turned to a lifelong hobby: farming. His grandfather had a small farm in Graham, and Moore maintained a farm while he juggled his career. He now farms full time, growing garlic, apples, cabbage and other produce on his 25-acre farm in Gibsonville.

"If your hobby is golf, you pay money, you walk around outside in a beautiful area and when you get through, you don't have a thing to eat," Moore says. "I'd just as soon be outside in a beautiful place, and when I get through, be able to sit down and have dinner."

Moore yearns for the times when — back in his grandfather's day — people ate what they, or their neighbors, grew.

"Now it's not the case. It's coming from all over the world. In question is not only the quality of the food, but food security," he says, noting recent beef recalls.

If food is produced locally, it's easier to know whom to hold accountable for it, he says. Not so if food is traveling from 15,000 miles away.

Moore also believes it's important to keep farmlands in the area. He doesn't want to see an overabundance of subdivisions taking over local farms in Alamance County.

"We're not going to be able to retain any farmland or get any young people to go into farming if there's not a place for them to sell what they do," he says.

Eric Henry

Eric and Lisa Henry love to shop at Chatham Marketplace and Weaver Street Market because they love to hang out at the food co-ops.

"For us it's as much of a social outlet as it is a shopping outlet," Eric Henry says of their weekend market visits.

Both stores feature jazz brunches on Sundays. Chatham Marketplace offers regular food and wine tastings. Weaver Street Market, which sits in Carrboro near the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, attracts shoppers of all ages and backgrounds.

The lawn in front of the store is a meeting place for everyone. College students play hackey sack and families with strollers and dogs in tow stop to chat. The Henrys always run into people they know when shopping at either place. They love the atmosphere — the sense of community spirit that these stores attract.

But this means they spend more of their food dollars outside of where they live in Alamance County. They want to change this.

They do still purchase some items at Harris Teeter or Food Lion, but they prefer to boost their local economy by supporting its local farmers. In the summer tomato season, the Henrys prefer to buy them from nearby farmers who just picked them from the vines.

"We've lost that connection to local food in our community," he says.

Henry, president of T.S. Designs, a T-shirt printing company, is even helping his employees buy into the Alamance co-op. Henry and business partner Tom Sineath will take half their economic stimulus check — about $300 each — to create $50 scholarships to help their employees purchase shares of the Company Shops Market co-op. An individual share costs $100.

About half of their staff of 30 have shares, and Henry projects that by summer it will increase to 75 percent. He hopes more people will seek ways to invest in their communities.

"When you spend your dollars locally, they have a greater multiplying effect," Henry says. "It's supporting those people living in your community, so it benefits your community."

Charlie Sydnor

Charlie Sydnor sounds like a poet when he talks about crops and cattle.

His deep voice draws you in. Your ears strain to hear every word. And the way he talks about his ranch, Braeburn Farm, paints a picture. You imagine glorious red and orange sunsets. Or sunrises.

You smell rich dirt and the coarse sun-kissed coats of cattle. You hear them shuffling against each other, and their occasional calls from one end of the pasture to the other.

And you can actually see yourself standing in the middle of Braeburn Farm. You feel the spring breeze rippling the hairs on your forearm.

Sydnor tells the group of potential Company Shops shareholders that he's "been in beef all his life."

This neuropthalmologist and rancher raises grass-fed cattle. His products are currently sold at Weaver Street Market and Chatham Marketplace, and will be available at Company Shops.

The small group of people gathered at Don and Jan Henry's Burlington home are learning how the meat from Sydnor's ranch differs from what's stocked at chain supermarkets. They balance plates of crackers and dip, while Sydnor tells them why he believes cows weren't meant to be grain-fed. Grain causes liver abcesses in cattle, which require antibiotics. Though some may argue that it's not been proved that antibiotics are found in beef, Sydnor says consumers should consider the possibilities.

His cows are grass-fed, and they roam freely. They summer in Boone and southwest Virginia, where it's cooler and more pleasant for them.

Grain-fed cattle can be ready for slaughter in about 16 months. Sydnor's cattle aren't ready for about two years. This costs him more, and in turn, generates a higher price for his product.

But in the end, Sydnor promises that his cows are healthier and happier than those raised in feedlots. And those who buy his products vouch that they taste better.

Sydnor will host a gourmet dinner at his farm May 17 to benefit Company Shops. Chefs from area fine-dining restaurants will create a meal made with organic, locally raised products. Sydnor plugs the event, emphasizing that farms are great places for kids. They might fall into a dirt or manure pile, but it won't hurt them, Sydnor says: "It washes off."

Other board members are Patrick Harman, Rusty Holt, Sharon Dent and Wayne White.

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com