A Small Chicago Co-Op Delivers Big Impact

Chicago’s Dill Pickle Co-Op is a true pioneer in grocery. The only co-op in Chicago, the Dill Pickle was recently featured in the Chicago Tribune as an example for future co-ops eying opportunities in the Windy City. It’s also the first national co-op with an all-Black executive leadership team, said David Nobel, Dill Pickle marketing manager.

What’s more, the Dill Pickle is on a mission to provide a space for all local vendors within 300 miles of its 12,500-square-foot Logan Square store, including its most recent partner, The Black Bread Co., makers of the world’s first Black-owned gourmet sliced bread.

“We continue to push our values and integrate the co-op’s mission of sustaining a thriving community in Chicago and within 300 miles of [the store],” said Nobel. In addition to its support of local producers, farmers, creameries and vendors, the Dill Pickle is equally committed to equitable economic relationships, positive environmental impacts and inclusive practices grounded in cooperative values, he added.

The Dill Pickle Food Co-Op, explained Nobel, is comprised of over 3,335 individuals who “commonly own and democratically control this cooperative enterprise with the primary purpose of providing groceries to ourselves and other community members, as defined in our bylaws.”

Additionally, there are three active types of participants, including individual owners who, in joining, have agreed to hold a set of responsibilities alongside their rights and privileges; a representative board of directors elected from among ownership to govern toward these ends; and hired General Manager I’talia McCarthy, and staff to whom the board delegates operations. 

At the Dill Pickle Co-Op, communication, collaboration and community form the pillars of diversity, equity and inclusion. “We want to represent our community and our store reflects this, which is especially important to us, Nobel said.

“By having a diverse and inclusive working environment, we want to show the community and the world despite all the challenges we have witnessed over the years and specifically the past year that having representation and adhering to our core cooperative values will not only strengthen but enrich the community,” he continued.

The Dill Pickle further promotes diversity and inclusivity by partnering with local women-owned, LatinX-owned and Black-owned businesses, like The Black Bread Company.

The Black Bread Company founders

“The Black Bread Company aligns with our core values as they take pride in baking fresh goods satisfying their customers, encouraging creativity, and securing generational progression to sustain marginalized communities,” the Dill Pickle said.

Founded in 2009, the Dill Pickle embraces all values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity, said the co-op, whose executive leadership team includes McCarthy, Human Resources Manager Sharif Terry and Marketing Manager David Nobel.

“It is an honor to be part of executive leadership because the three of us all bring something completely different to help lead our staff,” Nobel said. “Our community is a group of people considered collectively, sharing common interests, social values, or goals as a consumer cooperative. … Most of these relationships reside in the Logan Square community and within five miles of the store. It is all about the community at the end of the day.”