Joseph DeCarle
Meet Candidate Joseph DeCarle
1) Why would you like to serve on the City Market Board? What excites you about becoming a Board Member?
Living in the Old North End, City Market is an almost daily destination for me. When I enter the Co-op, I can't help but get lost surveying the many local products and brands stocking the shelves, and noting the changing inventory day to day. My passion for the Food & Beverage industry goes back to my youth, but cemented in College as I became involved in sustainability organizations on campus. Interning at Bear Naked granola in 2007, I was smitten with the industry and eventually started a business supplying food & beverage brands with organic tropical ingredients sourced from small family farms globally. When I walk the aisles of City Market, whichever of the 2 locations, I see something conventional and national grocery chains don't have: a true mission. City Market's mission is clear and sits squarely at the intersection of my passion and professional experience. I am incredibly and truly thrilled at the prospect of holding a position that would enable me to bring my skills in managing a business (a certified B Corporation I might add!) to a Board position at a place and in a community I am very passionate about. For me, this is about fulfilling a decades-long interest in and passion for playing a role in developing a sustainable local food system.
2) Please describe any professional skills you have that will help you to be an effective Board Member. How would you help the Board to balance the business needs of a $50 million business with the need to meet our Global Ends as a community-owned cooperative?
I own & operate a B2B organic tropical ingredient supply business which was recently named to the Inc. 5000 2022 Fastest Growing Businesses in America. My experience managing this certified B Corporation has offered me an incredible opportunity to learn how to be an effective leader with a strong command of Finance, Operations, and Marketing (the last of which I have an undergraduate degree in from Boston College.) Having been a Summer intern at granola maker Bear Naked, and spent 2 years in Sales at Peanut Butter & Co., my entire career has been directly and indirectly connected to natural products retail. This is all to say, I will be able to bring experience allocating resources, financially and otherwise.
3) Describe your prior involvement with community organizations and/or cooperatives. What did you learn from these experiences?
My first encounter with community organizations was at Boston College, where my passion for Sustainability eventually lead to my appointment as Co-Director of Environmental Issues in Student Government. Before this appointment, I was a member of RealFoodBC: a food justice and sustainability club committed to revolutionizing food systems on Boston College campus and beyond. Our biggest victory on campus was authorization to build a community garden that would supply a small pizza stand on campus. While a small step forward in the grand scheme, this was a powerful experience to connect hard work and commitment to a cause with positive change in a community. Through this time, I learned that positive change is possible with a clear vision, focus, perseverance, and passion within a community.
4) City Market, Onion River Co-op is a learning organization committed to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) work. What opportunities do you see as a Board member to support these initiatives at City Market and how would you ensure that the Board's work is grounded in these principles? Describe any prior involvement in JEDI work either personally or professionally.
JEDI work is increasingly being considered a baseline component of business' operations in places like Vermont. It is critical to have Board members who understand the important of these initiatives, and have experience implementing them in organizations. The opportunity I see as a Board member is simple: to facilitate & create opportunities for community insights & inputs on how to further our commitment, and to put resources behind a task force to implement them. In effect, this is how I have prioritized sustainability & smallholder farmer pay in my capacity as the Managing Member & Founder of a tropical ingredient importing & distributing business.
5) What opportunities and challenges do you see in the future of City Market?
City Market is a beloved destination, grocery & community in Burlington. The biggest opportunity ahead for the Co-op is to expand its impact on creating a local, sustainable & just food system in Vermont. This will be done through optimization of the business model, from big picture areas like Finance, Operations, and Marketing, to decisions about store layout, product mix, etc. City Market can grow its impact by expanding its member base, optimizing its product mix and store layout, and ensuring a sound model is built from a finance & operations standpoint to then consider growing its footprint to more than 2 locations all in service of each of the Co-op stakeholders: suppliers, members, and the community at large.
As for the biggest challenge in the future of City Market, there is of course the high inflation and shipping costs, staffing shortages and other local matters - all of which play into the threat of grocery competition. Conventional grocers continue to expand and evolve their offerings to include organic and sometimes local products. It is our job to ensure City Market curates a better offering & experience at a time when dollars and cents matter more for everyone. City Market is positioned well to navigate these opportunities & challenges to much success.