Transcription of Kevin Gadsby for the show Food Co-operation #178
Lisa: Before we move to our next guest, I thought you might be interested to hear an update on my situation. Several weeks ago, I revealed to you that I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I’m happy to report that my surgery was successful and they were able to remove all of the cancer and perhaps even happier to report that the genetic testing I chose to have performed was negative. My 2 daughters and 4 sisters are not apparently more at risk than the general population. This is an indescribable relief.
As we are recording this, it is exactly 2 weeks to the day that I had a bilateral mastectomy with lymph node biopsy. The beginning of my breast reconstruction began that day as well. Those of you who have had this procedure were no someone who has understand that this is significant surgery impacting not only the chest wall but also the arms. Yesterday, I was told that I can now lift up to 4 pounds, the equivalent of a half gallon. This is a vast improvement.
I’m still not able to drive nor have I been able to return to my medical practice. I won’t be cleared to run for several weeks, but I’ve been walking miles around the small Maine Island on which I live. This is one of the most healing practices I could possibly engage in. I’m also able to use my voice and thus I was able to return to record the radio show and interview the wonderful guests who become part of our radio family.
To have a job I love and work with people I love is a great gift. Equally wonderful is the chance to connect with each one of you. Thank you for listening to our show each week and for being part of our story. We at Love Maine Radio and Maine Magazine know that we could not do what we do without you. In particular, thank you for being part of my personal story.
Your kind messages through emails, social media, texts and letters have been greatly appreciated. I have felt loved and supported throughout this most interesting breast-cancer journey. You are each a part of that. I may no longer have the breast that God gave me, but I know that I’m cancer free and more importantly I am surrounded by love. Thank you my friends for sharing your light with me.
Here on Love Maine Radio, food is a topic that comes up for us quite a lot, as we know that nourishing ourselves is an important aspect of health and wellness.
Today we have with us Kevin Gadsby. Kevin is the general manager of the recently opened Portland Food Co-op. Previously, he was general manager of Good Tern Co-op in Rockland and he also worked at Rising Tide Co-op in Damariscotta.
Thanks so much for coming in and talking to us, Kevin.
Kevin: Thank you very much.
Lisa: The food co-op is an idea that’s been around for a long time and you’ve been working in various food co-ops a good part of your life. It’s not a usual straight-path occupation from what I’ve seen. How did you get to be doing this?
Kevin: I’ve been in the natural foods industry for roughly 20 years, started in college, worked at a local health food store. I was actually a member of the local co-op in town and there was really a sense of community in a sense, especially at the co-op. You felt it was partly yours and you took identity with it. There’s something to be said about that, especially when you couple that food. To me, what I often talk about is that the essence of food is community. It’s bringing people together. It’s sharing. It’s cultivation. It’s all these things and it creates something really beautiful that people take identity with.
Being in a food business, I had the opportunity to manage different places. I started small businesses. I came up to Maine a few years ago. My wife is originally from Maine and we’d been living in the Boston area for roughly 14 years. With 3 kids entail, we felt we needed to change and so we thought Maine might be a good place to raise our kids.
We came to Maine and there was an opportunity at the time to purchase a privately-owned natural food store. I went to work for them. Didn’t work out as far as acquiring the business but from there, since we move to Maine, we’ve met some pretty amazing folks, very talented, very creative people, people who often tell the story or we’ve heard the story off until, I guess I should say, from several of the folks that we’ve met that they came to Maine, didn’t know if they were going to stay but then couldn’t leave and that’s where we find ourselves.
Through various connections with friends and so forth, a good friend of our at the time I was working in Rising Tide Damariscotta at the co-op there and another friend of ours told us about an opportunity in Rockland at the co-op there and said, “They’re looking for a general manager.” At the time, actually, I should say, we were deliberating as to whether we were going to stay in Maine or whether we should head back to Massachusetts. We were just on the cost of heading back to Massachusetts and we said, “Let’s give it a shot. Let’s try the Rockland thing and see what happens.”
I sent my resume and ended up as a general manager there in Rockland. The experience there was amazing. The Good Tern Co-op has been around from 30 years. They’ve been doing well. Small co-op but when I got there … I give my full heart to whatever I do so I got there and I started immediately seeing ways that we could grow and expand and it happened.
I think the first year we grew at the rate of about 25 percent over the previous year. We were able to hire 5 more people during the time that I was there. The most exciting part of that for me is we were able to grow in our little place the local food economy as much as we could by bringing in product made by Maine producers. I think that’s the most exciting part of it for me is not only being able to create a work environment that empowers people to grow and excel and do their job well but also there’s something really special going on in Maine right now with food.
Lisa: You’re originally from elsewhere?
Kevin: I was born and raised in the Philadelphia area, went to school in Michigan and then again ended up in the Boston area for number of years.
Lisa: What was it about the natural food seem that attracted you initially when you were going to school in Michigan as a college student? That’s not something that every college student ends up being interested in.
Kevin: At the time, I was philosophy and religion major and so there was lots of questions about life and existence and on and on. During that timeframe, I had contracted Lyme disease, extremely debilitating. This is back in ’92, ’93. In fact, I had contracted living on a farm in Pennsylvania. I think at the time Lyme disease was not nearly as prevalent as it is today. Lived on this beautiful farm, rolling hills, I would walk down through these fields and to the creek and deer were everywhere and I thought nothing of it.
Ended up in Vermont subsequent to that and became bedridden pretty much, totally debilitating. I was in bed for at least 3 weeks. I could hardly eat. I could not walk. I could not … Literally, I could not move. I was laid down. Doctors had no idea what was happening with me.
Finally, I caught an uncle of mine. He was in Philadelphia and I explained the symptoms of what was happening to me. Immediately, he said, “It sounds like you have Lyme disease.” I flew back to Philadelphia, got treated for Lyme disease, went on these heavy-duty antibiotics.
A good friend of mine, they’re family … They were old hippies and herbalist and naturalist, organic food and everything. When they heard what happened to me and especially that I had to go on pretty intensive antibiotic treatment, immediately got me on homeopathics, cleansing, probiotics, organic food, juicing and the works. I really do believe both with the care that was extended to me through them and the wholesome food that they were feeding me that I don’t have any repercussions from Lyme disease.
I know many people that had Lyme disease over the years and several people just can’t quite kick it. They can’t get over it and I actually am a firm believer that it was through the dietary choices and the lifestyle choices that I made back then that I don’t have any ill effects from Lyme disease these days. That’s what launched my passion for food and food is medicine, really.
Lisa: I agree and I also agree that to be offered in such a loving and nurturing way is very important, so equally important to the idea that food is medicine is the person that’s giving it to you, cares about you or is making suggestions for a homeopathic remedies or whatever that is. It’s also interesting to me that this idea of the co-op is not just you go in and you buy something you’re a consumer. It’s this idea that you’re with a group of like-minded individuals who also feel like this is an important thing to them, food.
Kevin: I’ve certainly experienced that with many of our relationships with food producers and farmers and so forth because we deal with them not just as business folks in a business relationship but you actually get to know them. You actually become friends with them. You talk about life in the world and why we exist and how does food fit into that picture.
Many of the folks I had met in Maine in particular, these farmers are passionate about what they do. They actually believe in it. It’s not just an occupation. Some of them did not grow up in a farming family but they’ve come from elsewhere. They actually deliberately came to Maine or perhaps they came back to Maine and launch a farming career.
It’s a beautiful thing when these farmers come in and these food producers where they bring in their yogurt or their meat or their fresh vegetables and so forth and you have these amazing conversations with them. You see a light in their eye about in what they do and why they do it and that’s a beautiful thing.
Lisa: It is a beautiful thing because food is not just about its physical constituents. It’s about the energy that’s put into, it’s for action. Really to know that you’re eating something that somebody really cared enough about to do it in a high-quality way and in a mindful way, I think that that actually is healing in and of itself.
Kevin: I totally agree. We have the opportunity to know in Portland, we are literally adding new product weekly if not daily from Maine producers whether it’s, like I said, much in the few things but cheese, yogurts, raw milk.
Somebody came in with a beautifully packaged organic cracker the other day and it wasn’t just a cracker. It was full of all kinds of Maine goodness. There was beauty in the packaging and the person was great to talk to. That’s probably one of the most satisfying things about this is to see this emerging food culture happening.
That’s really what drew me to Portland from Rockland because things were actually going quite well in Rockland at the co-op there. We were doing well. We had a great staff, great devoted team of people there and the opportunity came. In fact, I’ll tell you how it happened.
As the general manager there, I caught wind that Portland was putting together a food co-op. They were looking for … Actually, at the time we went through an interior renovation up there in Rockland. We got only shelving, the refrigeration and so forth and we had stored all of our old equipment in a warehouse.
Some of the folks that were starting the Portland Food Co-op had heard about our storehouse and equipment and inquired about it. I met with them and we ended up donating all of the old shelvings and old refrigeration and old produce case and so forth to the Portland Food Co-op at the time to help them get going. That equipment was able to be used as collateral for a major loan that the Portland Food Co-op obtained from an entity called The Cooperative Fund of New England, which was a huge jumpstart for them.
At that time, I had no intention of even thinking about becoming the general manager of the Portland Food Co-op. It wasn’t until months later that I saw the posting for general manager at Portland Food Co-op and, again, it was the same kind of situation. I said to my wife, “I don’t know if I should do this.” Things are going well in Rockland, why I will need to do this. One thing led to another and I signed up, send my resume and I was accepted as the general manager and started in May in 2014. It’s been an amazing process to get this place going.
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Lisa: What you’re describing is a network of positive feedback, which I really like because I think that it would be easy for you to have said, “I had Lyme disease. My life is built around my Lyme disease.” You could have gone in a very negative direction with that and instead you’re like, “I had Lyme disease. This was the direction my life took and it really was a positive thing and I’m better for this experience and now I’m going to bring this positive outlook on life to the works that I do.” It sounds the feedback that you get when you put that positive out there is also very positive. It must make it a nice place to work.
Kevin: It’s a great place to work. I think part of that is I’ve learned to especially having served in management positions over the years to really instill an attitude of trust to my employees or my coworkers where I give them freedom to do their job; I’m not a micromanager. I certainly have oversight but what I communicate and in fact I communicated throughout the interview process when we would interview people. We’ll ask them, “What is your ideal workplace and what is your ideal work ethic and how do you view managements,” so forth.
When trust is given to other people, I think it empowers them. When more responsibility is added to people and you step back and let them do they’re job even if they mistakes, it’s all part of it. That ability to trust and extend trust and be trusted is so valuable and so important and it’s so rewarding to be able to do that. I speak to that because I speak of that work culture and how rewarding it is. When I said it’s a great place to work, I think that’s all part of it that ability to extend that to other people.
Lisa: There was also at one point a very rich natural food scene in Portland. I know that the Good Day Market at one point existed, also the Whole Grocer at one point existed. Then when while those came into town, the Whole Grocer went away and I’m wondering if there haven’t been people who have been silently waiting to see what would happen next. We do have a great large team natural food store, but there is something very different about the smaller places.
Kevin: In fact, we have probably daily people come in and reminisce about the Whole Grocer in particular. That seemed to be the community market for years and we often get people come and say, “Oh, it reminds me of the Whole Grocer.” In fact, we interviewed several people during the interview process that had worked at Whole Grocer and a few in particular who would work for Whole Grocer and then through that transition with Whole Grocer and Whole Foods and Wild Oats they went from Whole Grocer to Wild Oats to Whole Foods and full circle now back to the Portland Food Co-op. We at least have 1 employee that went through that whole series of events.
I say this not to criticize any other entity at all but to say that there is something special that the smaller, more intimate space that people identify with. It’s not too overwhelming. It’s warm. It’s inviting. You can find each other with this. There’s a real social aspects on it. We are all there together in this little space.
Lisa: I also think that when you are in a smaller space if there something that you have a particular interest in, you can share that knowledge. What I’ve noticed … I live closer to Royal Rive Natural Foods and when I go into Royal River there’s a person that seems to have quite extensive background in, for example, supplements.
I think that’s really worthwhile to know that. What you have, what you can bring to the table is valued whether it’s about supplements, whether it’s about, I don’t know, grains in the bulk section or whether it’s about fruits and vegetables and how to cook them. I think to feel as though what you have experienced taking your life matters. I think that’s big.
Kevin: I think so, too. I know the staff that we have now they’re passionate about what they do. They’re passionate about food and they extend that passion to the folks that come in and it means something to people. How do often do you go in and have a conversation with somebody in the dairy aisle about this craft in yogurt or kefir that’s on the shelf and who made it and where it came from and who the farmer’s names are and things like these. It’s very special people.
Lisa: You have 3 children?
Kevin: I do.
Lisa: You’re married to a woman from Maine?
Kevin: Yes.
Lisa: It seems as though in order to do the job that you do, you would have needed significant first of all family support and when you needed to have a life who said, “Yes, go take this next job. We’ll be there.” Also I would think that you would … the work that you do it fused your family environment, the love of food for example or the importance of cooperation. Has this become a lifestyle thing for you and your family?
Kevin: It has, absolutely. In fact, I’ve been very fortunate to have worked in the environments that I had over the years to be able to bring my children into that environment. You often find my son David working with me on Sundays at the co-op. He loves it and all 3 of them. I have 2 girls and a boy in the middle. All 3 of them, they long for the day when they come to work with me and be a part of that.
I think they, too. They feel the sense of community. It’s not just what dad does but they go there and they jump right in with the other folks that work there. There’s a real sense of belongingness I think even for them. It’s a beautiful thing.
Lisa: How old are your kids now?
Kevin: 14, 11, and 7.
Lisa: This is your 11-year-old that likes to go in the store. That’s an interesting thing for an 11-year-old boy to be interested in working at a food co-op.
Kevin: Exactly. I know it. He is a super athlete too and you think he just want to go off and play ball and things like this. When I’m getting ready to go to work and this is on the weekend and he’s home, he begs to go with me. I feel privileged for that.
Lisa: For people who are interested in the Portland Food Co-op and would like to perhaps become a member or maybe stop by, where would you direct them for more information?
Kevin: We got [quite wealthy 56:54] information on our website, www.portlandfood.coop. Also they can send us an email at [email protected]. You can join right on the website or you can stop in and, of course, we’re open to everyone, not just member-owners as well.
Lisa: I will plan to go back again myself. I’ve been there one time. It’s up on the hill, is it not?
Kevin: Correct. We are at 290 Congress Street in the [Rite Aid Plaza 57:22].
Lisa: I really appreciate you coming in and talking to us today about the co-op and about the work that you’ve done. I agree with you that food is medicine so I would highly recommend anybody that’s looking to enrich that part of their lives to look into the Portland Food Co-op.
We’ve been speaking with Kevin Gadsby who is the general manager of the recently opened Portland Food Co-op. For people who would like more information, please feel free to visit their website or to visit their store up on …
Kevin: 290 Congress Street.
Lisa: … 290 Congress Street. Thanks so much for coming in, Kevin.
Kevin: Thank you.
Lisa: You have been listening to Love Maine Radio, show number 178, Food Cooperation. Our guests have included Anne Hopkins and Kevin Gadsby.
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