Community Food Co-op

Voted Bellingham's best grocery store. Full-service deli, hot bar, salad bar featuring organic, local, and natural foods. Everyone can shop, anyone can join. Co+op, stronger together.

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      • Community Food Co-op, Downtown Store, 1220 North Forest Street at Holly StreetDowntown Store
        1220 North Forest Street at Holly Street
        Bellingham, Washington
        7 am - 9 pm
        360-734-8158
      • Cordata Co-Op exteriorCordata Store
        315 Westerly Road at Cordata Parkway
        Bellingham, Washington
        7 am - 9 pm
        360-734-8158
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You are here: Home / Archives for salad bar

The Co-op Deli: Revolutionary Food from Seasoned Cooks

by Sara Young, Prepared Foods Manager

stove simmering cook kitchen restaurant

Using quality ingredients and several healthy dashes of creativity and dedication, our experienced team of deli cooks makes all the delicious food in our deli case, hot bar, soup bar, and grab-n-go cases from scratch in our kitchens. Our goal is to offer something delicious to satisfy most every Co-op shopper, regardless of allergies or other dietary needs. Ask for a sample if you want to try something new!

making burritos cooking food prep
deli, hot bar, kitchen, buffet
vegetarian soup healthy

I arrive groggy at 6 am, one hour after the kitchen crew arrives. They have been busy making sandwiches for all three Co-op locations, including the amazing bakery cafe on Holly Street.

The Cordata kitchen buzzes with activity an incredible 17 hours a day.

The kitchens are led by Chef Kurt Stauber (Cordata) and Kitchen Manager James Aikins (Downtown). The combined experience of the kitchen crew numbers over 200 years and the result is a menu that is widely varied and delicious. Paul Manthe, a cook with the Co-op for over 20 years, brings with him a recipe catalog so vast it is not a stretch to say that in those 20 years he has still not used all of his recipes.

kurt stauber rush t-shirt chef cook community food co-op
Chef Kurt Stauber

Kurt Stauber, Cordata kitchen manager

cook chef salad james aikens community food co-op

James Aikins, Downtown kitchen manager

cook chef paul manthe community food co-op

Paul Manthe, Downtown cook

Chef Kurt Stauber brings with him the skill and expertise of a trained chef, and the boundless energy of a puppy dog. He does everything he can to mentor his team, while James Aikins provides a steady, calm energy and knowledge of the Co-op deli history to help drive menu selection.

The deli crew is continually working with Kurt and James to improve and perfect the deli recipes and create new recipes that will bring new life to the entire menu.

04_2015_dirty_dozen_snipeAll of this while holding fast to the deli’s values of organic, local, seasonal, GMO-free, and as always, free of the Dirty Dozen*.

The food in the Cordata and Downtown hot bars (and salad bars) is almost entirely organic—it’s a distinction that we are quite proud of and one that we share with you by highlighting every organic ingredient on our daily hot bar menus.

kitchen-food-1932The food in the Cordata and Downtown hot bars (and salad bars) is almost entirely organic.

On the hot bar every Friday is the amazing Chef’s seasonal special, and this is where deli cooks create new and exciting recipes under consideration for rotation in our permanent offerings. I would go so far as to say that if you can try the Co-op hot bar any day, Friday is the day to do it. It is like getting a peak behind the kitchen door, to the heart and soul of the food production operation.

To be sure, this is not your typical hot bar, usually laden with heavy carbohydrates and empty calories.

This is an organic, high-protein, veggie table of delight that is unlike any other hot bar in the region.

And I am the person who is lucky enough to oversee this operation, this team of highly passionate and skilled workers; a group of people whose standards have inspired me to expect miracles.

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DELI & CATERING deli| dirty 12| dirty dozen| fresh| healthy| hot bar| local| organic| salad bar| soup

The Co-op Deli: Fresh, Organic, GMO Free

by Robin Elwood, Downtown deli

salad bar, organic,

Downtown Deli Assistant Manager Robin Elwood resupplies the salad bar fixin’s. The hot bar and salad bar are the same low price per pound, so you can mix and match the just-right amount of any items you desire for your perfect plate.

Your Co-op deli makes it easy. Soup, salad bar, hot bar, or grab-n-go. Join us for a healthy breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

One of the best parts of my job in early summer is watching the procession of the species. I don’t mean the parade in Downtown Bellingham, although that is awesome too. I’m talking about the procession of fresh produce boxes that makes its way into the Co-op kitchens every morning.

In winter, many of those boxes come from places farther afield, such as California, Canada, and Mexico. But around this time of year, more and more of the boxes are direct from the hands of local farmers.

When I ran into Joe Hill, assistant manager in the Downtown deli kitchen, I asked him what was new with the procession of produce. Recently, Joe and the other kitchen managers reviewed the salad bar, hot bar, and deli case to assess the state of our non-GMO and organic ingredients.

It turns out that our bar was already almost entirely organic. “We basically have the least-renowned organic salad bar in Bellingham,” Joe told me with a grin.

Every fresh ingredient in the salad bar is organic and non-GMO certified. The few exceptions—black olives, housemade Breadfarm croutons, and mandarin orange slices—cannot be sourced as organic, but are the cleanest available product the kitchen staff can find.

“That is something we’re very proud of,” Joe said. “What we serve is priced affordably, and we are dedicated to absolute transparency of sources and ingredients.”

Along with the organic produce flooding into the kitchen, Prepared Foods Manager Nick Barrett gave me good news about another change. Both the Cordata and Downtown deli kitchens have committed to a new supplier of antibiotic and hormone-free chicken—Smart Chicken—for all the deli food we make from scratch in our kitchens. That includes the hot bar, salad bar, and the chicken dishes and salads in the deli cases.

Founded in 1998 in the Midwest, Smart Chicken strives to be an alternative to the race-to-the-bottom horror show that is American poultry production. Smart Chicken is raised and processed with attention to detail every step of the way. Chickens are fed a high-quality diet, humanely handled, and never given antibiotics, hormones, or animal by-products. They are also committed to verifiable humane raising, butchering, and production standards. And, they intentionally make their workplace safe and sustainable.

As Nick, Joe, and I finished talking, I heard the background sound of a smoothie being blended. The all-organic, design-your-own smoothie menu at all three Co-op locations has been a hot seller. For example, more than 1,300 people bought a smoothie at the Downtown store in March. As the weather heats up, we’re prepared to make an absolutely ridiculous number of drinks.

If you haven’t visited the Co-op deli, hot bar, salad bar, or organic smoothie and espresso bars lately, we welcome you to stop by for the freshest, tastiest organic food in town made right here in the Co-op kitchens!

Learn more about Smart Chicken.

turkey sandwich with sprouts

Made-to-order or grab-n-go, all of our deli sandwiches are made fresh throughout the day. The Co-op bakery café and Cordata store also have pressed-to-order paninis.

EWG's 2016 Dirty Dozen: strawberries apples nectarines peaches celery grapes cherries spinach tomatoes bell peppers cherry tomatoes cucumbers

Our deli never uses any ingredients from the Dirty 12, unless they are organic.

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DELI & CATERING deli| delicious| fresh| hot bar| menu| non-gmo| organic| salad bar| scratch| soups

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thanksgiving dinner spread

Our Guide to Holiday Turkeys Available at the Co-op

All the turkeys available for purchase at the Co-op are from Mary’s Turkeys. Choose from three fresh, never-frozen turkeys: natural, organic, and heritage.

package of tortillas con madre tortillas locally made in bellingham washington

A Visit To Tortillas Con Madre

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo early this year by visiting one of our favorite local companies, Tortillas Con Madre! Hear Lupita’s story and check out behind the scenes footage of production day at the tortilla factory.

Stephanie Says

Stephanie Says

The cheese case can be overwhelming. Don’t know where to start? Check out recommendations from our Downtown Specialty Cheese manager, Stephanie.

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DOWNTOWN STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 6 pm

CORDATA STORE & DELI • map • 360-734-8158 • 7 am – 9 pm
meat and deli counter: 7 am – 7 pm
made-to-order counter: 7 am – 6 pm
salad/hot bar: 7 am – 7 pm

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