We are so excited to introduce our general manager, Lori Burge! We are thrilled that Lori will take the helm of our community-owned grocery store at 2031 S. Juniper St., slated to open later this year.

Lori brings 23 years of co-op business and community organizing experience, most recently as a Cooperative Development Consultant with Keystone Development Center where she has provided training, resources and consultation to consumer, worker, producer and shared-services co-ops.

She previously served as General Manager of the New Orleans Food Co-op for over five years and worked as the Development Manager of People’s Food Co-op in Portland, OR, for over seven years. She is a graduate of the Cooperation Works! Cooperative Business Development Training Program and the Democracy At Work Network Peer Advisor Training Program.

Lori has expertise in co-op education, start-ups, strategic planning, financial feasibility and budgeting, community outreach and ownership growth, staff development, democratic group process, and diversity and social-justice initiatives.  

“I’m looking forward to working with and for the South Philly community to make this long-held vision a reality,” Lori says. "We are a community united to use food as a force for good, and I am looking forward to all the good we can create together." 

Lori has contributed to the Cooperative Grocers’ ”How to Start a Food Co-op Manual,” was a co-founder of both the U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives and the Democracy at Work Network, and has presented as a panelist at numerous conferences and events.

Lori lives with her three children and a gaggle of pets on a quiet block where neighbors look out for each other. On Friday nights you can catch her with a whistle around her neck handing out healthy snacks, teaching kids to cook, or hosting a neighborhood movie night.