For the general manager of a food co-op, every day brings new challenges and new opportunities. Each and every day. That’s probably why Chris Dilley, who recently retired from People’s Food Co-op (PFC) in Kalamazoo, Michigan, knows exactly how long he was in that role. “Nineteen years,” said Dilley, before quickly adding: “and one month.”

Chris Dilley’s journey to those nineteen years and one month as general manager of PFC started as far back as college at Michigan State University, where he was part of a housing co-op. After college, he moved to Kalamazoo, where a friend introduced him to PFC. Dilley began shopping and volunteering at the co-op. Volunteering to work on the co-op newsletter turned into volunteering to run for the board of directors and learning even more about how a food co-op operates. After his board service, the general manager position was available, and he applied.

 “I had a real passion for food and community,” Dilley said when asked why he was interested in that role. “There is always more to learn about how food systems work and how communities can work together. It’s one of the most needed skills and capacities that can be built in communities.”

That passion for food system change also led Dilley to help found the Fair Food Matters non-profit program, which is active in Kalamazoo to this day. The program connects local youth with real world experiences seeing how food is grown and learning by doing. Chris Dilley has a definite through-line in his co-op and food system path of leaving places and institutions in better shape than he found them in.

He was able to build a $50,000 local food purchasing program at PFC into one that now buys $500,000 per year. The program’s growth took intentionality and guidance, but Dilley knows that PFC’s local purchasing commitment and success helped to bolster local producers and increase local food system capacity over time. In 2011, the co-op moved and expanded its store, quadrupling the square footage. Dilley said the project management experience of overseeing every aspect of the expansion is a point of pride in his career.

Farmer’s market and anti-racism leadership

The Kalamazoo farmer’s market has roots in the city going back as far as the 1800s. PFC was originally a market vendor, selling products from the store; under Dilley’s leadership the co-op got more involved with the other vendors and the operations of the market. In 2012 the City of Kalamazoo asked PFC to take over and fully operate the market. In the past ten years under PFC the market has grown to 130 vendors and $2–3 million in annual revenue. The market also has several food assistance programs, including doubling spending by SNAP recipients.

Leading while centering equity and food justice is another through-line that keeps coming up in Dilley’s professional journey. PFC began the process in 2013 of creating an Anti-Racism Transformation Team. The team combines staff, management, board, and community members and works in concert with the general manager to intentionally look at policy and processes to center anti-racism.

As Dilley explains, it led to a complete overhaul of the co-op’s HR processes. Training, hiring, applications, interviews, job descriptions, and evaluations were all reworked with input from the anti-racism team. The work of this team even showed up in how PFC runs the farmer’s market. “How do we help ensure there is a larger base of vendors of color or women vendors at the market? This work helps to transform how we engage within the community.”

As with anyone who spends nearly two decades at one store, Dilley’s time at PFC was not without challenges. Increased competition provided significant sales pressure on the co-op over the years. Staffing turnover led to operational challenges and stretched the store’s management, including Dilley. Outside operations such as road closures in front of the store harmed sales and added an extra hurdle to be overcome. Dilley said that through it all, his process was to focus on his team and build a collective vision for how to get around the current challenge.

Ironically, it was one of the biggest challenges the overall retail grocery industry has faced that helped the co-op overcome sales and competition issues. “Covid helped to bring shoppers back to us. They trusted the co-op and trusted that they were safe shopping at PFC.”

Ahead: interim general manager

Turning a challenge into an opportunity is a sign of true visionary leadership. So, what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for Chris Dilley?

“I’m excited for IGM [Interim General Manager] work,” says Dilley, who is working with the Columinate Management on Contract service. “Being able to have a chance to both apply the things I’ve learned through the challenges at PFC, and getting to experience new and different challenges, interests me. Having an opportunity to learn from what other communities are doing. With my project management and operations experience, I can recognize opportunities a store isn’t currently operationalizing, and then work with the team to make those changes happen. I always want to leave a co-op in a better place than where I found it.”

Dilly said he gets inspired by what other food co-ops around the country are doing and the collaborative nature of cooperatives. “Getting to see other stores, I walk in, and it feels like my home.”

He is also thinking about the future of food co-ops and how they can show up in new spaces to empower underrepresented voices. He still gets a rush both from new ideas and the daily work at a food co-op—even after nineteen years and one month. When you put your all into every day, you never leave out that extra month.