An Oceana of choice

Newport’s Oceana cooperative offers food for thought

Oceana Manager Rhonda Fry and employee Sol Paredes

By Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

After moving to the Central Oregon Coast almost 20 years ago for a job in Newport, I asked my new co-workers for recommendations for a place nearby to get a hearty and healthy lunch. A few wisely recommended the hot food and salad bar at Oceana Natural Food Cooperative.

With seating inside and out, the co-op is a favorite spot for people who enjoy the extensive options available, which change daily.

“We try to cater to the widest dietary preferences possible,” said Manager Rhonda Fry. “We have comfort food that is vegetarian or vegan that people who usually eat meat would be comfortable eating, but we also have items with meat in them. When we put Canadian bacon on the pizza, it will be gone in just a few minutes. We do try to make sure at least one of the soups is non-dairy.”

The food in the hot food and salad bar, as well as the yummy treats in the dessert section, is all made on site and especially appeals to people with food allergies.

“One thing that makes us unique is that we list all of the ingredients in each item that we make here,” Fry said. “Even today we had a customer who is allergic to garlic, so people really appreciate that they are able to go through and make sure they can eat something.”

The large natural foods grocery section also appeals to a variety of shoppers’ needs, but, Fry said, the fresh produce section is the biggest draw.

“We only carry organic produce,” Fry said. “If you sell both there are a lot of rules about them being separated and we just don’t have that kind of space, so we decided early on to only carry organic and now It’s the highest-selling department in the store and a big reason why many people come here.”

Credit goes in many ways, Fry said, to the produce manager.

“He’s very particular and doesn’t like anything to be out on the floor if it doesn’t look good,” she said. “He grows produce, too, so we also carry the very fresh things he grows.”

The word co-op can have different meanings at different stores.

“Some of the co-ops sell shares,” Fry said. “We just have annual contributions. The people that pay it have voting rights, special ordering rights and access to monthly member sale items. We also have an e-newsletter where we post our member sale items. If a person has any of those items at check out, the cashier asks if they are a member and applies those deals for them.”

Customer appreciation and employee appreciation are both important to Fry, who became manager of the store in 2001.

“I really find that respecting your employees and being open to their suggestions is a good way to run a business” she said. “I like to listen to people’s ideas about store improvements and I will try to implement them where possible.”

The store, Fry added, has high employee retention.

“We have a lot of long-term employees,” she said. “People might go away to school and things like that, but most stay here quite a long time.”

The 31 people employed at Oceana include truck drivers.

“We have drivers that go to Eugene to pick up things like produce from the Organically Grown company,” Fry said. “We pick up from different companies in Eugene, too, and deliver to other stores on a route from Eugene to Coos Bay and Lincoln City so that we can get reliable deliveries and we also save money doing it that way and we can then pass on those savings on to our customers.”

Oceana Natural Food Cooperative is located at 159 SE 2nd Street in Newport and is open from 9 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday and 10 am to 6 pm on Sunday. The salad bar is available weekdays from 9 am to 2 pm and the hot bar is open weekdays from 10 am to "2-ish." For more information, including daily menu options, go to oceanafoods.org or call 541-265-8285.

Party time!

Experience what Oceana has to offer at the community appreciation event this Saturday, Aug. 24, from 2 to 6 pm.

Enjoy a free ice cream buffet with a variety of toppings, live music and a dance performance by Herencia Mexicana at 2:15 pm. Tables will have information about voter registration, Double Up Food Bucks and Oceana memberships. For kids there will be a book reading, the balloon man and face painting.

Check out local vendors, samples of soap from the Newledo Exploration Hub, lemonade from Panini and more.