After 40 years of providing culinary education to adults and children, PCC Community Markets has decided to discontinue the program. The classes were a distinctive offering that helped set PCC apart from other neighborhood grocers. However, amid rising costs throughout the grocery industry, the program was no longer financially sustainable.
“Culinary education has been core to PCC’s identity for more than four decades, and I know what this program meant to our community,” said PCC CEO Krishnan Srinivasan. “Unfortunately, operating costs have risen while classroom participation has declined.”
PCC’s Culinary Education program offered a wide variety of classes, from basic knife skills to preparing more involved recipes all using fresh ingredients available at PCC. With options for different ages and experience levels, there was something for nearly everyone.
PCC has long focused on building community and being more than just a grocery store, making the program’s closure a meaningful loss. Still, the co-op must balance its community-focused mission with financial responsibility.
“As stewards of the co-op, we have a responsibility to ensure that what we do in service of our purpose is also economically sustainable,” Srinivasan wrote. “At our current scale and in the current environment, culinary education is not.”
PCC is not alone in eliminating educational programs to reduce costs. Publix has also announced the closure of its in-store cooking schools.
Despite the decision to cut costs, PCC reported a strong year, with sales increasing 8.4% to $488 million. The co-op is also continuing to expand, with its 16th location expected to open in the third quarter.
(847) 277-9500