Hesston Fresh Food Market Feasibility Study

Not at this time. This is a feasibility study. It will tell us whether a right‑sized fresh food market can work in Hesston, at what scale, and what it would cost to launch. A yes or no comes out of the research, not ahead of it.

This grant funds research, not construction. An earlier, much larger grocery concept was scaled back because the demand case was never nailed down. Lenders and funders will not finance a store without evidence, so the order matters: evidence first, and the findings are published either way — including if the answer is no.

This is the right question to ask, and it is the exact question the study exists to answer rather than assume. Rural grocery stores across Kansas operate on net margins of one to two percent, and closures are usually driven by that math, by distributor minimums that punish small orders, by the cost of refrigeration, and very often by an owner reaching retirement without a successor.

What has changed since 2018 is that we now have years of data on how much grocery spending leaves Hesston every week, an aging population for whom a twenty minute drive for milk is a real barrier, and access to financing and technical assistance through the Kansas Healthy Food Initiative and K‑State's Rural Grocery Initiative that was not practically available to a single private owner before.

It is also worth being clear about what this grant does and does not fund. It funds research, not construction. Studying the numbers first is how a community avoids spending money on a store that cannot sustain itself, and if the study finds that the demand is not there, we will report that finding honestly.

No. This study is about whether a market could work, at what size, and what it would cost — not where it would sit. A specific location is a later question, and only if the findings support moving forward.

Findings will be shared with partners and the community as each phase closes, while community input will remain anonymous. The full feasibility report and next steps will be made publicly available at the end of the study. The goal is a transparent process where what we learn — and what comes next — is shared openly with the community.

The difference is size, product mix, and the job the store is meant to do. A full‑line grocery store typically runs fifteen to twenty‑five thousand square feet and carries twenty thousand items or more, which requires a large volume of shoppers to break even.

A fresh food market is much smaller, often two to six thousand square feet, and it is built around produce, meat, dairy, eggs, and bread with a focused selection of pantry staples rather than a full aisle of every category. That means lower startup costs, lower staffing needs, and a lower sales threshold to stay open.

In practice, a fresh food market serves the weeknight dinner trip and the few things you ran out of. It complements a larger shopping run rather than replacing it entirely.

A market built only around summer produce would not survive its first winter, so year‑round operation has to be part of the design from the start. Kansas growers already extend their seasons with high tunnels that carry greens, spinach, and root crops well into the cold months, and local eggs, dairy, inspected meats, honey, flour, and preserved or frozen goods keep the shelves stocked when fields are quiet.

A market would also buy from a regional wholesaler during the off season, the same way every rural grocer does, and steady institutional customers like the school district, Hesston College, and Schowalter Villa can turn seasonal retail swings into predictable revenue. Testing whether those pieces add up to a workable twelve‑month model is one of the core purposes of this study.

It's too early to say whether a Walmart Neighborhood Market would or would not be a good fit for Hesston. The assessment will consider several factors, including:

• Community demand: Is there sufficient demand for this type of grocery store?
• Financial viability: Could this type of store operate successfully in Hesston?
• Community priorities and values: What type of ownership and operating model best aligns with what the community wants — including considerations such as a corporate retailer versus a locally owned business?

A Walmart Neighborhood Market could be considered alongside other potential models. The goal of this work is to understand which options are feasible and align with community priorities, rather than to determine the answer in advance.

A cooperative has real advantages worth taking seriously. Member equity provides patient local capital that conventional lenders rarely offer a rural startup, member‑owners tend to shop where they have a stake, and local governance removes the succession problem that has closed so many family‑owned stores. Kansas also has dedicated support for this model, including a program called Homegrown Prosperity by Kansas Farmers Union, funded specifically to help rural communities develop grocery cooperatives.

The trade‑offs are just as real. Cooperatives typically take three to five years to go from organizing committee to open doors, they need enough member‑owners and substantial raised equity before a lender will engage, and volunteer boards require sustained commitment.

Most importantly, a cooperative changes who carries the risk without changing grocery economics. The margins stay thin either way, which is why the ownership model is a question the study will weigh alongside several others rather than a conclusion we have already reached.

The business structure is deliberately still open, because that decision should come out of the study rather than be decided before the research starts. Cooperative, nonprofit, locally owned private business, and hybrid arrangements where a nonprofit owns the building and an operator runs the store are all on the table.

A local sourcing program would be dependent upon product pricing, availability, transportation, and meeting food safety standards. It is also worth setting expectations that local items typically make up ten to twenty percent of sales even in stores that lead with local, with the rest coming from a regional wholesaler.

Pricing would need to compete with Newton and McPherson on everyday staples, with SNAP and EBT accepted so the store serves households at every income level. Opportunities to minimize food waste include disciplined ordering, markdown schedules, using imperfect produce in prepared foods, and donation and composting partnerships.

Any store would operate under Kansas Department of Agriculture retail food licensing with a certified food protection manager on staff, temperature logging, and state or federal inspection requirements for meat and eggs. This is a collaborative effort, and the Harvey County Food and Farm Council is one of the partners helping work through these details.

These are all possibilities for us to explore through this feasibility study. Student placements through USD 460's work‑based learning programs and Hesston College could fill real shifts, though we have to plan around labor rules for workers under eighteen and around the summer break that falls right when produce peaks.

Schowalter Villa is interesting on three fronts at once, as a potential workforce partner, a wholesale customer, and a delivery point for residents. Shorter, consistent hours are very likely part of a sustainable model, since many successful small rural markets operate thirty to forty‑five hours a week with predictable windows that hold down labor costs and reduce waste.

Surveying our major employers about shift timing, payroll deduction, and workplace pickup may be important parts of later phases of this study, and we would welcome help shaping those questions.

No, this study explores a market that would be accessible to everyone.

No. A market would have to earn everyday trips from across the community to survive — working families, students, employees picking something up after a shift. Households without reliable transportation have the most at stake, but a model that only serves them would not be sustainable, and the research is measuring demand across the whole community.

No. The study is paid for by a Kansas Healthy Food Initiative predevelopment grant plus a local match from project partners. No city or county tax dollars fund this work.

Those funds are managed by the Kansas Horizon Foundation. They will be considered as a funding source as part of the study, along with many other funding source options. You can address specific questions regarding the previous grocery store plan to the Kansas Horizon Foundation at kansashorizon.org.

We will be preparing and distributing a hard copy.

The demographic questions — age, gender, race, and ethnicity — are decoupled from survey responses. We collect this information only to help us understand whether we are hearing from a representative range of community members; we do not use it to identify or analyze individual responses. We recognize that some people may be hesitant to share demographic information when it is connected to their responses, so decoupling these questions helps protect respondents' privacy and may make people more comfortable participating.

Zip code is the one demographic question that is not decoupled from the rest of the survey, because it provides useful information about where respondents live and how far people in different areas typically travel for groceries.

Sign up for email updates above and you will get a short message when focus groups are scheduled and when findings are published. We are also sharing through partner email lists, local media, and the Hesston Chamber. Paper surveys are available for anyone who prefers them.

The consulting team for this project — Stephanie Pearl, PhD, Eileen Horn, MS, Caroline Myran, MS, and Joel Mooneyhan, MBA — brings more than 50 years of combined experience working with local, state, and federal agencies, coalitions, and nonprofit organizations to address food system challenges at the local and regional levels.

Stephanie, Eileen, and Caroline specialize in community‑engaged approaches to food system analyses and food policy, while Joel specializes in financial modeling and budget development and has contributed to more than 65 feasibility studies.

The team was also selected for its familiarity with and proximity to Hesston. Eileen is a native Kansan, Stephanie is based in Manhattan, Kansas, and the team has an established relationship with the United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties.

We assess leadership capacity by looking at who is willing and able to take on the responsibility of operating a fresh food market or grocery store, including relevant experience and a track record of success. We will also work with the community to identify the qualities, skills, and values that would be important for someone — or a team — to lead a Hesston fresh food market or grocery store successfully.

The goal is not to identify a specific leader at this stage, but to better understand what leadership capacity would be needed and whether that capacity exists within the community or could be developed or brought in.