This year, People First Economy is excited to honor Lakeshore Depot LC3 with the 2024 Good For Community Award! The Community category evaluates a company’s contribution to the economic and social well-being of the communities in which it operates, through practices and policies that foster diversity and inclusion, job creation, civic engagement and philanthropy, supply chain management, and more.
Based in Marquette, MI Lakeshore Depot seeks to provide an efficient outlet for customers seeking to purchase local foods. The Depot is something of a cross between a grocery store and farmer’s market and offers a diverse variety of food and agricultural products from many local producers, processors and farmers. Their goal is to provide a convenient and affordable outlet for farmers and other local food producers to distribute their products to their community. Michael Hainstock, Founder and Director of Lakeshore Depot shares,
“Our definition of being Good for Michigan includes considering the needs of our local community, while factoring the impacts of our purchasing and operational decisions on the natural environment and supporting suppliers who align with these goals. Being Good for Michigan aligns with my personal vision for Lakeshore Depot, which is to support local food access and curate a space for people to gather and share resources, by using agriculture as a platform to facilitate interactions between community members…”.
Lakeshore Depot is organized as an L3C (Low Profit Limited Liability Corporation), a hybrid between a non-profit and typical for-profit business structure. This allows them to pay their local farmers 75% of gross sales and local food producers receive 70% of gross sales – significantly higher than the national average received by farmers who sell wholesale. 100% of products at Lakeshore Depot are sourced local to Marquette and the U.P. whenever possible and from Michigan, Wisconsin and the Midwest region to supplement local offerings. The Depot hopes to catalyze an expansion of its local food system and encourage more farms and food processing businesses in the region.
“My personal vision for Lakeshore Depot is to support and serve the needs of our local community by considering the needs of our local economy and community, and how these needs fit into our place within the state of Michigan as a whole”. – Michael Hainstock
Lakeshore Depot is a former Good For Michigan Cohort participant and worked with the People First Economy team to measure their social and environmental impacts through the B Impact Assessment and SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Action Manager Tools. By measuring their practices, Lakeshore Depot is working to ensure that their sustainable intentions and outputs are generating positive impacts and outcomes.
Congratulations, Lakeshore Depot for winning the 2024 Good For Community Award! People First Economy is so excited by the work your business is doing for its community and for using business as a force for good. Thank you for being Good For Michigan!
