Dive Brief:
- PCC Community Markets will discontinue its culinary education program, effective Aug. 28, according to a letter posted by the cooperative grocer’s CEO, Krish Srinivasan.
- The program, which has run for more than 40 years and includes adult and kids’ classes and camps, has operated at a loss for years, the letter stated.
- “Our Culinary Experiences team explored every viable model to sustain the program, but the reality remained the same: costs consistently exceeded revenue,” Srinivasan stated in his letter.
Dive Insight:
Although it has deep roots in the Seattle area and is a unique offering for the cooperative grocer, PCC’s culinary education program has struggled to make financial sense at a time when costs are rising and grocers are closely scrutinizing every aspect of their businesses.
“This was not an easy decision,” Srinivasan wrote. “Culinary education has been core to PCC’s identity for more than four decades, and I know what this program meant to our community. Unfortunately, operating costs have risen while classroom participation has declined.”
The program includes a wide range of classes that cover everything from learning basic knife skills to preparing complex sauces. Classes rotate every two months or so and take place at several stores that are equipped with teaching kitchens, according to an Instagram post from the grocer earlier this year. Each class utilizes ingredients sourced from the store.
In his letter, Srinivasan explained why PCC ended the program despite the cooperative’s stated focus on community engagement.
“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,” he wrote. “At our current scale and in the current environment, culinary education is not.”
PCC isn’t the only grocer to pull back on culinary education. In 2023, Publix announced it would end its in-store Aprons Cooking Schools but still offer the program online.
Shortly after sharing its decision to shutter the culinary education program, PCC posted its annual report detailing its strongest financial performance in years. The cooperative posted $488 million in net sales, up 8.4% over the previous year. It reported net income of $2.4 million, which is a significant improvement over the roughly $391,000 in net income it totaled in 2024 and the nearly $10 million net income loss it incurred in 2023 due to a store closure.
PCC operates 16 stores in the Seattle area and plans to add a location this fall in the Madison Valley neighborhood.
