Crow Wing Food Co-op Wins Brainerd’s Destination Downtown Contest

The Brainerd Chamber of Commerce held its annual Celebration of Excellence at Cragun’s Resort on Thursday, and several local businesses were recognized for their work in the community. But the highlight of the night was awarding the winner of 2019’s Destination Downtown Business Challenge.

Nearly 9,000 votes from the community decided this year’s Destination Downtown winner, which was Crow Wing Food Co-op. They’ll walk away with $65,000 worth of prizes to help expand and modernize their downtown business.

“We have 1,300 members and we had seen the wide-spread community support, so we were pretty confident going in, but it’s a huge relief and a huge honor and wonderful feeling,” said Jennifer Jacquot-DeVries, Crow Wing Food Co-op Capital Campaign Chair. “We really want to focus on bringing in more locally produced and locally-grown foods, so we want to provide a more direct communication, a direct connection between our farmers and our local eaters in downtown Brainerd.”

To go along with expansion, Crow Wing Food Co-op also plans to add a deli and a smoothie juice bar to their business.