Park Slope Food Coop Members Upset Over Paris Trip: Report

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — Some members of the Park Slope Food Coop are reportedly upset over a trip to Paris taken by two staffers.

Administrators Joe Holtz and Ann Herpel flew to Paris last month to help start up a similar co-op, where members work shifts in exchange to access to super-cheap groceries, according to the New York Post.

The airfare and lodging was paid for by the new co-op in the City of Lights, but some members vented to the Post and said the trip seemed more like a vacation.

Holtz and Herpel, who pull in a reported $90,000 per year, gave a PowerPoint presentation at the Coop's general meeting last week that "included photos of French food and shopping trips to grocery stores," the Post reported.

"You gotta be kidding me,’’ one member told the paper. "First they waste our money on their vacation, then they waste our Tuesday night gloating. It’s more than unseemly."

Another member, Daphne Bianco, told the Post: "I don’t think that’s fair. The trip doesn’t really concern Brooklyn."

Herpel told the Post that Coop members applauded following the presentation.

"We think that we have a great thing going on here, and we think it’s wonderful. Why wouldn’t we help?" she said.

Click here to read more from the New York Post.

On Monday afternoon, the Coop responded in a blog post on its website. The post, that didn't appear under a byline, said that after "several years mentoring and consulting" with the founders of "La Louve Cooperative," two staffers went to "review the operation in person prior to their grand opening on November 14."

The post said that the Park Slop Coop staffers' travel, lodging and "many" meals were provided by La Louve, while other food costs came "out of their own pockets."

"While the vast majority of Park Slope Food Coop staff time and member labor is focused on day-to-day operations, we have a long history of devoting resources to other Coops."

Read the Park Slope Food Coop's full post here.

(Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)