Meet thewomanwhowill oversee Dayton’s newest andmost innovative grocery store
Therecently hiredgeneralmanager of the Gem City Market is ready to hit the ground running — and she isn’t afraid to chase a few chickens while she’s at it.
In her newposition, Daytonian Leah Bahan-Harris is responsible for making sure the market is hearing the needs of the community and for serving as leader of the area’s first-of-its kind, community-owned grocery store.
After years of work, the Gem City Market is expected to open in the first quarter of 2021 at 324 Salem Ave. just across the river from downtown Dayton.
Bahan-Harris spent most of her childhood in Five Oaks neighborhood up the street from where the market now stands. Moving to Trotwood in her teen years, Bahan-Harris is rooted in the Northwest Dayton area and aims to elevate the community that raised her.
She knows the job will be demanding. Bahan-Harris said she is ready to be “a boost ofphysical force” — no matter the role.
“Besidesmy professionalwomen’s football career, I really enjoy wrangling stray chickens into their coop of spaces as needed,” Bahan-Harris said. “While some define it as a chase, I see a strategical dance of balance and confidence when having such interactions.”
A chef and farmer, Bahan-Harris is bringing decades of experience to hernewrole. ThenewGM plans to go far beyond the standard manager job description to organize cooking classes, nutrition education and put a focus on local farmers and vendors.
Here’s more fromLeah BahanHarris, in her own words.
What in your life and career led to accepting the role as the general manager of Gem City Market? As GM, what will your main responsibilities be?
All of my experiences from being raised in this community and having many first experiences, tomy professional development have broughtme into the role of general manager. Almost 20 years ago, my experience in food service professionally begin at theWalmart thatwas on Salem Avenue in the food court. Since then, I evolved into retail management, with a strong food-service background, structuring and managing teams upwards of 40 people, while providing focused care with the customerswe serve at a high level of value, presentation and quality.
My primary responsibilities lie within our mission statement, which is to serve, engage, and empower our neighborhoods by providing affordable, high-quality food in a clean and welcoming environment that is workerand community-owned. My job is ensuring Gem City Market is hearing the needs of our community and providing ways to exceed their expectations.
I’ll be responsible for meeting the goal of providing qualityproducts at competitive prices while maintaining excellent customer service in a friendly, clean, and safework environment. My overall responsibilities include, but aren’t limited to, employee hiring and directing staff; financial management; marketing oversight, inventory and price management; and maintaining the Cooperative’s mission, policies and procedures.
Being a store where our focus is thecommunity, who built us brick by brick, I’m also responsible for ensuring we have excellent programming through ourhealth and wellness, truly being connected to thewellness of an individual’s mind, body and soul. (We) will have enriching fitness classes like yoga, a clinic with various health screenings, cooking classes in the kitchen among other activities to provide an extra space for wholeness in our community.
As a farmer and chef, how do you hope to incorporate those skills into your role as GM?
Being a general manager in a full-service retail grocery store with a focus on providing the community with an affordable product with its utmost respect and integrity flows into both. As an executive chef and farm manager, I have the utmost respect for quality product, presentation and value on an extensive level.
Understanding our supply chain, financial controls, community impact through the execution of quality products that need to meet state, federal and local guidelines has been the basis of both aspects in my career. I’ve alsoworked with people from all walks of life, with a respect and genuine understanding that makes a recipe for a strong servant-leader.
Being in a position to empower individuals to be involvedfromthe groundup, figuratively, yet and still like a farmer, translates into how I viewthisMarket. Learning the right ingredients that’ll make the best of the conditions of what we’re cultivating, while being productive in the maximization of energy, planning and time, is much like farming. As a chef, I’ve learned to be strategic, yet creative. I am a strong team player, with the edge to naturally excel and work in teams or independently.
Why is Dayton the community you continuously choose to serve?
When I saw the general manager posting with Gem CityMarket, Iwas ignited by the call to be an instrumental force of lasting community restoration. I spentmy youth here: volunteering Saturdays at Parkside, spending Sundays atmy parent’s church off Broadway, at the Biltmore onWednesdays, with my dad visiting local nursing homes. Playing sports, passing out food, playing music, I cherish many precious memories created in the same neighborhoods that I am humbled to serve through Gem City Market Cooperative.
I love the energy of Dayton,
we’re a creative and innovative city with a melting pot of beautiful people from different places who settle here. There’s something truly empowering about being part of the greater vision to make a space in Dayton more than just your average store, but a place to feelwelcome, and to feel like your overallwellness is key.
Whatare youmost excited for in the first fewmonths after the grand opening of the market?
Being able to hear and respond to the needs of the community in action. Meeting member owners face to face, the sound of the flat top sizzling with fresh food, or employees having an “a-ha moment” learning a new task or deepening their skills through the market.