ABOUT US
Southside Market & Café Co-op opened its doors in October 2025 at 433 E. 79th Street, the result of a community vision that began taking shape in 2020. We exist to address a real gap: Chatham has seen grocery stores and large retailers close over the years, leaving a real need for consistent, nearby access to fresh, affordable food.We believe the people most affected by food inequity should hold ownership and decision-making power in the systems built to address it. That's why Southside Market is cooperatively owned and governed by community members — more than 90% of our staff, board, and management live on the South Side.Since 2021, we've hosted over 21 pop-up markets, community events, and council meetings distributing over 3K units of produce. With the help of the American Heart Association’s Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund and the City of Chicago Neighborhood Recovery Grant, Southside Market launched our first location, and continues hosting monthly community events, and providing recipe bags to strategic partner organizations.
Please use the ‘Contact Us’ form if you are interested in becoming a partner.As we grow our venture, customer and member engagement and input continue to drive every decision. Please join us in increasing food access and business ownership on the South Side of Chicago by signing up for our newsletter or joining our Community Council. Visit our 'Engage' page to learn more about the different ways you can get involved.
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Fresh Market: Offering nutritious groceries and produce, sourced locally whenever possible.
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Café: Serving coffee, tea, and a Grab & Go menu, welcoming neighbors to explore the co-op.
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Hub & Spoke Delivery: Expanding access to our products beyond our physical location.
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Communal Space: Providing an event rental space for community engagement activities.
Our Community Focus
Along with funding, we celebrate the invaluable support from the Greater Chatham community. In partnership with St. Stephen's Lutheran Church, SSM co-hosted a pop-up market in April 2021. The SSM team and dozens of volunteers engaged with 60+ residents and moved 700+ units of produce despite a cold and rainy weekend. Our second pop-up market, in partnership with the Greater Chatham Initiative, took place in late August 2021 on the 75th Street Boardwalk.
In 2022 and 2023, Southside Market continues to host monthly community events focused on nutrition education, live food demos, produce distribution, and collective ownership.
For more info: Southside Market FB Page & Harris Article
We have also been busy building the SSM team. We are thrilled to have Jimmy Prude, Grant Nishioka, Christine Saffold, and Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark bringing their experience in food entrepreneurship, education, grocery procurement & logistics, and community development within Greater Chatham to the Southside Market Advisory Council.
Southside Market hired two high school interns over the summer of 2022. And we are also fortunate to partner with the Chicago Shapers via the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers program for the third year in a row.
For more info: Global Shapers Chicago
In early 2024 Southside Market was excited to convene a formal Board of Directors and committee members as we moved towards launching our first cooperatively owned and operated store. Learn more about this opportunity here.
KEY PROGRESS TO DATE
Start
Funding
Pop-Ups
Team
Southside Market's (SSM) first win in 2021 was in late February, when our team (consisting of Mabel Shiu, Monica Meriweather, Jahnvi Vaidya & Jason Winik) was accepted into University of Chicago's Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC) 2021 Cohort. After countless hours of research and preparation leading up to the SNVC Finals, SSM was one of the three finalists awarded a total of $150,000 in June 2021.
For more info: Rustandy Center & Hyde Park Herald
Our success through the SNVC program was a stepping stone to additional funding from the American Heart Association's Bernard J. Tyson Impact Fund, and our cofounder, Mabel Shiu receiving the Tarrson Social Venture Fellowship enabling her to work full time on SSM.
For more info: AHA Press Release & 2021 Tarrson Fellows
MEET OUR TEAM
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MABEL SHIU
Mabel Shiu was born and raised in Skokie, IL. She is an IU Kelley graduate and a recent Chicago Booth MBA graduate with 6+ years in corporate FP&A, Operations, and IT Implementation. She has experience in social entrepreneurship consulting and workforce development locally in Chicago; CHICAT Board Fellow and Farber Fellowship with REDF in the Austin/West Garfield Park Neighborhoods. Mabel is also a 2021-2022 Tarrson Social Venture Fellow sponsored by the Rustandy Center of Social Innovation.
MARCEA LEWIS
Marcea Lewis is a Spelman College graduate and is currently attending UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, pursuing an MPH in Community Nutrition. Her legacy company That’s Marcea’s Food specializes in vegan and gluten-free comfort food and serves the Woodlawn and greater Chicagoland area. Focused on holistic healing and honoring the land which our ancestors worked and our food comes from, she has experience in community organizing, urban agriculture, and community engagement.
MONICA MERIWEATHER
Monica Meriweather is a recent UChicago Social Sector Leadership and Nonprofit Management graduate. Monica is a former resident of Chatham and has four years of experience as a public school teacher in Englewood. She is passionate about alleviating food insecurity and has 15+ years of volunteer experience with community-based organizations in Chicago.
Board of Directors
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This section is under construction. We are excited to feature our amazing Board of Directors.
Please visit us again soon!
ADVISORS
Christine Saffold
Entrepreneur and Former Greater Chatham Initiative Ambassador
Grant Nishioka
Former Director of Procurement and Logistics at Daily Table
Jimmy Prude
Food Entrepreneur and former Community Organizer in Auburn-Gresham
Dr. Geeta Maker-Clark
Physician, Educator, and Founder of the “The Food Is Power Program” in Englewood
G. Sequane Lawrence
President and CEO of Revolution Institute, Experienced CED Practitioner