Viroqua Food Co-Op

I love when I can afford to eat organic anythings, and this is where I would tell anyone to go when in town, IF they can dig in a deep pocketbook. That is to say that some items can have a high price. However, many prepared foods available are Excellent and worth the tag that goes with it. The staff are super cool! Check the on sale items, local offerings, and hell, you are in the say Cheese capital of the world, Smile! There are more organic farms in the area than you can find in most states, so depending on the time of year, you could stroll through a wonderland of offerings. Wi Fi, and seating, warm friendly people and small town charm to top it off. I know I started out this review with a price beware rant, but I really love this place!

A wonderful whole foods, organic, local community store — and the staff is fantastic. Also, the customer service is top-​notch. If you do have a problem, ask for a manager and I am sure they will fix it. We are really blessed to have such a great food co-​op — it goes a long way to making Viroqua the amazing community that it is.

Such a wonderful place. Kind staff and a welcoming atmosphere. What a great choice of coffee and such colorful and bountiful produce. I always been greeted so kindly upon entering and departing and I could seriously sit all day in the café area just enjoying life and one of the great sandwiches.

I was extremely excited for lunch at this co-​op, however after ordering my meal, I was disappointed. I have no problem spending a little extra cash on organic/​locally sourced meals, but with higher quality ingredients, I expect a higher quality in taste, and to be honest, everything I had was average. The sandwiches were a bit overpriced for their size/​taste and my iced maple coffee was also disappointing.
The store itself, on the other hand, was fantastic. Definitely the biggest co-​op I’ve ever been to. The wide variety of local and organic selections was refreshing.

Awesome selection, kind staff.
Great selection of Kickapoo coffee, definitely a new favorite.
I’ll be sure to return if I ever pass through Viroqua again

OMGoodness! My husband wanted to stop by and see the store and we decided to get sandwiches there in the deli for lunch. We are not generally your organic type but I got the «ham I am» sandwich and he got the «kitchen sink» sandwich. Both were amazing and prepared pretty quickly. We shopped around and bought a grand selection of cheeses and fresh fruit to take to a Packer party later in our day. Then we found the «sanpellecrino» lemon and orange drink we were served in a quaint Italian restaurant in Malibu just recently… a pefect shopping experience and we even ran into a good friend as well. Definitely will go back there for more sandwiches and more sanpellecrino soda!

Ditto on what everyone else has said, plus: they have a solid selection of local craft beers. All co-​ops should be this rocking.

I have traveled to the Viroqua area for over 30 years now, and VFC is a «must» visit everytime I am here. I remember the days of the old co-​op on Center St – the «new» co-​op was astounding when it opened some years ago.
For the locals, VFC is a great place to pick up organics & staples. For the traveler like me, the food bar and the sandwich bar are a welcome alternative to fast-​food franchises or roadside diners where selections for vegetarians are few.
We stopped in yesterday and had organic breakfast biscuits with egg & cheese (sausage & bacon were also options for the non-​vegetarians – and yes, all organic). Kickapoo coffee, and a fresh scone from the pastry selection rounded out our breakfast.
When we leave Sunday, we’ll have them make a couple of sandwiches, grab a six pack of Spotted Cow and head back east. If you’re in the area or just passing through, VFC is a treat.

Amazing selection of products from fresh to frozen and very nice folks in the shop. Given their location, they could raise prices another 15% and that’s why you should support local co-​ops!!!

First let me tell you. I have enhanced peripheral awareness, or ADD. My medication gives me drymouth, and also kills my appetite. Essentially, it turns me into a food snob.
Driving down hwy 14 on a fine spring afternoon I knew my body needed some nourishment; not because of hunger, but because my mouth was especially sticky.
Enter Viroqua Coop via my local friend’s recommendation. 3 Perfect naval oranges, bag of crisp grapes, and 1 yummy bulk bag of trail mix later, I stumble upon the Deli. Their Veggie sandwich looked temping, but after much perplexity, I went for the Chicken Salad Sandwich.
A lot can go wrong with chicken salad, but I sensed greatness from the counter-​man. Without asking he sliced a massive tomato slab, and layered the lettuce on top of a fresh baguette.
This was maybe not the perfect chicken-​salad sandwich, but close. Not too much mayo, ground bits of walnut and enough veggie bits to add crunch. If I could rate this sandwich, i’d give it 4.5 stars, just because it was only very slightly too dry because of the large size of the baguette. However, this was easily remedied by eating crisp red grapes in combination with the sandwich. Killer. The oranges were perfect too.
Overall, this place sells great products, and I know because I worked at an organic grocery for a time. Definitely the place to stop when driving through Viroqua en route to morel hunting.

Love, love, love this place! I found all kinds of fun and unusual produce items here, including lemongrass, which I used in a Thai soup. I also saw multicolored beets, turnips, rutabagas, turmeric root, fresh ginger, a variety of mushrooms, and lots of other colorful, fresh fruits, veggies, and fresh herbs. They carry pasture butter, organic milk in glass bottles, raw cheeses, and lots of other real foods. Gluten-​free grains there included quinoa, millet, buckwheat, and I think amaranth too, along with a nice selection of GF crackers, cookies, frozen pizza crusts, etc. I really liked that local food items were marked with clear labels indicating what farm they were from. One of my favorite spots in the region!

This is the only place to eat in Viroqua. I was in this small town one day for business and I couldn’t find anything remotely interesting to eat, BUT then I stumbled upon this place! This co-​op is really well put together! Great selection… makes it hard to decide on just one thing to get! We grabbed our food and sat outside and ate. It was a great experience!

Having recently made the change to gluten-​free living, our daughter in San Francisco learned about the Viroqua Food Cooperative on Unilocal and gave us the info. It is in our own backyard and we never knew it! Thank you Unilocal.
Last weekend I made my first trip to the Co-​op, and it won’t be my last. What fun! A large, new, well-​lit spacious store with friendly staffers who were very helpful in answering questions about new-​to-​me produce items. In addition to the wonderful produce section, I also appreciated the ‘gluten free’ labels on the shelved items.
All in all, definitely a 5 star experience.

If I ever make the leap to living in a small town, Viroqua will get serious consideration just so I can shop at the co-​op and enjoy all the wonderful seasonal and local foods. Many are fully organic too, and almost none are overpriced– generally cheap by city standards anyway.
They have a great little dine in section up front that’s easy to miss– go ahead and grab some hot food from the food bar, or a good cup of coffee at the coffee bar, and have a seat and eavesdrop on the locals. You’ll likely hear interesting talk of organic farming, land stewardship, local politics and the like.
The store itself is pretty big, with a very well packaged and put together feel– it feels like shopping at a chain supermarket in all the good ways, but none of the bad. Over at the hot food station the soups are labeled with a color tag indicating ingredients– looks just like what you’d find at WF or TJ’s… except for the final ingredient listed here that they’ll never have– a heart!
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If whole foods got a soul and had a true purpose beyond increasing shareholder value, I bet it’d want to become just like the Viroqua Food Co-​op.

Among the few groceries I’ve ever described as «breathtaking,» and in a town of 4,000, no less. Bright, spotless aisles filled with natural foods, with variety to rival any big-​city supermarket, while a hot bar and sandwich stand offer ready-​to-​eat food for the dozen-​odd tables. Much of the astoundingly fresh food is proudly labeled as having originated within Vernon County: in June, that included parsley, arugula, berries, yogurt, eggs, and trout. The staff are glad to help in whatever way needed.