As We Grow, So Does the Responsibility to Stay True

There’s a question that keeps finding its way into almost every staff meeting we have at The Store.

As we talk about growth and expansion, someone will ask, in one form or another: “How do we make sure we don’t lose what makes this place…this place?”

We want to grow.

We feel called to grow.

Because the need is growing.

Food insecurity is at a 10-year high, and no one on our team believes standing still is an option.

And still, there’s a healthy tension we come back to again and again.

What happens to culture when you scale?

What happens to values when new people join quickly?

What happens to the small, human moments when teams stretch across locations?

Growth changes things. It should.

But holding onto your purpose while everything expands around it - that’s the real work.

At The Store, we’ve tried to be intentional about that.

At every all-staff meeting, we start by naming our core values and calling out specific ways we see them lived out.

Not in theory, but in named moments:

A team member walking groceries to a customer who needed extra support.

Someone stepping in without being asked when a teammate was overwhelmed.

We’ve also spent time putting language around what it actually looks like to work here.

Not just what we believe, but how it shows up:We put customers first. (Core Value = Love)

We step in for each other. (Core Value = Collaboration)

We carry the mission together. (Core Value = Community)

Every new team member goes through a full orientation, and I personally walk through our mission, vision, and values with them.

Not because it’s a formality, but because it matters that they understand the kind of place they’re stepping into.

And recently, our team launched a staff-led effort focused on building connection across locations.

Because culture doesn’t scale automatically. It has to be built, and rebuilt, on purpose.

We’ve grown more than 400% in the past few years.

In staff, in food distributed, in meals shared.And we’re not done.

But the commitment is the same now as it was when we started:

To be a place of dignity, choice, and community.

To make sure the heart of this work grows alongside the size of it.

So how do we maintain culture as we grow? I don’t think there’s a perfect formula for this. Just a willingness to keep asking the question and to keep doing the small things that answer it.

How do you hold onto what matters most as your organization grows?