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Starting a food co-op: Year 1

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Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#21

Post by candiddevmike »

nominusllc wrote: post #8
jpm_sd wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that Harvest shut down "after years of financial instability", what's the strategy for this new co-op to survive? If you can't run a successful co-op in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where can you?

The co-op in Gays Mills, WI has been going strong since the 80's. All you need is a homogeneous community and some hippies. It's hard for one side to get one over on the other side when everyone shares the same corner store, pool, pub, and one-eyed barber. Love that place. You can smell the spices and herbs about 20ft from the door and it's just amazing. Like a spicy masala with a little skunk to it. I think co-ops w…

Kickapoo exchange? Driftless folks on HN?

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#23

Post by bombcar »

socialismisok wrote: post #19
phphphphp wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you need to create greenhouses and raise vegetables from the start? My understanding is that a coop (like any business) is a means to an end and so you can start out by leveraging what is effectively group buying to source high quality fresh produce and then, once established, gradually iterate towards total self reliance. Does that not work for this model?

It could, but where do you get the capital to do the group buying? My point is that the parent is likely simply not aware of the organizing that went into creating the group of "doers" they are praising.

Around here the "doers" (we have farmer's markets and similar) are spouses/children of actual farmers, and even though their main product may be fifty five billion bushels of ethanol wheat, the family grows some crops for personal use, and they have been "roadside standing" the excess for years; the farmers market starts as an extension of that and from there can grow.

You'll note that they already were farming for the big players.

The other half are often "hobby farm" hobbyists who may or may not grow to be an actual business (there are at least two or three honey providers that have done this around here - starting small and obviously not the primary income to being large enough to have employees).

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#24

Post by orzig »

I live in that area and would love to start getting involved. I’ll reach out!

Anyone else who’s on the fence about getting involved: If you value building community (even aside from food in specific), your public involvement now will only snowball in impact; strike while the iron is hot!

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#25

Post by tacostakohashi »

dugmartin wrote: post #22

The article mentions no open food coops in central or eastern Massachusetts but there are quite a few here in western Mass. Not sure why the difference but maybe it’s due to greatly cheaper rent?

It tends to work in places where a for-profit supermarket would be marginal (at best), but people still need their groceries, fuel, etc.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#26

Post by the-printer »

This may be an ignorant question. I’m sure I can search for it myself. But the commenters here sound well informed and experienced. Here it goes.

I understand the process of establishing the food co-op, but how did they get the food??

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#27

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

debacle wrote: post #11

There is a local group trying to "disrupt" coops in this way: find members to shell out $$, have a steering committee, do a lot of marketing, all before the coop even has a location in mind. Meanwhile there are actual coops (though they don't call themselves that) with skyrocketing membership who are doing, not planning, and slowly growing to encompass more than just produce. One of them now has a year-round greenhou…

One problem with the "doers" just doing is that they don't build up the same level of social capital. When times get tough (and as long as we have capitalism, and likely after that too, they will get tough), they tend to fail out much harder and faster than the more traditional style of co-op that can fall back on more solidly established local goodwill.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#28

Post by jpm_sd »

socialismisok wrote: post #7
jpm_sd wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that Harvest shut down "after years of financial instability", what's the strategy for this new co-op to survive? If you can't run a successful co-op in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where can you?

Most places I've lived on the west coast have grocery co-ops. Often they stand out in the market by carrying high quality, locally produced, or "hippie" food. Some folks prefer to shop there because they like the model - co-op businesses generally seem to be more invested in local communities.

Yes, you are accurately describing the Harvest Co-op which operated in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and failed to thrive. Aka "the People's Republic of Cambridge"?

I dunno, maybe it was mismanaged due to excessive ideological community involvement? Or maybe operating costs were just too high in one of the most expensive cities in the nation?

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#29

Post by qrush »

the-printer wrote: post #26

This may be an ignorant question. I’m sure I can search for it myself. But the commenters here sound well informed and experienced. Here it goes. I understand the process of establishing the food co-op, but how did they get the food ??

Most co-ops pair with local distributors and national ones (the most prominent being National Co-op Grocers - https://ncg.coop) to actually get the food, but tons of steps to do before we are ready for this!

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#30

Post by yojo »

socialismisok wrote: post #13
debacle wrote: post #11

There is a local group trying to "disrupt" coops in this way: find members to shell out $$, have a steering committee, do a lot of marketing, all before the coop even has a location in mind. Meanwhile there are actual coops (though they don't call themselves that) with skyrocketing membership who are doing, not planning, and slowly growing to encompass more than just produce. One of them now has a year-round greenhou…

Where do the "doers" get the capital to create greenhouses and raise vegetables?

I’ve shopped at a couple worker owned co-ops. None of them grow their own food, though some do value-add preparation (e.g. prepared salads).

I think there are farming co-ops, but that does not seem to be what the article is about.

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