Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Starting a food co-op: Year 1

quaran.to

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 181 posts

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#31

Post by bombcar »

tacostakohashi wrote: post #25
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.

And look how much the land sold for - $36 million! In rural areas the land is basically free, and even then many of the "for-profit" grocery stores are just family owned businesses that have more in common with a coop than you might expect.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#32

Post by bombcar »

brnaftr361 wrote: post #16

I'm kinda curious are there any protections in place to mitigate somebody (ostensibly nefarious) wresting control of the consumer-owner representatives? I know one of the aspects of Mondragon's foundation is that there is zero outside influence and all control is within the shareholders, which are exclusively workers because these sort of buyout risks have actually played out.

Co-ops themselves usually have a particular setup that's similar to a non-profit (and so they're not really "sellable" but can merge with other co-ops).

The "nefarious" entities don't care; they will control the suppliers as that's where the money is made anyway; grocery stores are cost centers.

The main protection I'd look for is avoid long-term and exclusive contracts. Anything that prohibits you from sourcing from other suppliers is highly suspect.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#33

Post by the-printer »

qrush wrote: post #29
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!

Wow. So this is a process. I can understand that when the goal is likely sustainability, scale and longevity. Thank you for sharing this with us.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#34

Post by germinalphrase »

candiddevmike wrote: post #21
nominusllc wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

Driftless adjacent.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#35

Post by ricardobeat »

Can anyone shed more light on why it takes 7-10 years to get to an actual store?

In my head you’d start signing up suppliers / farmers, find a suitable place to rent, get some more funding, build out the store, hire, and start it up. What makes it slower than other businesses?

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#36

Post by boole1854 »

yojo wrote: post #30
socialismisok wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Having seen the inside workings of a local farming co-op, I can tell you that they they also do not necessarily grow their own food. Some produce is literally sourced from major chain grocery stores in town and resold with markup by the farmers at the farmer's market. To be fair, the sellers usually do sell some of their own produce as well, if it's in season, but some of them don't hesitate to also simply resell grocery store produce to bulk out their product offerings.

(And frankly, the grocery store produce often just looks more fresh than the produce actually grown by the vendors themselves.)

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#37

Post by seibelj »

jpm_sd wrote: post #28
socialismisok wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I went to the one in JP a lot before it closed. Our main issue was that the produce was often rotten / moldy and there were flies inside a lot. It's hard to justify higher fees and being "more healthy" when all your food is spoiled. We went because it was a 5 minute walk but now we use Whole Foods for everything.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#38

Post by the_lonely_road »

socialismisok wrote: post #12

I love this! Thanks for sharing the details. The world needs more co-ops. The US needs to make it easier to incorporate co-ops. As someone who looked into building both a software co-op and a housing co-op, getting the paperwork in order was such a larger hassle than seeing up an LLC.

What made it a hassle?

I abandoned Ember for React even though I liked the former a lot more because the community was tiny meaning there were few resources and it was practically impossible to hire anyone that could hit the ground running. It turned out to be a great decision. I have set up a number of LLCs over the years and it’s dead simple, but I know nothing about setting up a co op. Seems like it shouldn’t be much more difficult except for how rare it is so I’m curious to hear your pain points.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#39

Post by debacle »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #27
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.

The local farmer's market that I patronize (not a coop) has been around for 60 years. The one nearer me (a coop, the doer kind) has grown to multiple gigantic facilities, a few satellite locations, and regional name recognition for quality.

I think they'll be okay.

Re: Starting a food co-op: Year 1

#40

Post by davidjfelix »

the_lonely_road wrote: post #38
socialismisok wrote: post #12

I love this! Thanks for sharing the details. The world needs more co-ops. The US needs to make it easier to incorporate co-ops. As someone who looked into building both a software co-op and a housing co-op, getting the paperwork in order was such a larger hassle than seeing up an LLC.

What made it a hassle? I abandoned Ember for React even though I liked the former a lot more because the community was tiny meaning there were few resources and it was practically impossible to hire anyone that could hit the ground running. It turned out to be a great decision. I have set up a number of LLCs over the years and it’s dead simple, but I know nothing about setting up a co op. Seems like it shouldn’t be m…

It depends a lot on the state that one resides (or incorporates) in. With LLCs they mostly all follow the same pattern and if you're the sole owner they can be done without charter, initial incorporation docs, etc. With coops, some states follow uniform common law LCA (limited cooperative association) laws and allow worker-owned coops pretty easily (although lawyers are generally less familiar as they're rarer). Other states only allow certain kinds of coops and require charters and organizational documents. Basically, any time you involve more than one person, there is some paperwork (LLC or otherwise). Coops have this, plus the added difficulty of not being uniform around the US.

Last I looked, Colorado and IL had a lot of coop options to choose from, but nothing was as straight forward as an LLC where you just file 1 notice with the state and pay 100 bucks. LCA states are close, but you still have the "many people" issue.

Post reply on HN