This seems to be in the Boston, Mass., area.<p>Some related local background is that there was the Harvest Co-op chain until a few years ago: <a href="https://www.boston.com/food/food/2018/10/04/harvest-co-op-markets-closing/" rel="nofollow">https://www.boston.com/food/food/2018/10/04/harvest-co-op-ma...</a><p>There's also the Market Basket for-profit regional chain, where employees and customers successfully stood up against some family business maneuvers to force out the head, and it's once again generally well-regarded AFAIK (including profit-sharing for employees). <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Basket_(New_England)#2014_firing_of_Arthur_T._Demoulas_and_protests" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Market_Basket_(New_England)#20...</a>
I read the article, but it is not clear what <i>kind of</i> co-op they want to create.<p>Is it a brick & mortar, delivery? Is it making deals with local farmers & homesteads, or buying from large distributors at discount?<p>I have participated in co-ops that were delivery only, local only. It was not always the cheapest, but for planning meals it worked out. The quality was almost always better if I just walked down to the large chain grocery store.
So much enlightening info in these comments about the economics of these stores and the truth behind the sourcing of the food.<p>I've been a co-op member for almost 20 years; back before I had kids and lived really close to the store we used to go there almost every day. The biggest draw was always the quality of the food; the chain stores were only selling conventional and mass-produced products and if you wanted a better and/or local product, the co-op was your place. But then in the mid-2000s we got Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and and an organic/specialty aisle in all the supermarkets. Eventually the organic aisle disappeared and it was just organic products on the regular shelves. When we moved away, our new city also had a co-op but it was a 15+ minute drive from home and there was very little draw for us: it was largely the same products we could get at our local stores, but 20% more expensive. The only reason to go there is if we happen to be in the area and/or if there's something we want that we know they only sell there, but that's no different than the 3 big-chain stores in our town.
I love this! Thanks for sharing the details. The world needs more co-ops.<p>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.
I don't get it. It said nothing about actually providing food. At what point do people grow or get produce?<p>Also why does race have to be brought into everything? Why have the 8th principal? Looking at your board members all of you are white. All of your support staff is white. Why cant it be just a group of not racist people building a co-op, where all are welcome? Why does everything have to push race? Its exhausting.<p>Don't get me wrong, I think its great you have a goal and are building something to help your community, I just don't understand some of the choices and I mean this in a "trying not to be a jerk" way.
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.<p>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 greenhouse.<p>I haven't been impressed by the style of coop the author writes about. It seems like the doers are much more successful. Just this past year a new farmers market started in an urban food desert with two vendors in a church parking lot. Now they are trying to find new space because they have 20+ vendors weekly. To my knowledge, they raised zero dollars to get started.
As a kid, my family was part of a co-op. I grew up in the boonies, and there was one local grocery store that had horrible selection. The larger chains required long drives to get to, but even then they did not have the produce selections that is the norm now. Instead, each weekend a member of the co-op would visit the farmer's market in the Big City. We were no where near the size of the co-op in the TFA, but it made a big difference in the selection of produce we had. Now, that farmer's market is no longer, but now a series of condos with Farmer's Market as part of their name are there. I just never though that a co-op would be a viable thing in 21st century, so it was definitely interesting reading about how that's not the case.
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?
Can anyone shed more light on why it takes 7-10 years to get to an actual store?<p>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?
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.<p>I understand the process of establishing the food co-op, <i>but how did they get the food</i>??
I belong to 120 person food co-op. Its operated out of the basement of house since the 80s. We're a different model than described here, its a hybrid of a buying club and a grocery store. All of the labor is unpaid, you must be a member to shop, it has limited official open hours but everyone gets a key and can shop themselves whenever they like. Most people pay a 20% markup on goods but people that have extra responsibility pay less.
If you have not checked out a real CSA in your area I highly recommend it (Community Supported Agriculture) - its basically the convenience of a farmers market without you needing to dedicate the time to it. Plus you are getting the absolute freshest produce from a local farm directly.<p>Definitely avoid though the big name giant ones that claim to be a "CSA" but are a giant national org
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.
How do you all keep it truly democratic with (eventually) 1000+ owners? Who decides on major decisions like, where it will be built, what funding sources you'll accept, who will do what work etc.
Cool, I've been a member of a Coop for about 10 years now.<p>Website of our Coop (in German):<p><a href="https://foodcoop-karlsruhe.de" rel="nofollow">https://foodcoop-karlsruhe.de</a>
I love the playbook mentioned here. I think it's part of this library: <a href="https://fci.coop/business-development/" rel="nofollow">https://fci.coop/business-development/</a><p>Seems reminiscent to me of the open-source ethos or the (declining?) community spirit in tech startup land. Except where organizations compete directly, collaboration makes a lot of sense.
I was also somewhat surprised to hear there weren't any grocery co-ops in Eastern/Central Mass (notwithstanding the chain that closed), but it could be the co-op niche (small store, high-quality groceries) is already filled in the area by the many small markets, delis, etc. that have been there for decades.
I live in that area and would love to start getting involved. I’ll reach out!<p>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!
Most areas don't have co-ops because not many people are willing to do a ton of work and not get any benefits from it. This is why capitalism works so well... Entrepreneurs take a ton of risk and do a ton of work and sometimes get windfall profits from it.