Starting the Conversation: What Does It Take to Achieve Organizational Racial Equity
If you were to ask, most people would say that they are against racism and intolerance. Yet our society has imposed many powerful economic and social barriers to those from disenfranchised racial and economic backgrounds. [...]
Leading Co-op Operations with an Equity Lens
Durham Co-op Market Durham, NC Year founded: 2015 Number of members: 4,000 Member investment: $100 Number of employees: 50 Retail square feet: 8,000 The startup vision for Durham Co-op Market in Durham, NC was to [...]
Everyone Welcome? Examining Race and Food Co-ops
By Patricia Cumbie, Jade Barker "The questions which one asks oneself begin, at least, to illuminate the world, and become one’s key to the experience of others."—James A. Baldwin Part of our professional work is [...]
Cooperative Business Law Basics: A Primer on Organizational Structure and Capitalization Options
By Thane Joyal, Dave Swanson Change in the market, change in the world, can mean stress in the relationships within a cooperative as the organization adapts to the changing circumstances. Both having the right organizational [...]
Make Your Produce Holiday Season a Success
Traditionally a time of community events and gathering together to celebrate the bounty of the season’s agricultural harvest, the Thanksgiving holiday is a great opportunity for food co-ops to stand out and highlight what they [...]
Measuring & Communicating the Co-op Difference
In a lot of ways our work speaks for itself. The data supports an assertion that cooperation produces stronger happier communities, local economies, food systems and shoppers. Bonnie Hudspeth, Neighboring Food Co-op Associations Manager of [...]
Telling the Co-op Impact Story
So much of the critical work of movement-building is getting the word out there to those who are looking for what we offer. As the Executive Director of Neighboring Food Co-ops Association, Erbin Crowell spend [...]
Why Do Marketing and Operations Clash?
Back when I worked in distribution, the warehousers complained that marketing promised too much to the customer, while marketing grumbled that the warehouse always said no. It’s the same in retail. When conducting employee surveys [...]
Safety Training That Works
An Interview with Paul Feiner As a Loss Prevention Certified (LPC) professional, Paul Feiner works full time as Store Support Manager at Sacramento Natural Foods in Sacramento, CA. On the side, he and his brother [...]
Pro Formas and the New Competitive Challenges
In the grocery world, we live in challenging times. Costco and Wal-Mart carry organic products. Supermarket chains tout local produce and have a house brand of organics. Home delivery has everyone buzzing; even Amazon is getting into the action. Pro forma financial statements are forward-looking projections of how your co-op will perform given a specific set of assumptions. They are useful in many ways, especially for new stores and expansions where your co-op is headed into uncharted waters.