By Art Sherwood 163 November-December 2012 Expansion and growth are on the minds of many cooperative board and management leaders. And this makes sense, since growing our cooperatives’ abilities to deliver on their organizational Ends is of critical strategic importance. It certainly was on our minds at Bloomingfoods Co-op (Bloomington, Ind.) this last year as we addressed growing to include a fourth store and [...]
There has been a resurgence in food co-ops the past several years. People have different reasons for pursuing quality, nutritious, locally sourced food. The recent unstable economy has driven some families to be more selective about what they eat and some share a collective interest in sustaining their own control over their neighborhood businesses. Local co-ops have been enjoying expansions: Weavers Way Co-op, founded [...]
Pam Mehnert, Board President National Cooperative Grocers Association
Presented at the 55th annual Consumer Cooperative Management Association (CCMA) June 18, 2011 in San Diego, CA Keepin’ It Real: Co-ops in Turbulent Times Imagination and AlignmentBy Brett Fairbairn Fellow in Cooperative Thought and Ideas, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Provost and Vice-President Academic, University of Saskatchewan Re-imagining cooperation. Imagination matters to cooperatives. What might be the best for the current generation of cooperatives [...]
Learning objectives: the components of a feasibility assessment learn what goes into business planning learn the difference between feasibility assessment and business planning and when each is needed which areas of feasibility and planning require technical expertise
Learning objectives: the Food Co-op 500 Development Model: Four Cornerstones in Three Stages how the four cornerstones can be developed through the start up process the importance, the sequence and the road map offered by the three stages Related links: Click here for article on the Four Cornerstones in Three Stages model Click here for information the Cooperative Principles
By Mel Braverman 126 September - October - 2006 Many cooperatives struggle to find appropriate operational benchmarks and to set challenging yet attainable goals. Without the use of external data to help them understand how the industry may be changing, they are left with their own historical performance data (if available) as the sole source from which to base their benchmarks and goals. While [...]
LaMontañita Co-op Food Market Founded: 1976 Members: 12,000 Number of Locations: 4 (Albuquerque, Gallup, Santa Fe) Number of Staff: 200 You don’t have to travel far on the sun-baked streets of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to find a natural food store with a juice bar to help quench your thirst. That’s exactly why LaMontañita Co-op Food Market is aggressively adding new locations outside of Albuquerque. [...]
By Mark Goehring 117 March - April - 2005 We can no longer (verb)_____ in isolation. Try these verbs: Learn. Vision. Plan. Invest. Be. Then try your own! Nearly three years ago, the board of directors of the Brattleboro Food Co-op adopted new Ends Policies, statements defining our fundamental aims. A minor celebration followed this conclusion of a decade-long process of developing the board’s [...]
