How To Start Your Own Neighborhood Co-Op

This article is from the website www.UtahDealDiva.com.  It explains how to start up your own neighborhood co op.

Now there are several Utah produce co-ops that are fantastic that you can easily join- the Community Food co-op of Utah,and Bountiful Baskets are two popular ones here. TheHarvest Grocery Co-op just started in southern Utah. We opted to create our own for many reasons. First, we have full control over what produce is in our basket, so we don't get any unusual produce unless we want it. We also don't have to compete for registering online for a basket- it's ours every 2 weeks. If a certain item is very low in cost, we also have the option to buy more- which came in handy when we got strawberries for .67/lb! Since it's a neighborhood co-op, it's close by and flexible.

I've calculated the produce to be about a 25% discount from what you can buy in the grocery store. Our family of 5 has no problem going through a basket in 2 weeks. I also find us eating more fruits and vegetables simply because we always have them on hand.

If you'd like to start your own produce co-op, here's what you'll need:

• A leader. Someone will have to order the produce and manage the money. to compensate for this individuals time and effort, they get their produce FREE each time. Open a separate checking account just for the co-op.
• 12-24 willing participants. Get the word out via Facebook or word-of-mouth. Baskets come every 2 weeks and cost $16.50 each. Produce often comes in increments of 12, so start with 12 families. After word gets out, increasing the amount to 24 is fine. Anymore than that becomes too cumbersome, so it's best to split into 2 different co-ops when the numbers increase beyond 24. It takes a couple months to get 12-24 dependable people for your co-op. If you have 24 participants, have the leader select an assistant who can help coordinate everything. The assistant also gets free produce each time.
• A location. Ours is run out of our neighbor's garage. The produce is delivered right to your location, so no having to haul it anywhere.
• Baskets. Dollar Tree has baskets for $1 each. Have the leader purchase them all at once, so they match and can be stacked. Baskets stay in the co-op location at all times. Participants bring their own bag, box or basket to take their produce home in.
• A produce company. Two wholesale produce companies here in Utah that are very willing to work with neighborhood co-ops are Quality Produce, (801) 363-6779, 505 W 500 S, SLC, 84101 and Granato Produce, (801)359-8651, 46 Orange Street, SLC, 84116. Quality Produce has great prices and impeccable customer service but you do have to phone in produce orders. Granato is priced  higher, but you can place orders online and they support neighborhood co-ops all over the state, even St.George!

Once you have everything you need, you can start operating the co-op! Here's what you do:

• Decide on a day. We have our co-op every other Wednesday, but really any day of the week is fine.
• Order the produce. This is done by the leader. Depending on which company you choose, you will either phone in or go online to place the order. Both companies I listed are super helpful with neighborhood co-ops. They will help you every step of the way!You can ask for a price sheet when you start, which will help you get an idea for what everything costs, but produce prices change constantly. You'll call in the morning before to place your order- ask what items are a great price! Our co-op tends to get more items that are cheaper, rather than exactly the produce we want. Be flexible. If Gala apples are cheaper than Fugi, get the Galas! It will help your money stretch and everyone is happy with a full basket! Co-ops of 12 will order $181.50 of produce, groups of 24 will order $363 of produce.
• Sort produce once it arrives. The leader will get a call from the produce company giving a small window of time in which the truck will drop the produce off. We operate on text messages with our co-op. Once the produce gets there, send a text letting everyone know it's there and to come help sort! It's a pretty easy process that takes about 30-45 minutes, depending on how many helpers there are. Not everything works out to be perfectly even, so whatever "leftover" produce we have goes in a box and normally everyone gets to choose 2-3 "extras" each time. {Ex: If we ordered apricots and have sorted 6 per basket already and there are 11 left over, instead of giving a few people more, all 11 go into the extra box. Count all the extras and divide by the number in your co-op to divvy them up.}
• Pick Up! When participants come to pick up their produce, they pay for the basket and empty it out into their own bag or box. Everyone knows they need to pay for it right then- no exceptions!

It takes a few months to get the hang of everything, but once you do, it's a great way to get produce for less! To help spread information and to encourage feedback, have co-op leaders create a Facebook page or blogsite for your co-op. You can put up polls to vote for what produce you'd like or share recipes using produce items.