How to Start Your Own Home Based Food Co-op

Food co-ops can be a great way of buying food in bulk for a cheaper price and an excellent way of working with others for a common result. The instructions here are for a monthly home based co-op.

Step 1: Ask your friends, neighbours or advertise for people who live locally to join your co-op. About 12 families would be ideal, so that you only have to work the co-op yourself once a year.

Step 2: Meet up and get to know each other and discuss what is available in your area and what kinds of foods you would like to source. Brainstorm all the things that you would use and where they could be bought from. For example: there is a cheese factory and a butter factory in my town, orchards and farms nearby. There is also a dry goods warehouse where I can get sultanas, flour, sugar etc in bulk, as well another place that sells bulk soap and washing powders. Go through the yellow pages to find out what is available. Start making some phonecalls. Often, what is available may vary throughout the year depending what is in season.

Step 3: Make a list and a roster and decide on the initial investment. $50 per family for example. This money will be the buying fund and will be passed on to the next buyer the following month. Decide what day of the month is pick-up day. A shopping list is distributed to

each family and a day for return is agreed upon.

Step 4: The first organiser goes through the orders and works out how many kilos of any specific item to be sourced then makes the phone calls to order. They will need to drive around to pick up items to be bought back to be divided according to the orders. Make sure you have boxes (per family) and wrapping (for such items as cheeses and butter) good scales for weighing large amounts.

Step 5: Delivery Day:  By now the boxes are packed with the families' items and are lined up with their order form and amount to be paid for when they are picked up.  Make sure that the next person on the organising roster has the contact list of suppliers, scales, wrapping and the buying fund. The new order forms can go out to families to be perused and returned by the specified date.

I always found pick up day was a lovely day of socialising as everyone drops by for a cuppa and a chat and to pick up their goodies. Sometimes these evolved into barter sessions where other goods and services were swapped. Sometime is turned into a BYO food and drink to share, party where we played music and had fun.

If you ever decide to get out of the co-op, it is polite to try to find a person to take your place. If the whole thing is to be dissolved then the float needs to be divided equally betwen all the families.

Deb