Minneapolis, Minnesota
(612) 341-2650
Co-op Education and Ownership Programs
Profile Overview
Articles from CDS Consulting publications
Articles in Cooperative Grocer
Other works by Patricia Cumbie
Profile Overview
Over the course of her career in retail food co-ops, including Mississippi Market and Lakewinds Food Co-op, she worked as a department manager, customer service manager, trainer and marketing and member services director. “I love sharing the values of cooperation with a wide variety of people,” she said. “As a former customer service department manager, I also understand the critical need for staff and others to be able to easily grasp the concepts of cooperation and feel comfortable talking to people about it.”
Patricia is also the co-author of several educational handbooks for food co-ops: the Brand Readiness Kit, How to Start a Food Co-op (revised edition), and the Member Equity Toolbox, and as well as Growing with Purpose, the 40-year history of Seward Community Co-op released in 2012, and the Lakewinds Natural Foods Cookbook. Her writing ability combined with her insights into the food co-op sector make her a powerful supporter for cooperatives seeking to you improve, structure, and strengthen their ownership programs. She said about her work, “I believe that our sector has the opportunity to strengthen its co-op education and outreach, and enhance the understanding of cooperation in more communities.”
Contact Patricia to:
Starting the Conversation: What Does It Take to Achieve Organizational Racial Equity
Solutions: December 2017
The Cooperative Difference is Your Competitive Advantage
Solutions: Grab and Go - June 2017
Components of a Successful System of Accountable Empowerment
Solutions: Grab and Go - December 2015
Participation Fosters Strong Relationships to Drive Growth to Co-ops
Solutions: November-December 2015
Grab and Go Governance
Solutions: Grab and Go - February 2015
Featured video: Building Belonging, Creating Community
CBLD Connections: September 2014
Cooperative Cafe Videos
CBLD Connections: June 2014
Welcome Patricia Cumbie
Solutions: November-December 2013
Everyone Welcome? Examining Race and Food Co-ops
November-December 2017
Telling the Co-op Story
January-February 2015
Paradigm for a New Economy
January-February 2013
Learning from Co-op Startups
November-December 2011
Co-op Expansions Raise the Bar
November-December 2005
Retail Operations Survey: Invest in Success
July-August 2003
Communicating "Co-op"
November-December 2002
Strong Results, Debatable Future: 2001 Retail Operations Survey
July-August 2002
Create a Marketing "Profit Center" with an Effective Newsletter
November-December 2000
Seven Steps to a Successful Membership Drive
May-June 1996
Buying a Business to Start a Co-op:
A Case Study of Food Co-op Conversions
Patricia Cumbie
Produced for Food Co-op Initiative, 2013.
Available for free from FCI
Growing with Purpose:
40 Years of Seward Community Cooperative
Patricia Cumbie and Kari Cornell
Produced for Seward Community Co-op, 2012
Available for sale from Seward
The Member Equity Toolbox:
Structuring Capital to Meet Present and Future Needs, A Guide for Retail Food Co-ops
Patricia Cumbie, Tami Bauers and Stuart Reid
Produced for Food Co-op Initiative, 2010
Available for free from FCI
How to Start a Food Co-op
Patricia Cumbie and Margaret J. Goldstein
Produced for CGN, Revised 2010
Available for free from CGN
Brand Readiness Kit
Katherine Roseth with Patricia Cumbie
Produced for National Co+op Grocers , 2005
Available for sale from NCG
Building a Better World: 100 Stories of Cooperation
chapter on NCG and food co-ops
Available for sale from ICA
Christina Jennings, executive director, Shared Capital Cooperative
Gail Graham, General Manager, Mississippi Market, St. Paul, Minn.
Lisa Malmarowski, Director of Brand and Store Development, Outpost Natural Foods, Milwaukee, WI
David Thompson, author, Weavers of Dreams
Kelly Smith, Marketing Director, National Co+op Grocers