The Food Co-op Initiative (FCI) exists to build and maintain a support system that enables a faster and more effective start-up process, resulting in new cooperative food stores successfully serving their communities.
FCI was formed in 2005 as the Food Co-op 500 Program, a collaborative effort between Cooperative Development Services (CDS) CDS Consultants, NCB, NCB Capital Impacts, National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) and Blooming Prairie Foundation. CDS created Four Cornerstones in Three Stages a development model which comprises a process for developing a cooperative retail food business.
The model identifies the attributes necessary for successful food co-ops based upon the four cornerstones of vision, talent, capital and systems that are each within three stages of food co-op development: organizing, feasibility and planning, and implementation.
Resources
How to Start a Food Co-op (free manual available on CGIN, the Cooperative Grocers Information Network)
Webinar Series for Start up Co-ops A series of internet-based seminars offered that will help you understand how to start a new food co-op.
Cooperatives: A Tool for Community Economic Development (a free manual on starting a co-op from the University of Wisconsin)
General information on starting a co-op from the University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives
Legal Primer for Formation of Consumer-Owned Cooperatives by Joel Dahlgren. This legal primer is designed to provide community groups with a basic resource for understanding the legal issues involved in starting a food co-op. The primer was a collaborative effort of CDS Consulting Co-op, Cooperative Development Services, and Food Co-op Initiative.
Member Loan Toolbox by Bill Gessner, Beret Griffith and Ron Griffith, published by Food Co-op Initiative
Solutions: Co-op 500 Update, October 05
Solutions: Just Food Co-op Case Study
Solutions: A New Trend Is Bubbling Up
Solutions: Envisioning a Heyday for New Food Co-op Development
500 Co-ops in 10 Years! (Cooperative Grocer article)
National Cooperative Bank (NCB)
National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA)
For program information, contact The Food Co-op Initiative
