Hi everyone,
I’m a new member and quite eagerly awaiting joining this group. I have, in fact, been considering opening a small food co-op in my area very seriously, but I’m still in the early planning phase and could really use some advice. I live in a medium-sized city where availability of inexpensive, fresh, and locally sourced food is quite low, especially for those without reliable transportation.
I’m attempting to see what the first steps are. Do I need to start looking for like-minded people first? Or do I prefer to begin contacting local farmers and suppliers? I’ve also been looking into different what are deep learning models of co-ops, but it’s a bit
overwhelming.
Are there any generic templates, toolkits, or case studies that helped you get started? I’d really love to hear your stories—what worked, what didn’t work, and what you wish you’d known when you first started.
it all feels like the right place to learn and connect with others doing amazing work!
Thanks so much in advance
This particular channel is focused on development of the Foodsoft software by the maintainers. The general Forum may be a more logical place to ask this question.
Be aware, though, that this forum attracts not much traffic so it may take a while before someone responds.
As I personally have not been involved in setting up a cooperation I can’t help you, sadly.
I’d recommend to look for like-minded people first and see what you agree on (values/criteria, products you’re interested in etc.). But it can also help to have a general idea of potential suppliers as it sounds more concrete when you can tell potentially interested people “hey, we could do a collective order from from xy.”
Btw there’s also a newer, Austrian food coop manual (also in German) here.
But since laws, habits etc. vary from country to country: In which country would your food coop be and which languages do you understand? Perhaps there is a food coop community in your country.