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02/02/2007: "Good Turnout for First Food Co-Op Meeting"

Approximately fifty people showed up last Tuesday night to attend an organization meeting to hear about, and decide the question: Is there an interest in forming a Cooperative Natural Foods Grocery on San Juan Island?.

Cloud McCauley and Maureen Marinkovich organized the meeting to present the results of their research on food Co-Ops. Once they presented their ideas on why they believed a Co-Op is needed, what it will provide, and how it would be structured., they asked the attendees to offer their ideas, ask questions and make suggestions about the concept presented. At the end of the meeting the big question of "So who wants to be on a steering committee" was asked? Silence, and then slowly a committee was "formed" that will continue to research the subject, and then a second meeting will be held to present the Steering Committees report.


What McCauley and Marinkovich envision is a grocery store. A grocery store owned by the members of the Co-Op, who will invest in the store by purchase of a membership, and by buying their groceries there. Any profit would be returned to the membership. The difference between this business model, and other grocery stores, will be the strong emphasis on placing locally grown produce, meat and value-added products on the shelves -when possible, and when available.

That is the first part; and based on the discussion, and past experience in Friday Harbor when there were two commercial stores in the downtown area. it may be the most vexing part, since a constant supply of goods is essential, and if a stores makes space available for local farmers, they need the farmer to show up with something to fill the space.

McCauley said gaps in supply would have to be filled by bringing in organic food from the mainland. She added that farmers will have to ask "What is the niche that I can fill", and then plan a year out to provide the product.

The second part is the desire by McCauley and Marinkovich for the store to become a partner with the local farmers and providers, aiding them in whatever way they can, so that it is longer necessary to "drive around from farm to farm" to purchase local food. "I want one-stop-shopping" and I want it to be a fun experience" and Marinkovich explained they want to provide a store that is a "meeting place" for the community, and for it be a focal point for both the farmers and shoppers. Both McCauley and Marinkovich stressed the importance of educating the public on topics related to food, farming and related topics, ranging from the economics of corporate farming, to climate changes.

It was evident that McCauley and Marinkovich had given the idea a lot of thought, and it was equally evident that both of them had their feet firmly on the ground when it came to possessing an understanding that there was going to be a lot of work involved just to see if the concept was viable.. It did not take too long during the discussion period before some potential problems with the concept were raised. There was the concern expressed that perhaps the Co-Op would at times be in competition with the farmers, since they can sell their food in the summer without paying rent, or selling it wholesale, to the Co-Op.

A number of ideas were presented during the discussion stage, and while it will be the job of the steering committee to sort it all out and make recommendations, McCauley told the group that the number one reason Co-Ops fail is because they do not have a paid, full time, professional staff. This led to a discussion on the financial aspects of the proposal, starting with where would the store be, how much rent for the building, and how much will a membership cost.

McCauley suggested that there be a pre-subscription program to raise the seed money for the program, but if it was determined the project was not viable and would not go forward, then 80% of the money would be returned. She said that it is time to "put your money where your ideas are". In the end it was decided by consensus to move forward with a feasibility study to be produced by the steering committee, and they would then report back with a report in three months time.