The Portland Food Co-op (PFC) is an autonomous, member-owned, democratic, non-profit, local business.
The PFC offers a unique approach to locally grown, organic, sustainable, and bulk food purchasing and distribution by combining three distinct dimensions:
1) Community: PFC member-owners form a community that shares an interest in fairly priced, locally grown, organic, and bulk food. The PFC prioritizes local and sustainable food education through regular events and collaborations such as the PFC Garden Project, in which member-owners have access to a cooperatively run garden to grow food.
2) Economy: The mission of the PFC is explicit in its support of and preference for locally produced food; dollars spent on local products purchased through the PFC will remain in the local economy and contribute to the support of a local economic base. Because the PFC is run by member-owners who volunteer their time, costs are kept down, resulting in a low markup on all purchased products.
3) Values: In addition to PFC’s committment to offering healthy food to its member-owners at fair prices, we are also dedicated to improving other important systemic issues bound to food distribution, such as ownership, equal access, community, democracy, sustainability, and local economic development. Member-owners can play a vital role in directing and shaping the nature of the PFC and its future.
Why a Food Co-op in Portland Now?
The PFC is uniquely positioned to fill an unmet need in Portland’s food economy for several reasons. Consumers seeking natural, local, and bulk items are currently limited to large chain stores or to smaller specialty markets that have high quality items, but considerably less variety and no availability of bulk items. For almost five years, there has been no independently run/locally owned natural foods store in Portland – consumers must travel to either Scarborough or Freeport. This marketplace opportunity is further supported by the highly visible “Buy Local” campaign that continues to educate and inspire Portland consumers to support businesses that are truly a part of their community.
To gather more detailed information, the PFC has conducted a survey of approximately 200 community members and has coordinated focus groups with over 100 participants, in order to understand specific interests and perspectives of potential member-owners. The results of both initiatives have demonstrated the community’s clear preference for locally produced items with a low markup, available through a locally owned and operated business.
Organizational Structure
Governance
The PFC is incorporated in the State of Maine under the corporate statute for consumer cooperatives and has a board of directors. At each annual member-owner meeting, one-third of the board seats will be open for election and can be filled by any member-owner. The method of decision making within the board and its subcommittees is modified consensus, with a vote when the group cannot arrive at a consensus (please see our website for details on modified consensus). The by-laws were provisionally passed by the board to guide the governance of the board and member-ownership. The by-laws will be voted on for ratification during the first member-owners’ meeting.
Management
The PFC is currently managed and governed by the board of directors. The board of directors sets policies, plans for future growth, provides direction to committees, and manages operations. These committees include the administrative, member, space, communications, and resource committees. When growth demands, PFC plans to hire a general manager who will oversee management and be accountable to the board.
Member-Owners
PFC member-owners invest in the co-op to support the viability and growth of the cooperative. In addition to being eligible to participate in cooperative purchasing, each member-owner is a stakeholder in the cooperative business and is therefore entitled to all the voting and decision-making rights as outlined in the PFC bylaws and as determined by Board of Directors Policy. These rights and responsibilities include voting in board member elections, running for a position on the board, and voting on important matters that are brought to a vote by member-owners. Member-owners hold the board accountable to the mission and give input on priorities.
Operations
Vendors
The PFC started as the Food Now Buying Club, offering members one order each month. In the past year and a half, the PFC has grown to offer members an average of five orders each month, with monthly orders totaling over six thousand dollars.
Co-op member-owners browse lists of available products online and choose the items they would like to purchase. Member-owners then tally the group’s order and send it in to the vendors. The vendors then deliver the goods to the co-op site within a week.
Price Comparison
The PFC regularly conducts price comparisons with items bought by PFC members-owners and through PFC vendors compared to other grocery stores in Portland. The most recent price comparison showed PFC member-owners had a 26% average savings when buying with PFC compared to other grocery stores in Portland. The cost savings with buying from the PFC ranged from 0-71%, with 50% of the items member-owners bought not sold at local groceries. If you would like to view the details of the price comparison please email info@portlandfoodcoop.org.
Each member-owner who buys from the PFC is expected to work a regular 3-hour monthly shift. Member-owners rely on one another to share the work of PFC operations and contributing to its success. The benefit of this shared responsibility is that with scheduled and reliable member-owner labor, the PFC is able to keep its costs down, which keeps prices low. Member-owners run every aspect of the PFC, which gives every member-owner the opportunity to feel the value of building the PFC cooperatively. At this time, the PFC Board has determined it could not exist without every member-owner having a monthly work shift. As the PFC grows, the work shift expectations will be revisited and all member-owners will have the opportunity to be a part of the discussions.
Space
The PFC currently rents space from the Meg Perry Center, an organization dedicated to supporting grassroots activism. This agreement allows the co-op to share the use of roughly 600 square feet of gathering space for receiving, dividing, and distributing orders, and a small office space and basement area for storage.
Communication within PFC
The PFC website is the central source for co-op information. Through the website, member-owners can access food ordering information, a calendar of all events and order dates, a monthly newsletter, and minutes of board meetings. Additionally, member-owners can choose to receive regular emails regarding ordering food.
When a new member-owner joins and wants to buy food, they are required to attend an orientation. At orientation, member-owners learn how to purchase food and the process for work exchange. New member-owners are given a buddy to assist them in the purchasing process and to connect with other member-owners.
In addition to the board and committee work, the PFC has an annual member-owner meeting to ensure all member-owners have a space for in-person discussion. At the annual member-owner meeting board members are voted in and other member-owner business is addressed.
The PFC has held regular public forums and hosted outreach tables at local food-related events such as the Common Ground Fair and the Portland Farmer’s Market. At the end of 2009, there are over 1,000 people who have signed up to receive quarterly newsletters and other regular communications from the PFC.
Beginning in the summer of 2009, the PFC Garden Project was created by member-owners to have access to a community garden to grow food for themselves and learn about growing food from other member-owners. In order to give back to the community, member-owners of the PFC have been donating eggs regularly to Preble Street Food Pantry – in 2009 PFC donated over 80 dozen eggs.
The PFC will continue to organize public educational events and increase the number of local organizations that PFC works with to continue to build a stronger local food movement. In keeping with the cooperative spirit, the PFC also assists other buying clubs and start up co-ops by sharing PFC techniques and tools.
Financial
The primary source of revenue for the Portland Food Co-op is the markup placed on all orders. This low markup is possible because the PFC currently operates with no paid staff and member-owners invest in the co-op and complete all work.
Member-owner investment is $100, which is an ownership share of the PFC. These combined investments will enable the co-op to grow and sustain itself, while also making the PFC eligible for possible grants and loans. This member-owner share is refundable. If a member-owner decides to leave the PFC, he/she may choose a refund or allow the investment to contribute to the growth and sustainability of the PFC. The PFC is able to repay equity in a time period that allows for its ongoing sustained financial operations. The PFC treasurer will refund investments in a timely way and can be contacted at treasurer@portlandfoodcoop.org.
The current primary expenditure is monthly rent at the Meg Perry Center. Other minor expenditures include insurance and supplies such as scales, bags, stamps, and copies. The PFC treasurer is happy to provide access to view the PFC finances for those member-owners interested in specific financial information.
The Vision for Future Growth
The plan is to build PFC’s member-ownership to 150 people by September 2010 with member-owners buying at least $12,000 of food each month (to view the detailed financial projections, please email treasurer@portlandfoodcoop.org). PFC will then have both the savings and the monthly revenue to lease a space that has the potential for retail use of at least 1,500 square feet in or near downtown Portland. PFC will also need to purchase freezers, refrigerators, registers, and computers.
Once PFC begins retail operations (starting with a limited storefront available to member-owners), it will begin with providing the items most frequently bought by member-owners. Member-owners will continue to be able to purchase a wider variety of items through online ordering. As the member-ownership continues to grow, PFC will be able to offer more products in the storefront.
PFC’s leadership has worked hard to develop a strategic plan that projects opening a storefront for member-owners within the next two years, which will provide greater shopping ease and convenience in a fully accessible space for the community.