The New Orleans Food Coop Buying Club had a successful work day, today, on the build-out of our new storage space. We put up some insulation and some wallboard.

There’s still more of the same to do, so we will have another work party next Saturday, November 10th, starting at 9:00AM. Volunteers do not need to be experienced, however you should know how to operate a hammer and how to turn on a power screwdriver. Folks stopping by for moral support are welcome as well.

The location is 3219 Toulouse (in the back).

Hopefully this build-out can be finished or far enough along so that the next divvy can be there. The divvy will be on about Nov. 28th.

We are getting a storeroom for our buying club! We can hold our divvies/grocery pickups there. We also have donations of a refrigerator and a freezer.

Getting this storeroom is a vital step towards a retail store. With the storeroom, the club can buy surplus items that will help make full cases for our orders. Then throughout the following month sell off this surplus.

We had one workday already, where we emptied out the space. This next get-together will be a planning session where we will lay out the space, design our shelving, etc.

Location is 3217 1/2 Toulouse St., near the bayou, between Rendon and Hagan streets, come to the back of the house (there will be signs!).

We will hold two more storeroom workdays, on the following Saturdays, Sept. 1st and 8th.

Everyone is invited to these. We would especially like to see buying club participants! Remember it’s YOUR buying club!

3217 1/2 Toulouse St.

near the bayou, between Rendon and Hagan streets

come to the back of the house ( there will be signs!)

The NOFC Buying Club got a mention in the Times-Picayune Living section today in an article on
how to save money on groceries:

“43. Join a food co-op. The New Orleans Food Co-op Buying Club is up and
running, according to its Web site. Members order organic food online
and split the cases as well as the work to sort it into individual
orders. Details are at www.nolafoodcoop.org”

Here’s the link to the full article, we’re on pg 7 of the on-line story.

About 14 people gathered tonight and dined on gazpacho garnished with goat cheese, corn and parsley, a zesty roasted eggplant-creole tomato dip served with blue tortilla chips, a chopped salad of kale, cukes, and avocados in a tangy vinegarette, cold cucumber soup, fresh watermelon, fresh baked brownies, water and red wine. People attended from mid-city, downtown and uptown.

After munching for a while and enjoying some casual conversation, we fired up the projector and walked through how to use the Coopshopper website to place an order. The website is geared to splitting cases of grocery, splitting bulk commodities, refrigerated and frozen goods as well as health and beauty and household goods like toilet paper and cleaners. By shopping for staple items this way, members can usually save a few dollars and also get to meet other folks in their neighborhood.

There was a bit of time afterward where we had a group discussion about growth from a Buying Club to a grocery storefront. Everyone realized that it takes a lot of folks to put a storefront together, so starting small as a buying Club and evolving our club into a cooperative group that owns a grocery store makes sense. We are and will always be a volunteer group, organized by our members.

Many new faces had some good suggestions about marketing the Club and tending our growth. Tim had an interesting idea about running neighborhood based delivery service on bikes pulling trailers. And Lynn spurred a good discussion about marketing to growth.

One good question was about how much interaction members have with each other, since ordering from a website is not exactly a face-to-face exchange. And a few current Buying Club members pointed out that the divvy when the order arrives is always a fun social affair, and that there is a regular monthly get together like tonights pot-luck. Additionally, picking ones staple and case items up at a fun purposeful gathering is usually a lot more nicer than packing a grocery cart till it is too heavy to steer, trying to navigate crowded aisles, unpacking it all at the cash register, repacking it all back, pushing to your conveyance, loading it in your car or bike trailer and unloading it at home and putting it away. I mentioned that I still go to the store for last-minute items or specialty items, but I hardly ever struggle with a load.