Why should I join the NOFC? 

     The best reason to join is that we will all get a storefront. We are depending on your equity investment for our start-up capital. We have other sources of funding, but member equity is the most important. It is debt-free capital and it puts our co-op in a better position to leverage loans and grants. Our member equity goal is to have at least $150,000 before we open. At $100 a member we will need at least 1,500 members. There are 3 main advantages to becoming a member that are explained in great detail below: ownership, mission, and economic advantage.

Ownership. The best way to control your own food supply is to have ownership of your food supply. As a member of the NOFC you aren’t joining a club; you are becoming an actual owner of a business. Your membership investment isn’t a due or a fee. You are literally owning a piece of a grocery store and sharing that ownership with hundreds of other people. Your investment is equity in the NOFC and it belongs to you. In the start-up phase we will use member equity for all expenses related to opening and operating our store. After we have beeen open for 2 years, member equity may be refundable as long as it doesn’t put the co-op at financial risk.

Mission. The NOFC is driven by our mission. The mission of the NOFC is to open and operate a community-owned grocery store that:

-provides access to healthy food at a fair price

-is a center of community activity

-promotes local and regional food production

-keeps capital and jobs in our community

-practices environmental responsibility and sustainability

-reflects our unique and diverse community

By becoming a member-owner of the NOFC you are truly doing a service to your community. Opening our co-op grocery is a big part of the rebuilding and revitilization of New Orleans. Even if you don’t live in New Orleans you are supporting New Orleans rebirth by joining the NOFC.

We are opening in a neighborhood desperately in need of grocery services. There are no major grocery stores in the Marigny/St. Roch/Bywater and surrounding neighborhoods. This lack of grocery services has had a huge impact on the health of our community. By opening at the Healing Center location we will provide what is probably that neighborhood’s greatest need.

We are committed to healthy food at a fair price. It is not enough just to open a grocery store. We want to provide a place that offers groceries that are truly healthful and nourishing to you and your family. This means food that is fresh and local. This means providing foods that are grown without pesticides and other chemicals. We also understand that if this wonderful, healthy food isn’t fairly priced that we aren’t truly fulfilling our mission of access to healthy food. As a co-op we exist to meet the needs of our members. Since we are driven by mission and not profit, we will do whatever we can to keep our groceries affordable while keeping our business economically sustainable.

We will keep capital and jobs in our community. Since we own the store the profits will stay right here!! We will also be providing 18 full time equivalent jobs upon opening and plan to have $2 million in sales our first year.

Our store will have a community atmosphere that will set us apart. As a co-op we literally will be owned by our community. It is a great feeling to shop at a store you own and to share that shopping experience with others.

We support local and regional food production. Whenever possible we will find a local/regional source for a product. Our region has a lot to offer and year round growing seasons. We plan to provide a wide array of fresh, local produce, meats, seafood, eggs, rice, dairy, and many other local and regional products. It is better for the health of our members and shoppers and also better for the  environment. Local food is also fresh, so it tastes better too. We aren’t only supporting the well being of the consumer by providing local foods. We are also supporting our local and regional suppliers. We are providing an additional market for many of Louisiana’s producers. This will help our local economy and also help to create economic opportunities such as new organic farms.

Since this is the New Orleans Food Co-op we will be special. We are proud to have New Orleans in our name and want our store to reflect our unique and diverse city. Our membership is open to all and our store will be open to members and non-members alike.

The NOFC is committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability. This commitment will affect all the decisions we make as a cooperative business. This may be seen in decisions both small and large. This includes having energy efficient equipment and providing a large supply of bulk foods to reduce packaging. This is also one of the reasons we support local food production.

Economic Avdantage. There will be certain economic advantages only available to members. It is likely that after a few years a $100 membership will more than pay for itself. Economic advantages will include our patronage refund program, special members-only discounts and sales, and discounts from other participating businesses.

We will work with our future General Manager to develop member benefits such as case discounts, special members only sales on select items, or specific member appreciation days when only members will receive a discount. We are yet to work out the specifics, and will develop this with our future GM with the input of our memebrs.

We will also develop a growing list of other business who will provide services or discounts to NOFC members. Wild Lotus Yoga offers a discounted package of yoga classes to NOFC members.

We are developing a patronage refund program. This means that when the co-op is profitable, some of the profits will be returned to members based on how much they spent at the store. This is NOT a dividend. This is basicvally a discount that is paid all at once on a yearly basis. Patronage refunds are a best practice, because they allow the co-op to ensure that there is a profit before giving some of their earnings away in the form of a discount. Many co-ops are moving away from a blanket discount system to a patronage refund system for financial viability. Also, patronage refunds are not taxable income for the co-op or for the member.

We look forward to welcoming you as a member or seeing you in our store!!

Hello New Orleans Food Coop member-owners,

This is an exciting time for the New Orleans Food Coop. We have finalized our plans for our store, and construction is to begin this spring. As always, we need your help!

The membership committee has set an ambitious goal—1000 members by June 30th. We are asking our current members to help us out by simply writing a letter. The idea is to send an appeal letter to folks you believe would share in the vision of having a cooperatively owned grocery store in New Orleans.
We have included two different sample letters written by other co-op members. Please feel free to copy these letters, use them as a guide to write your own, or change the letters in any way to personalize them. Of course, creating your own entirely original letter is great too.

Thank you for your help.

Yours in cooperation,

Membership Committee, New Orleans Food Co-op

Letter #1

Dear Friends,

Buying good, local, healthy, affordable food should be a whole lot easier than it is. It shouldn’t require getting on the highway or lining the pockets of big corporations.

Help is near. In early 2011 the New Orleans Food Coop is going to open its full- service grocery store committed to providing good, local, affordable food to New Orleanians. The store will be located on St. Claude Avenue at St. Roch as part of the Healing Center. I can not wait!

I am writing you to ask that you join me in becoming a member of the New Orleans Food Co-op. Aside from being a ton of work, opening a grocery store is expensive, and one way co-op grocery stores can afford to open is by building up member equity. Here’s how it works: make a $100 equity investment, which actually makes you a part- owner of the coop (you can do this all at once or in small $20 increments— whatever works for you.) Once the co-op is on its feet and turning a profit you receive a patronage refund based on the amount of money you have spent there. Most importantly, by becoming a co-op member, you help make this quality neighborhood grocery store a reality.

Here’s where to go to join:
http://nolafoodcoop.org/join/ 

Please feel free to ask me any questions.

thanks,
xxxx

Letter #2

Hello, friend.
I apologize for this impersonal e-mail, but I’m attempting to squeeze my great desire to help the New Orleans Food Co-op into my schedule. I have carefully chosen the people to whom I’m sending this message, so in that way it is personal. I believe my appeal below will be of interest to you.
In case you don’t know, the New Orleans Food Co-op is a group of people who are working hard to open a member-owned grocery store in New Orleans. I have been a member of the co-op since March 5, 2005. I have also served on the board of directors and the membership committee.

I believe the benefits of having a cooperatively owned grocery store will be many. We will have a say about the products our store carries. We will offer a daily point of sale for local farmers, local food producers, and other local businesses. We will make healthy, local food affordable.
As individuals, we have limited power to create powerful changes in our local food economy. As a group, however, we can grow the future for our generation and for those that follow.

Our hard work to open a storefront appears to be on the verge of bearing fruit. We have finalized our plans for the store which will be housed inside the Universal Furniture building, and construction is to begin this spring. The location is on the corner of St. Claude Ave. and St. Roch Ave. The building will be redesigned as a healing center, and we are excited to be a part of it, along with an organic restaurant, yoga studios, gallery space, a women’s center, a street university where people can give classes on anything from second-line dancing to filling out tax returns, and more.

As a demonstration of our viability, consultants that the NOFC is working with would like us to be at least 1500 members strong by the time we open. Currently, we have 635 members, many of whom have joined due to their excitement about our opening.

To help us meet our goal, I am asking you to consider becoming a member of the New Orleans Food Co-op. Right now, since the storefront is not yet open, we are asking for a $100 equity investment to become a member. Currently, the benefits of membership include the right to vote at all member meetings and eligibility to serve on the board of directors. There will also be a patronage refund program: when the store begins to see a profit, some of the profits will be returned to the members based on how much they shopped there. Member benefits will also include members-only specials and other member economic benefits that will be developed with the help of our general manager. Joining as a founding member now will give you the opportunity to help make those decisions about our future. If you have limited income, you may become a founding member for a payment of $25. We will also accept installment payments if a whole payment is not practical for you. We want membership to be accessible to as many people as possible.

This month, you can find us at the Hollygrove Market on Saturday mornings, in case you’d like to ask questions. The volunteers at the market can show you the designs for the healing center, if you’d like to see how it’s going to look.

If you’d like to join on-line, we have a form you can use to do so:

 http://nolafoodcoop.org/join/
Online payments are accepted via PayPal. Alternatively, you may

print out our membership application here:

http://nolafoodcoop.org/wpcontent/uploads/2010/04/nofc_membershipbrochure_final-10-03-09.pdf 
And mail it in with a check for your payment.

If you are already a member, I encourage you to make an appeal to your friends, encouraging them to join. The greater we are in number, the greater certainty we have of effecting the change we desire. If you are the spouse or partner of a member, I encourage you also to join.

Feel free to forward this email to any others you know who might like to help us take ownership of one of our most precious local resources—our food.
Thanks for taking the time to consider my appeal.

In love and cooperation,

xxxxxx