<story><title>Starting a food co-op: Year 1</title><url>https://quaran.to/starting-a-food-co-op-year-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jpm_sd</author><text>Given that Harvest shut down &amp;quot;after years of financial instability&amp;quot;, what&amp;#x27;s the strategy for this new co-op to survive? If you can&amp;#x27;t run a successful co-op in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where can you?</text></item><item><author>neilv</author><text>This seems to be in the Boston, Mass., area.&lt;p&gt;Some related local background is that there was the Harvest Co-op chain until a few years ago:  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boston.com&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;harvest-co-op-markets-closing&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boston.com&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;harvest-co-op-ma...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also the Market Basket for-profit regional chain, where employees and customers successfully stood up against some family business maneuvers to force out the head, and it&amp;#x27;s once again generally well-regarded AFAIK (including profit-sharing for employees).  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Market_Basket_(New_England)#2014_firing_of_Arthur_T._Demoulas_and_protests&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Market_Basket_(New_England)#20...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kjbreil</author><text>Seattle area has the nations largest and oldest grocery co-op - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pccmarkets.com&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.pccmarkets.com&lt;/a&gt;. 16 stores and generally doing well. The answer to how to keep it going is to run it like a grocery chain with experienced leaders and good board governance. In my experience a lot of the smaller coops I&amp;#x27;ve seen have a problem separating the ideology from the need to run a business, grocery is notoriously low margin so a little waste is all that is needed to sink the buisness. Check &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncg.coop&amp;#x2F;find-co-op&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncg.coop&amp;#x2F;find-co-op&lt;/a&gt; to find a co-op near you.</text></comment>
<story><title>Starting a food co-op: Year 1</title><url>https://quaran.to/starting-a-food-co-op-year-1</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jpm_sd</author><text>Given that Harvest shut down &amp;quot;after years of financial instability&amp;quot;, what&amp;#x27;s the strategy for this new co-op to survive? If you can&amp;#x27;t run a successful co-op in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where can you?</text></item><item><author>neilv</author><text>This seems to be in the Boston, Mass., area.&lt;p&gt;Some related local background is that there was the Harvest Co-op chain until a few years ago:  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boston.com&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;harvest-co-op-markets-closing&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.boston.com&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;food&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;10&amp;#x2F;04&amp;#x2F;harvest-co-op-ma...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x27;s also the Market Basket for-profit regional chain, where employees and customers successfully stood up against some family business maneuvers to force out the head, and it&amp;#x27;s once again generally well-regarded AFAIK (including profit-sharing for employees).  &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Market_Basket_(New_England)#2014_firing_of_Arthur_T._Demoulas_and_protests&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Market_Basket_(New_England)#20...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>socialismisok</author><text>Most places I&amp;#x27;ve lived on the west coast have grocery co-ops. Often they stand out in the market by carrying high quality, locally produced, or &amp;quot;hippie&amp;quot; food.&lt;p&gt;Some folks prefer to shop there because they like the model - co-op businesses generally seem to be more invested in local communities.</text></comment>