Columinate Retreat Recap

Last weekend, the Board and committee chairs participated in a mini-retreat with Columinate, a consulting cooperative who provides support to mission-driven organizations like ours.

The majority of the retreat focused on The Food Co-op Development Model, a proven framework for planning and organizing food cooperatives like ours. According to the model, regardless of size or mission, every food co-op needs four things to be successful:

1. Clarity of vision

2. Strong talent

3. Sufficient capital

4. Well-designed systems

These four cornerstones work in conjunction with three stages of development, which include organizing, feasibility & planning and implementation. Since we’re already incorporated and have been operating for 10 years, the BFC is well into the organization stage. 

But we still have work to do - we recognize that our previous iteration of the Co-op lacked important organizational frameworks that, had we not been forced to close due to the fire, might have proven to be unsustainable in the long run. While we may not have had the well-designed systems necessary for a food co-op to thrive, we do have plenty of vision and strong talent in our Ownership.

It’s been a long six months without the Co-op, during which the Board has been working to process our insurance claim, understand our rights and responsibilities around our lease with the Loom, assess our tax liabilities, sell the remainder of our inventory, clean and vacate our storefront at The Loom, and connect with numerous cooperative consultants and food co-op leaders to build our knowledge and resources.

We left the retreat with a clearer roadmap to success, one that will hopefully allow us to rebuild better than ever. Unfortunately, all good things take time. Each step in the process takes several months, meaning we may not see a new store for over a year.

So, what’s next? 

In the next month or so, we hope to hold a series of workshops to engage Owners in discussing and brainstorming our mission and long-term vision for the new Co-op, as part of the organizing phase. In conjunction with the survey administered last year, we hope that these workshops will better inform us of the needs and goals of our Co-op community. 

While we work on a few remaining questions in the organization phase, we will be enlisting the help of professionals to perform market and financial feasibility studies. These studies are investments for which we can expect to pay several thousand dollars each, but we have been assured are necessary reports to determine if and how we can continue as a business.

The market study will inform us of the viability of our store like ours in the Bushwick neighborhood, as well as provide general guidelines in terms of pursuing a specific site and a “ballpark” sales range we could expect to achieve. Through the separate financial feasibility study we will learn more about whether we can be profitable and what we can afford.

We (and hopefully, you!) have big dreams for the next iteration of the Bushwick Food Co-op, but we feel strongly that we can’t achieve them without professional expertise, and your involvement, of course. We are confident in building a viable plan for BFC with the guidance of Columinate. If you’d like to learn more and/or attend planning meetings, please reach out to the Board at board@bushwickfoodcoop.org.

GoFundMe Update

Through our GoFundMe campaign, fundraiser event, and donations from friends, family, food cooperatives around the country, and more, we were able to raise $25,232. The funds we raised covered crucial operating expenses, with the majority going towards paying staff who addressed time-sensitive fire response needs (a cost which is reimbursable through our insurance coverage). Other costs included necessary overhead expenses such as utilities, bank fees, and mandatory insurance and tax payments. The remainder of our insurance reimbursement will be put towards reopening efforts. We will be closing our GoFundMe campaign for the time being, until we gather more information from the market and financial feasibility studies. Now that we have parted ways with the space at 2 Porter Avenue and no longer have significant operating expenses, we are taking this time to assess our best path forward.

The road ahead will have many challenges, but we remain hopeful! Thank you for your patience and continued support these past couple months — without your dedication, this would not have been, and will not continue to be, possible.

In solidarity,

The Board of Directors