Food Facts
- Chains that bind
- Members own the store: community service and local value over profit
- Easy access to local products; reliable income for producers
- Co-op includes cooperation with all local food resources
- Snow days
- Nourishing our local community
Focused on the need to return significant profits to shareholders, large supermarket chains rely on mass marketing of goods provided by global food suppliers through centralized shipping and distribution systems – mega food production for millions of consumers shipped nationwide. All for profit.
Members own the store; community service and local value over profit
A retail food co-op is owned, operated and governed by members through a board of directors. Its purpose is to satisfy the needs of a limited number of local member-owners living within reasonable proximity to providers. As long as they apply sound business and financial practices, food co-ops can look beyond the “bottom line” because they are member-owned – not accountable to some remote corporate center.
Easy access to local products; reliable income for producers
The Doylestown Co-op will provide one-stop, convenient access to a wide variety of high quality, seasonal and locally produced foods.
We are lucky to live in an area with dozens of local farms and businesses that produce everything from traditional and heirloom fruits and vegetables to pastured meats (beef, pork, bison, duck, chicken, turkey, lamb, and mutton) and eggs, fresh milk and aged cheeses, freshly roasted fair-trade organic coffee, bread and other baked goods, soap, flowers, and more! In addition to these local products, the co-op will provide members with access to bulk foods, such as grains and flours, nuts and dried fruits, cereals and pasta. Depending on interest and the size of our store, the co-op may also stock natural or organic packaged foods and health and beauty products.
Co-op includes co-operation with all local food resources
The Doylestown Food Co-op will work collaboratively with our area’s established food sources as well. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to buy a Tabora peach or None Such corn right here in town? We plan to stock many locally produced products from other local outlets for members to buy. We are trying to increase access to local foods, not limit it!
Naturally, access to fresh local fruits and vegetables will be limited over the winter. Fortunately, a number of our farms produce or store their harvest over the winter, so the co-op will have continuous access to fresh greens as well as storage crops, such as apples and potatoes. Meat and dairy items, eggs, and canned products will also be available over the winter while the co-op will stock bulk and dry goods. And, depending on member interest, we will contract with growers outside of our region to supply members with natural or organic produce throughout the cold months.
For our suppliers, especially farmers, the co-op expects to provide a stable and reliable income, free from the daunting and distracting demands of distribution and sales, which often conflict with the 24/7 demands of the growing season. Without the stabilizing effect of community food co-ops, local farms all over the country have been tempted or even forced to sell their land. But Bucks County is different. In recent years, through the hard work of local residents, knowledgeable farmers – plus significant support from the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance – our local food system has grown. There are new farms, CSA’s, farmers’ markets and other agriculturally based businesses making this an auspicious time to steady and create central access to these resources.