Food Co-ops Newsletter
Issue 13 - April 2011
Project news
Food co-ops in Japan
We recently returned from an exchange visit to Japan where we
visited organic farms and Teikei groups with the Soil Association.
The trip was funded by the Daewoo and Sasakawa Foundations.
Teikei, which means partnership, operate in a very similar way to
food co-ops and CSAs in the UK, and in fact the first organic box
schemes were based on this Japanese model. A case study and
project report will soon be available on our website
www.foodcoops.org. If anyone would like to support organic
farmers affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan you can
donate via the bank account of IFOAM Japan. The Bank of TokyoMitsubishi UFJ,Ltd. Ebisu Branch account No.1336528
SWIFTcode:BOTKJPJT
Free IT training session
We are organising a free IT training session for food co-ops who are interested in using on-line ordering
systems on Wednesday 18 May in London. The event will include a presentation from Stroudco on the open
source software that they are using and how this is administered on a day-to-day basis. We also plan to
discuss other potential IT systems and options and so are interested in hearing from any other food co-ops
already using on-line ordering facilities. Places are very limited so if you would like to attend please get in
touch to book your place soon foodcoops@sustainweb.org
Food co-op bags
Our food co-ops bags have now been printed. These are available at the hugely subsidised price
of 50p each. We can also offer a small number of freebies to new food co-ops that are just about
to launch to use for promotional schemes. Around 2,000 bags have already been ordered by
food co-ops around the country, so if you would like some please get in touch soon
foodcoops@sustainweb.org
Food co-op films
We have just set up a food co-ops Youtube channel to gather together films of food co-ops in the UK at
http://www.youtube.com/user/Foodcoops If you know of any films that are not on there please let us know.
We are also planning to make a few short films ourselves this summer so if your food co-op is interested in
being featured please get in touch maresa@sustainweb.org
Food co-op news
School food co-ops
Congratulations to Ryelands Primary School Food Co-op who started trading in March. They've turned over
a fantastic £1000 worth of fresh fruit and vegetables in just 3 weeks! Ryelands Primary School, based in
Lancaster, operate an after school market stall once a week on a Friday. They are a Food for Life School
and are already growing vegetables in the school garden which they hope will supplement the food co-op in
the future. There will be an food co-ops event there on 19 May for more details email ruth@sustainweb.org
Alison Belshaw (food co-ops adviser for the south west) was very impressed when she met the children at
Buckland St.Mary Primary School near Chard who run Roots, Froots & Shoots. Their food co-op has been
running for about 4 years and they're looking to increase numbers. They are very well organised and came
up with some great ideas for marketing. They'll soon be using the food co-ops bags too.
University food co-ops
The University of Brighton food co-op (pictured) had their first delivery on 4 March.
They are currently supplying a winter veg box for just £2 and membership is only £3
for the year. To find out more you can visit their Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/foodcoops#!/UoBFoodCoOp
Scoop Food Co-op at the University of Sussex also now has a weekly wholefoods
food co-op running. To celebrate Green Week they ran a café alongside their usual
stall, with a variety of wholesome organic salads and soups to choose from. Recipes
were also available. They sell a range of dried wholefoods, including oats, muesli,
rice, lentils, cous cous, quinoa, pasta, flour, chickpeas, seeds, nuts and dried fruit,
as well as tea, coffee and peanut butter, and everything is organic. Customers
need to bring their own containers to fill up.
New food co-ops
Four new food co-ops will be set up in Bristol by the end of the summer. All working in the north Bristol area
the Avonmouth Food Co-op has already started trading and has a number of customers for the fresh fruit
and veg it supplies. Further co-ops are due to start in Southmead, Lockleaze and Lawrence Weston. The coops will be meeting a real need as all areas suffer from a lack of places to buy good fruit and veg.
Fearnhead Community Shop in Warrington have also got off to a great start. Local residents have been
successfully running a small shop as a bric a brac store but this month have expanded into selling fresh
produce. They are working with a nearby secondary school to make ordering smaller quantities easier. The
Fearnhead volunteers are due to have a training session in the near future delivered by the North West
regional food co-ops adviser, Ruth Kelly in collaboration with local Community Development Worker for Food
and Health Louise Shannon. The afternoon will cover several crucial topics including, veg care, daily
routines, and marketing. If this or a similar workshop would be useful for your food co-op please get in touch.
Existing food co-ops
Shoots food co-op in St Helen's made exciting progress on the 31st of March when the running of their
project was handed over to the volunteers. Shoots was originally set up by Helena Partnership (a local
social housing provider) but has always relied on its hard working team of volunteers. An official hand over
event was held at the St Helens Chamber and a cheque was presented to the volunteers from Helena
Partnership to help them get started. Shoots are now working towards becoming a financially self sufficient
social enterprise. The volunteers have undergone lots of training and planning in preparation for the hand
over and are really well placed to make a great success of the business with plans to launch 7 more food
clubs this summer.
Aspley's Miles Better Food Co-op is looking for more volunteers to help provide fresh, seasonal produce to
local people on low incomes in Aspley, Nottingham. Aspley's Miles Better has two roles on offer though they
could possibly be combined. One role would be picking up produce from a local wholesaler once a week and
delivering to the co-op. This would mean an early start but finished by 9am. The other role is helping with the
day to day running of the food co-op - basically helping to run a small fruit and veg stall on Thursday
mornings. Contact leon@sustainweb.org for more details.
Hurst Farm Food Co-op is a thriving food co-op in Matlock which showed how by keeping things simple up to
100 bags of fruit, vegetables and salad can be managed with the minimum of work and still plenty of time for
the project to be a social focus of the area. A particular part of this operation is the wholesalers Smart's in
Clay Cross Chesterfield. Smart's deliver the produce, separate it in weight ready for bagging up and
allow one weeks credit to stop the need for the unfunded project to require a large float. Hurst Farm Food
Co-op are happy to share their simple but effective way of doing things, so if you want to know more contact
leon@sustainweb.org
Study Visits
Thanks to Alan Brown from Food Access Bolton (FAB) who took his fantastic veg van / mobile shop to show
staff and volunteers at Blackburn and Darwen Highercroft food co-op. The Blackburn group are looking into
setting up a mobile arm to their project so there was lots to be learnt from this visit. Thanks also to Unicorn
Grocery for hosting several projects from the Greater Manchester area working towards setting up food coops.
Green Action Food Co-op at Leeds University recently hosted a study visit for other existing and potential
student food co-ops, including Durham, York and Hull. As a result of the visit Sustain is hoping to set up a
Students Food Co-op Network so groups can communicate easily with each other. We have just set up a
new Facebook group - if you run a student food co-op please sign up at
http://www.facebook.com/foodcoops#!/home.php?sk=group_139373159469024
Events
National events
'Rooting community food in an enterprising future' is the fourth Making Local Food Work conference
focussing on the essential skills required to develop community food enterprises. Inspirational speakers on
the day include Dr Charlie Clutterbuck from the Centre of Food Policy at City University in London and Julie
Brown of Growing Communities. Workshops will cover topics such as governance, common
business ailments, and making the most of volunteers. To find out more and book, visit
http://makinglocalfoodwork4.eventbrite.com/
Regional events
We have three food co-ops events coming up in the South East in conjunction with the Fresh Ideas
Network that are ideal for food projects at various stages – whether you are just starting, or have been going
for a while. Be inspired by what other projects are doing, and learn tips from experts! Workshop session
choices will cover...What is a food co-op; introduction to the ‘Food Co-ops Toolkit’ and how to get started;
how to get people involved and keep volunteers; how to do a business plan; how to market your project
efficiently; governance and structures of co-ops; and ‘Nuts & Bolts’ of running a food co-op
 Oxford - Thursday 19 May - 9.30am - 4pm West Oxford Community Centre
 Brighton - Wednesday 25 May - 9.30am - 3.30pm University of Brighton
 Southampton - TBC
These events are FREE but booking is essential! To book, contact Sara Osman sara@sustainweb.org
More FREE Co-operative Communication Skills Training
Seeds for Change collective are once again educating East Anglians! Their second Co-operative
Communication Skills workshop is in Cambridge on May 28th. An interactive training day for individuals
transition initiatives, community groups and co-operatives the workshop looks at how we can participate
effectively in groups that have social aims, endorsing active facilitation and the consensus decision making
model. Cambridge's fledgling Onion Cropshare scheme requested this training. This workshop is FREE and
includes a delicious local seasonal lunch. Seeds for Change are also doing Conflict Resolution training the
next day in Ipswich.
 Saturday 28 May 10 - 5pm - St Columba's United Reform Church, Downing St, Cambridge
 Sunday 29 May - Conflict Resolution for Co-ops training - Ipswich - 11am - 3pm - venue TBC
 Email gemma@sustainweb.org to book
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Other Getting Started food co-op and organic buying group events include:
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Tuesday 3 May - Chacewater, Cornwall 10am-2pm email tlewis@soilassociation.org to book
Monday 16 May - Shrewsbury Coffeehouse - 6pm - 8pm email pete@sustainweb.org to book
Thursday 19 May - Ryelands Primary School, Torrisholme Road, Lancaster - 1.30 - 4.30pm email
ruth@sustainweb.org to book
Wednesday 25 May - Sherbourne, Dorset 12.15pm-3.30pm email alison@sustainweb.org to book
Thursday 26 May - The Garden Room at The Walton lea Project, Warrington - 11am - 3pm - email
ruth@sustainweb.org to book