4th Street Food Co-op

Infobox Co-operative
company_name = 4th Street Food Co-op
company_
company_type = Consumers' cooperative
foundation = 1973
location = New York, NY
members = 300
industry =
products = Organic food
revenue =
operating_income =
net_income =
num_employees =
subsid =
homepage = [http://www.4thstreetfoodcoop.org www.4thstreetfoodcoop.com]

The 4th Street Food Co-op is an all-volunteer food cooperative located in New York City, New York. The 4th Street Food Co-op runs a retail store at 58 East 4th Street, selling foods, hygiene, and household products. The co-op is member owned and operated, but open to the public, and focuses on offering local, organic, and fair trade products.

History

The 4th Street Food Co-op began as the Good Food Co-op, formed in 1973 as a buying club and later opening a store front.

In 1995 the Good Food Co-op was replaced by the 4th Street Food Co-op under the legal corporate name Good Harvest, Incorporated.

tructure and governance

Membership

The 4th Street Food Co-op is lower Manhattan's only all-volunteer food cooperative, and has no paid staff. [cite news |title=Organic David, Organic Goliath |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/nyregion/thecity/14coop.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=4th%20street%20food%20co-op&st=cse&oref=slogin|work=The New York Times|accessdate=2008-09-30]

Monthly meetings are held, open to all members, where working groups report on the state of the co-op and progress made towards projects and goals. Additionally, members may submit and vote on proposals such as reevaluating pricing and discounts, deciding marketing strategy, and organizing upcoming community and co-op events. Additionally, a large annual meeting is held to discuss major co-op decisions and review the past year.

There are several forms of membership, roughly divided into working and non-working. Working members can work 2.25 hours per week either in-store or as part of a working group and receive a 20% discount on all store purchases, or 2.25 hours every other week for a 15% discount. The annual fee to be a working member is currently $25. Non-working members do not work, but pay a $35 annual membership fee for 8% off all purchases.

Working Groups

Responsibilities in addition to staffing the store during opening hours are divided into 12 working groups, such as information systems, facilities maintenance, marketing, and an ethics committee.

References

External links

* [http://www.4thstreetfoodcoop.org Official Website and wiki]