Marian Kuper, Board Treasurer
When you think about a start-up food co-operative that doesn’t yet have a storefront, the Rooted Carrot Co-operative Market certainly comes to mind. We’ve been working toward our vision for many years – fourteen, if you count from the moment the idea was hatched. Twelve, if you count from our incorporation year (2014). Lots of hiccups along the way, too.
Think that’s a long time to work and strive toward a fabulous idea before it bears fruit?
Ever hear of Wasatch Food Co-operative in Utah?
Seventeen years ago, the Wasatch Food Co-op’s initial, tiny group of members got together in a neighborhood in Salt Lake City and started to dream. Optimism and a can-do spirit helped drive them forward, but hard work, grit, know-how and determination proved especially essential. It shepherded them through COVID, money woes and more than one plan that ran aground against unanticipated roadblocks. Discouragement often reigned.
But the group kept its nose to the grindstone and its eyes on the future. Sound familiar?
Their vision persisted. Hard lessons got learned. Those members simply saw no reason why they couldn’t make a food-co-op storefront a reality in their community, and so they kept at it.
They found board members with business backgrounds, marketing expertise, financial chops and legal expertise. They recruited all kinds of volunteers. They developed relationships with local truck farmers, ranchers, politicians and public safety officials. They went to conferences and met like-minded individuals trying to do these very same things in their own communities – a goldmine of ideas and inspiration. They arranged marketing studies and hammered out business plans.
It still didn’t look feasible. It still wasn’t a ‘go.’
So they raised more money, worked even harder than before, kept their frustrations in check, crunched the numbers and consulted people who knew the community grocery business inside and out.
They also had a lucky break or two along the way.
One day, three years ago, an opportunity presented itself. The business sense they had mutually developed allowed them to see a potentially feasible path open up. But it was risky. Taking those risks into consideration, they jumped. They “went all in.” There was no going back, after that. It was now-or-never.
What they did three years ago was sign a lease on a building and then launch a major capital campaign. Their plan indicated that they’d need to raise – gulp – $2.8 million dollars.
That’s because leasehold improvements, refrigeration equipment, several months of pre- opening managerial and staff salaries, training for those hires, the initial stocking of the store and a big marketing plan were all going to be needed. It was the only way to ensure that the full-service grocery store they’d envisioned for so long would not only get established properly, but thrive, grow and become a fully sustainable business capable of operating on its own in years to come.
This $2.8 million dollar capital campaign was above and beyond the $300-per-person membership fee that many Wasatch Food Co-op members had already paid in.
But the Wasatch Co-op board took the gamble that they could raise the money. And that’s exactly what they did. They went out and raised it. And these dollars paved the way for the store to open.
The Wasatch Food Co-operative held its grand opening on May 20 of this year. It was a huge community event, and the co-op is off to a tremendous start. We’re cheering them on.
And we can hardly think of a better example to follow. Onward!