South Philly Food Co-op

Steering Committee Meeting

Monday, October 11, 2010

In attendance: Molly, Alison, John, Julia, Rebecca, David, Cassie, Mary Beth,
and Maria

1. Subcommittee update (5)

a. Outreach
i. Block party on Christian—people are really into it
ii. Larry Schaffer (?) very connected, great meeting him
iii. Blocktoberfest---collect donations
iv. Julie & Rebecca working on finalizing civic association
presentation
b. Are we ready for combined civic meeting on 10/21 at Neuman-Gorretti?
i. Alison will present along with Julie and Rebecca and maybe Cassie
c. Amy Dean---looking over survey of local businesses to make sure it is
done tactfully and responsibly
d. Legal/Finance
i. TDBank account w/tax ID # opened 10/10 (signers—Cassie, Molly
& Erika)
ii. Erika O will be bookkeeper
iii. Proposal for incorporating has been completed
iv. Saturday—met with Stuart Reed who recommended incorporating
early as possible to protect us from legal liability
v. Directors and officers insurance – how much will it cost us? Do we
need it?

2. Vote: Legal/Finance Bookkeeping proposal (10)

a. Overview of banking practices—who is responsible for what?
b. Form for collecting money at events
c. PayPal account---‘donate’ button for website. Alison has account set up,
will talk to finance about linking bank account
d. Rebecca, Patty (Outreach) and Molly will create some kind of system for
tracking volunteer hours
e. All policies are in effect as of tonight
f. $25 in petty cash to Outreach to make change when necessary
g. First official co-op vote! 7 votes and 2 abstentions

3. Door-to-door surveys (deadline 10/9) – How are we doing? (10)

a. Outreach will put together an organized canvassing endeavor
b. orientation first then walk
c. about 5 different locations
4. Up for Discussion: (40)
a. Post mortem from last meeting (Tina Johnson): Are we thinking too big?
Thoughts?
i. start w/a working model with possibility to relax ‘rules’
ii. will we be able to get people to join?
 iii. working will create community as opposed to grocery store
iv. working will provide jobs to community
v. will working really save money
vi. working and labor laws----will someone sue b/c we aren’t hiring
people, using volunteer
vii. how many co-ops have succeeded with a non-working model?
viii. definitely a strong sense of community is wanted by steering
committee
ix. future members need education on what exactly a co-op is once
we have a plan
x. we need to decide what we want the co-op to be and then share
our vision with the community
xi. Flatbush co-op started with a simpler work-only model and then
evolved into what they are now
xii. hybrid model—have only a small percentage
xiii. Weavers Way had working only model—(6 hrs a year) w/members
only paying $400/yr
xiv. it was alienating the community who couldn’t shop there, some
members stopped working and shopping
xv. what makes us different than other stores? Why will people shop
at our store and not at a regular grocery store?
xvi. we need to have our vision straight before we ask people to buy
in?
xvii. why do we want a working model? Is it just to build community or
to save money?
xviii. Kensington—open membership structure needed for success b/c
of their population
xix. differentiate ourselves --- local food, bulk food, organic food
xx. membership specials—lower prices only for members (like Acme),
bulk discounts, check cashing

b. Membership Structure – Open discussion, re-review co-op manual and co-

op/membership info on Google group if needed
i. see above discussion

c. Timeline Feedback. Are we ready to put this on the website?

i. we didn’t get to discuss this

5. Other?
a. Website ($2.50) for Mary Beth (Alison, Marsha, Maria, Rose, John, David,
Cassie, Rebecca, Julia paid)
b. Update to email list – feedback? Ready to Send?

6. Set date and time for 10/25 meeting.

a. Education topic – Rochdale Principles (Marsha)
b. Julie present possible Case Studies of other co-ops and how they
succeeded?
i. Kensington and other urban co-ops
c. Next week’s meeting-----617 Reed St (John’s house)