4th Street Food Co-op
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| Type | Consumers' cooperative |
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| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York, United States |
| Products | Natural food |
| Members | 300 |
| Website | 4thstreetfoodcoop.org |
The 4th Street Food Co-op is a food cooperative located in New York City. The 4th Street Food Co-op runs a retail store at 58 East 4th Street, selling natural foods and household products. The co-op is member-owned and -operated, but open to the public, and focuses on offering locally grown organic, and ethically produced products.
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[edit] History
The 4th Street Food Co-op is in the space formerly occupied by the Good Food Co-op that started in 1973 as a buying club and later opened a store front, going out of business in 1992.
In 1995 the Good Food Co-op was replaced by the 4th Street Food Co-op under the legal corporate name Good Harvest Cooperative, Incorporated.
[edit] Structure and governance
[edit] Membership
The 4th Street Food Co-op is lower Manhattan's only food cooperative.[1]
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 share such a membership 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ Levin, Dan (2007-01-14). "Organic David, Organic Goliath". The New York Times. 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. Retrieved 2008-09-30.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 40°43′39.36″N 73°59′32.59″W / 40.7276°N 73.9923861°W
