The Canberra Food Co-op is looking forward to celebrating 50 years – but needs community help to get there. Photo: The Food Co-op/Facebook.
For the past 49 years, the Food Co-operative Shop & Cafe has been an important part of the local community.
Established in 1976, The Food Co-operative Shop & Cafe – known to many as simply the Co-op – is Australia’s oldest continuing food co-operative. Over the decades, the Co-op has grown, moved and changed, but remains a hub for affordable, ethical and healthy food.
In addition to the bulk food shop at the core of the organisation, the Co-op also runs a cafe six days a week, serving affordable vegan, gluten-free and organic lunches, runs regular evening events like Acoustic Soup and Taco Nights, and even has its own rooftop garden.
The Co-op also functions as an important community space, provides local volunteering opportunities and welcomes a diverse cross-section of the Canberra community through its doors.
Readers of Region will know me as a Food Writer, but for the past 12 months, I have also been a board member of the Co-op, a role which has challenged me, taught me valuable lessons and further deepened my appreciation of this important Canberra institution.
Values of the Co-op board include horizontal decision making (rather than following a hierarchical structure), our commitment to radical transparency, and the ongoing drive to put our members first, as neatly summed up in our slogan: food for people, not for profit.
In the interests of radical transparency, I am writing with difficult news: we might not make it to our 50th birthday.
In addition to running a bulk food shop, the Co-op also operates a cafe, supplying affordable lunches. Photo: Supplied.
Like many community-based organisations, not to mention small businesses, we are facing the challenges associated with a cost-of-living crisis. In my work as a food writer, I have seen an astonishing number of hospitality businesses close in the past few months: it is worse than during the pandemic, and as bad as I’ve ever known it to be. People are spending less money, and costs are increasing across the board.
The Co-op is not immune to these pressures and is now struggling to make ends meet.
Historically, many of our members and customers were drawn from the ANU community. But as the university faces its own financial demons, the impacts are felt in businesses across campus and the city, and we are seeing those results in the Co-op.
The board has been working hard to make sure the organisation is as efficient as it can be: we’ve restructured our staffing, cut unnecessary spending, and enacted responsible policies. Long-time followers may recall that a fundraising campaign was launched a few years ago to “Save the Co-op!” Although successful for a time, it, unfortunately, lacked the right long-term oversight to prevent us from falling back into the same position.
The board has worked to make sure this doesn’t happen again with our current Coop2Fifty fundraiser, with careful consideration about how funds will be used, and periodic reviews put in place to stay on top of future spending.
If we do this right, it should be the last time we need to hold such a fundraiser.
The Food Co-op offers bulk, plastic-free shopping and shelves full of organic ingredients. Photo: Amie Illfield.
We’ve done all we can reasonably do to cut costs, so now our focus is to get more people in the door. We’ve been letterboxing, advertising, reaching out to our networks and setting up at local markets to tell more people in the Canberra community about what we do.
For me, the Co-op is a place of community. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you don’t make friends at Coles or Woolworths, but you do make them at the Co-op.
The Co-op is a space where international students can find a place of community. It’s a space where young, queer people are safe to share their identities, and where disabled people are welcomed and valued as members of the community. We are also a rare ‘third space’, where people are welcome to come and spend time without spending money.
As a values-driven organisation, we stand up for people who need it, offer food to those who are hungry and live by our ethics, even when it’s inconvenient.
I truly believe that the Co-op represents the very best of our community, warts and all. We’re not perfect, but there are 800 members who believe that the co-op is worth fighting for, and we’d love for you to be part of that community.
And so I am reaching out to you, dear reader, to ask: will you join us at the Co-op?
The Food Co-operative Shop & Cafe is located at 3 Kingsley Street, Canberra. It’s open from 10 am to 7 pm, Monday to Friday, and from 10 am to 4 pm on weekends. Follow The Co-op on Facebook or Instagram, and Donate to the Co-op2Fifty Fundraiser.
