Believe it. It’s real. Our community-owned food co-op has received $416,244 in member pledges and membership equity 10 year investments.

If anyone out there is still considering making a pledge to the co-op moving drive please take action. While we have our stated amount in pledges, our Advisory Board collection team now needs to round up these promised funds. All additional pledges are a wonderful cushion and safety blanket to make sure that our plan is executed in a timely and beautiful manner :) Please email Amber Sallaberry at amber@greatbasinfood.coop or use our online contact form for more info or to receive a copy of the prospectus.

On a stinky cheese side note: We apologize for the pungent aroma coming from the chill case. Last Friday we received our order from Cowgirl Creamery in Petaluma, CA. They are responsible for all of the amazing cheeses, marscapone and creme fraiche that we carry…oh yeah, did we mention that they use Organic Straus Milk to make their cheese?

So, we ordered the Red Hawk. Its flavor is just about as mind blowing as its smell. Its a triple cream organic soft cheese. Aged four weeks and washed with a brine solution that tints the rind a sunset red orange. Why not help clear the air and celebrate our co-op’s recent success with a wheel of Red Hawk and a nice loaf of our organic par baked sourdough or walnut bread?

Related material:

• GBCFC Annual Membership Letter (2011)
• GBCFC Member Loan Drive Brochure (2011)

By now, as a GBCFC member-owner, you should have received the annual Great Basin Community Food Co-op membership letter and the information regarding our upcoming move to a new, larger location.  Yes, these are very exciting times for the biggest little co-op in the world!  For several months, our moving team has been working on the general layout and design for the new space.  We have planned a local farmer distribution center in the basement, factored in a small kitchen for fresh baked goods and prepared foods, and expanded most of the sections that the co-op currently has, including local produce and meat.  We will host our first ever organic beer and wine section and will have community cafe space for our members to hang out and enjoy!  While there is much exciting development in the works,  we are still looking for YOUR feedback as to how the co-op can better meet the needs of its members.

If you have received the brochure about the member loan drive and are interested in learning more, our co-founders would like to invite you to our moving presentation and Question & Answer series (see below for more info).  If you have no idea what brochure we’re talking about or the annual membership letter, please go here to view an electronic version of each.  One important piece of information that we did not highlight in the moving brochure is how easy it is to get involved and help make this move a success for your co-op.  One of our biggest needs right now are loans from our member-owners in the minimum amount of $1,000.  However, if that amount if too much for your budget currently, please consider investing membership equity into your co-op.

If all of our members paid for the next 10 years of their memberships, total $150 investment, we would have the $415,000 that we need to move!!

The dates for the presentations are:

• Monday, March 28
• Thursday, March 31
• Monday, April 4
• Thursday, April 7

Time: Presentations will go from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. on each of the specified days.  

During the presentation, we can help answer any questions that you may have about the benefits and/or risks of supporting our co-op’s move by pledging a member loan. During this time, we plan to collect your feedback as to how your food co-op can better meet the needs of its members.  This is a great opportunity to meet our co-op co-founders, ask general questions, get involved & show support for the local food movement.

To add to the fun, we will be hosting these presentations at the Garden Pavilion (courtesy of the Lake Mansion, VSA Arts) located at 250 Court St across the street from the proposed, new Great Basin Community Food Co-op location.

Space is limited as the room can only hold 50 people per presentation.  Be sure to sign up early to reserve a spot.  Our goal is to get everyone as excited as we are about the greatest Local Food Movement in the history of Northern Nevada!

Thank you,

Amber & Nicole Sallaberry
Co-Founders and Moving Project Coordinators

Please check out the Case Statement to Move to learn more about your co-op’s exciting expansion into a larger facility.

Tax-deductible Donations Welcome!

The co-op’s lease at our current site will be up in January 2012, and in order to keep our food co-op alive and thriving we are calling upon our member-owners and the community at-large to help out financially. We will now be accepting in-person and online tax-deductible donations from anyone interested in helping the GBCFC to reach our goals for expansion.

After a donation is made you will be sent information for your tax purposes.

2011 Member Loan Drive

In February, your GBCFC kicked off the member loan drive…not to be confused with a donation. Co-op’s are unique entities, especially here in the State of Nevada– the GBCFC is the only currently existing food co-op that supports our local growers and producers. Due to co-op’s unique nature, they are not always eligible for traditional financing and lending opportunities. Therefore, when they approach times of necessary growth, or improvement that require significant amounts of capital, they look to their members to loan them money for a period of time.

While we will always great-fully accept donations from anyone in any amount, we will be calling upon our membership to help play a vital role in the establishment and growth of our community-owned business and the expansion of the cooperative movement. We will be announcing more detailed information about the members loan drive on Jan. 1 2011. In the mean time, please help your co-op to be well and prosper by making a donation today.

Case Statement to Move

The Great Basin Community Food Cooperative is planning a move in 2011 to improve our ability to meet YOUR needs.

Since our founding in 2005, we have rapidly and steadily grown to a current active membership of over 2500. We are currently operating in a facility with 500 square feet of retail space in which we offer over 1,200 items including a large number of seasonally available products from local food growers and artisans. Locally sourced products have been particularly successful. In 2006 we started selling products from three locally-based food growers and artisans; now we sell products from 46 local sources. In 2009, annual revenue paid to these local food producers exceeded $55,000, tripling since 2008. Gross sales have followed a similar growth trend, increasing from $250,000 in 2008 to over $500,000 in 2009, with projections close to $900,000 by the end of 2010!

Justification for Moving

While the fact that the current lease on 542 ½ Plumas St. facility ends Jan. 31, 2012 is forcing us to look for a new site, the most important reason we need to move is to make sure that we have the retail and back stock space for our members and our farmers.

The current back stock and retail spaces are far too small to comfortably meet our current volume of sales. Even if we had sufficient retail and back stock space now, we need to allow for growth in the subsequent 3-5 year period. The additional space is essential for the Co-op to increase sales volumes and qualify for discounts from wholesalers, improve our financial position and reduce or hold the line on prices for our membership.

Finally, our area’s producers need to cut down on their trips to town. It is not an efficient use of the farmers’ time and resources or of nonrenewable resources to make numerous deliveries to a co-op (and surrounding restaurants) when a centrally located facility would allow for them to reduce their costs thereby reducing the cost to the co-op.

New Site Size and Location

Most coops in the country with 2,500-3,000 active members operate with 3,000-7,000 square feet of retail space to adequately meet member needs with a variety and volume of goods. Because the largest concentrations of our membership (based on zip codes) live in the area and have requested on our recent member survey that we stay in the same neighborhood, we are currently evaluating several commercial properties in this southwest Reno vicinity.

Financing the Move!

We are presently putting together a detailed time-line and budget for the planned move and will conduct a member loan drive from Feb. 10 to March 25, 2011.

Prior to the member loan drive we will be accepting tax deductible donations through our fiscal agent, The Local Food System Network. Donations can be made starting on Nov. 1, 2010 on our website’s online donation page or in-store by check, credit card or cash.

Contact finance@greatbasinfood.coop or call our office at 775-324-2922 for more information. The main sources of capital to fund the co-op’s next move will be from donations, grants, the member loan drive and possibly traditional bank loans.

Key Features of the Proposed New Food Co-op Site

While more space for grocery items, healthy to go meals, and back stock is a priority, we are also planning a central storage facility for local producers. The new location will emphasize bulk goods in order to cut down on waste that will end up in a landfill and it will also incorporate numerous other “green” features. We also want to have an herb garden, space for demonstrations and more space for locally baked goods. Finally, with a larger site we can better facilitate one stop shopping while providing a space for the community to connect and interact.