Volunteers working to create a food-selling cooperative in Tacoma say they want it all – in due time.

In the fall of 2006, a group of Tacoma residents started talking about creating the Tacoma Food Co-op, a business that would be owned by its members. Since that time, volunteers have been working steadily to birth the not-for-profit business. But they say they want to take their time to ensure they get the legal and financial details right.

“The benefit of a cooperative is that it’s a collective group of individuals coming together and owning a piece of this business,” says Amber Englund, one of eight people on the group’s steering committee.

“Each member who buys into the co-op makes an investment not only in the governance and structure of the co-op, but they also own the capital of the co-op,” says Dan Hulse, another steering committee member.

The Tacoma Food Co-op e-mail list has grown to include nearly 600 people, and this summer the group hopes to host a community gathering where people interested in the concept can learn more. An event is tentatively scheduled for July 19, but details are still in the development stages. Whether anyone will be able to sign a membership card by July is still undecided, Englund says.

Meanwhile, students from the University of Washington Tacoma, under the guidance of their professors, are working on a marketing feasibility study and business plan.

Volunteers are looking at legal and financial structures. They are looking at food cooperatives in other Northwest cities, including Olympia, Port Townsend, Bellingham, Portland and Seattle. More volunteer help is welcome, Englund says.

Food cooperatives range from small, homegrown affairs operated on volunteer power to more commercial storefronts that employ staff and ask members to pledge cash instead of time.

Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets, which bills itself as the nation’s largest consumer-owned grocery retailer, began as a food-buying club for 15 families in 1953. Today, the organization boasts nearly 40,000 members who shop in eight stores in Seattle and its suburbs.

Where the Tacoma organization might fall on the food co-op spectrum is still being discussed, Hulse says.

“It will largely be a reflection of the findings that come back to us from the feasibility study,” he says.

A Tacoma food co-op has several hurdles to overcome. In the 1970s and early 1980s, the city had a co-op, but it closed. And today, consumers can find organic food at many grocery stores, from locally operated retailers to regional chains.

Some fundamentals have already been decided, Hulse says. One goal is to offer organic and whole foods at affordable prices. Another is to rely heavily on local producers of fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products.

Organizers say buying mainly from Washington and Northwest food producers should help to lower costs and lighten the co-op’s carbon footprint, by limiting the amount of fuel used to transport food from farm to shopper.

That’s a big issue for many natural-food buyers.

Says Englund: “People are slowly becoming more aware of where our food is coming from.”

Debbie Cafazzo: 253-597-8635

Want to know more?

To have your name added to the Tacoma Food Co-op e-mail list, to ask a question or to volunteer, send e-mail to tacomafoodcoop@gmail.com. Or check out the group’s blog at tacomafoodcoop.blogspot.com.