February 2025: A New Chapter for FCI

Dear cooperators and friends,

Startup co-op organizers are some of the most visionary, dedicated, and impactful people I’ve ever met. The process of organizing and opening a food co-op builds power, autonomy, and voice in a community; even before a thriving grocery store is opened, communities are transformed by the impact of your organizing. People build a shared vision, new leaders find their voices, and a commitment to an abundant future is made. This vision of an abundant future is what drives FCI, and will continue to drive FCI during our current leadership transition and beyond.

I’ve had the honor of leading FCI through taking on some big, transformational work over the last two years. Some of this has been outward facing: we made a public commitment to centering equity in all aspects of our organization and work; we released a new vision and mission; and we published a five-year strategic plan. We’ve prioritized building connections and consistent communication by launching this e-news and using our voice to spotlight the innovative work of startups nationwide.

Other parts of our work have been less visible, yet just as powerful for FCI’s future: developing systems that help us serve startups better; building a workplace culture that values people’s full selves and creates opportunity for shared leadership and growth; and investing in our financial stability by seeking out new funding outside of the food co-op sector. We’ve put a new level of emphasis on collaboration — or cooperation! — with partners, creating new opportunities to collaborate through programs like FCI Live and Up & Coming, and developing new resources and tools such as the Co-op Development Framework.

I’m so proud of all that we’ve accomplished and the groundwork laid for the future. It has been an honor to serve as the executive director, and while the executive director is often the face of leadership in an organization, I have not led alone. I have been so fortunate to be surrounded by leaders committed to the possibility of what FCI can accomplish — leaders like JQ Hannah, FCI’s long-time program director and newly-named interim executive director, our dedicated board of directors, and so many of you who have served as thought partners, offered vital feedback, or collaborated on projects.

It has been a privilege to bring my nonprofit and organizational management experience to FCI, to help navigate its growth as an organization. Now, it is time for one of the beating hearts of the startup movement, JQ (along with our amazing new FCI team members Chris Dilley and Mercedes Gosby) to take the reins and continue the work to achieve FCI’s strategic goals.

As I end my time as FCI’s executive director, I keep coming back to our vision of a world where every community has the power and ability to build a thriving cooperative food system that provides them with the food they need and want. As we move through 2025 and beyond, this vision feels more critical than ever. I hope you’ll join me in cheering on FCI and startups, jumping in to collaborate, and committing to building an abundant future together.

In cooperation,
Faye Mack
Outgoing Executive Director

Faye Mack

FROM THE BOARD

It’s with excitement and enthusiasm that the FCI Board welcomes JQ Hannah as the Interim Executive Director of FCI. For over a decade, JQ has been instrumental in FCI’s ability to be a responsive partner to food startups across the nation, and JQ’s unwavering and innovative leadership at FCI has made an indelible footprint in the startup food co-op movement.

During the current transition, the Board and JQ will be considering how FCI, as a small organization with a big mission, can best live into our strategic plan and values. This work will include the Board and staff exploring the potential of a co-executive leadership model used by other cooperatives and non-profit entities. JQ’s current title of ‘interim’ reflects this exploration as we determine the best leadership model for FCI. We have exciting times ahead of us!

Thank you for your ongoing support and participation.

In Cooperation,

Darnell Adams
Board Chair, Food Co-op Initiative

NEW STAFF SPOTLIGHT: MEET CHRIS DILLEY

Chris Dilley, Director of Startup Support

The FCI staff team has not one, but two exciting new additions!
We are thrilled that Chris Dilley has joined our team as of mid-January as our first-ever Director of Startup Support, bringing decades of experience not only in retail grocery co-op operations but also nonprofit leadership and community organizing. He has stepped seamlessly into his new role and is already heading up FCI’s flagship startup support program, Peer Learning Groups. You can get to know more about Chris in his bio on our website, and in the short interview below.

Also joining our team in just the last week is Mercedes Gosby as our new Content and Data Manager! We are greatly looking forward to Mercedes applying her extensive experience at the professional intersection of technology, food systems, and hands-on training to help FCI better organize and deliver our educational offerings. We’ll have a full interview with Mercedes in our next FCI eNews, until then, you can find her bio on our website.

From your experience working in cooperatives, what do you see as a significant issue affecting startups that you could make inroads on?

The significant issues facing co-op grocers have changed so much over the past two decades. I came into food co-ops at a time when organic foods had huge growth potential, and just at the cusp of the local foods movement. Conventional grocers were not touching either in any meaningful way, so the field was wide open; we could operate much more loosely. Gradually at first, then painfully, this has changed as the world of grocery has changed. Local food access is still a primary driver of food co-ops, but there has been an important shift to cooperative grocery stores being part of addressing food access through community-sovereign means. To serve that, we need broader supply chain changes in order to access reasonably priced conventional product options, as well as retail and staffing models that ensure sustainability through earlier profitability. We need to get better at setting up co-ops with solid operating and governance systems so they’re set up prepared to run successfully from the start.

What are the most interesting developments you’d like to see in the co-op space over the next five years?

In working with the board, community, and then the GM to open Detroit People’s Food Co-op, I experienced an incredible amount of support from TA providers and partners working with startup food co-ops. It was an incredible experience to see the broader community come together like it did. I can only imagine how similar opening a co-op is to a traditional communal undertaking like a barn raising. It’s a huge lift! What I’d like to see is even more alignment and collective, mutual effort between everyone in the startup co-op community. There are many gaps that need to be filled, and many more that we’ve not even identified! Talking with one another honestly and openly about what’s working and what’s not, and listening to the folks on the ground organizing in their communities will bring us all together to make this hard work a little easier, and more joyful.

If you could choose one activity to do with any historical figure, who would you pick and what would you do together?

I have been losing myself in jazz for the past couple of years. I am especially entranced by the sound of Miles Davis’ horn. I would love to have been a fly on the wall of any of the Prestige sessions (my favorite is Relaxin’), but if I could do anything with Miles Davis, it would be to hang out at the recording of Kind of Blue. I would love to watch how those geniuses collaborated, and immerse myself in the sound.

What are some key things you’d like to accomplish (or focus on) in your first 6 months?

Learn the job — including ensuring a smooth Peer Learning Group process, get to know the cooperators, and take more stuff off of JQ’s plate!

What’s your go-to comfort food (or some item that you always have stocked in your kitchen)?

Finally, an easy one! Chinese dumplings. I spent over two years living in Beijing, China in the 1990s, and have been back a total of six times. Dumplings — boiled or fried; purse-shaped or moon-shaped, filled with pork or vegetables — are a really common quick meal or snack on the street. I buy a couple bags a week from our local Asian grocer. My favorite meal to have them for is breakfast!

FOOD CO-OP DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK UPDATE

Thank you to everyone that gave us feedback about the new Food Co-op Development Framework or “Framework” at Up & Coming this past September and in our two free webinars in November 2024!

While the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, one consistent thing we heard from startup organizers was that the Framework graphic made it appear as if each Stage focuses on only the Resource directly across from it in the graphic – ooops! This is not the case: each of the five Resources are needed in every stage, so it was time for a tweak.

While we would have sworn the Framework graphic was in its final form, you, the startup organizers, are the experts on whether a tool works or not, so we went back to the drawing board. Our new version reflects the changes many of you asked for, and was then tested with over a dozen startup organizers who gave it the thumbs up! Thank you to every startup organizer that offered us feedback on it and a special thank you to Don Moffitt of Columinate, who gave us the core idea for how to tweak the graphic to tell the right story, and to Melanie Shellito of the Firebrand Cooperative for being the brilliant designer behind the creation of the graphic.

Next Up for the Framework: Our 2025 Framework Editors Team is finalizing a first draft of a written introduction to the Food Co-op Development Framework this month, which means we’ll be activating our 2025 Framework Review Circle, which is made up of over a dozen startup food co-op organizers and experts from diverse experiences and perspectives! The Circle will review the draft from the Editors Team and give us feedback on what might not make sense, perspectives that might be missing from the writing, and what they’d like to see fleshed out in the Team’s next writing efforts. We’ll be featuring our Editors Team and Review Circle members’ contributions in our next FCI eNews.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Farm Stop Conference – FCI’s own Chris Dilley will be attending the 2025 Farm Stop Conference in Ann Arbor, MI, March 2-4 to learn and participate on a panel about utilizing the cooperative business model in the farm stop movement. What are farm stops? Learn more here.

FCI Live 2025: mark your calendars: Monday, 3/24/25 through Thursday, 4/3/25 are the dates for our wildly popular, annual, virtual conference focused on the learning needs of startup food co-ops! Registration for all FCI Live sessions will open Tuesday, 2/25, so watch your inbox!

CCMA – CCMA is the national annual conference for food cooperative directors, management, staff, and sector allies and it will be held this year in Duluth, MN May 29 -31! Learn more about this conference focused on the needs of established food co-ops HERE.

And they’ve just announced their registration scholarship application process, you can find out more about that HERE.

Up & Coming: September 11–13th, 2025: The dates and the location for the Up & Coming Conference for Startup Food Co-ops have been set – we’ll see you in Kalamazoo, MI, September 11th – 13th! If you can make it to only one in-person conference this year, this is the one not to miss, startup food cooperators! We are thrilled to be sharing space with Black-Led Day for the 5th year in a row, which will be held during the day on Thursday, September 11th, created and hosted by the National Black Food & Justice Alliance.

SUPPORT SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS

Are you eagerly awaiting all the great sessions you’ll attend at FCI Live next month? Donations from individuals like you help make this program possible and keep attendance FREE! Thanks to these donations and FCI Live sponsors, we’re able to pay speakers a stipend to acknowledge their time and expertise they are sharing with FCI and our startup food co-op community. If you’re planning to attend FCI Live this year, consider making a donation to help keep this work going!

DONATE

NEWS STARTUPS NEED TO KNOW

The latest on Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting requirements: The new Beneficial Ownership Information program, established by the federal Corporate Transparency Act, requires businesses to report on owners and individuals who exercise significant control over a business, including any co-op that has incorporated as a legal entity. The program was recently held up in court, but as of 2/18/25 it is back in effect. As a result, BOI reporting is now mandatory. The US Federation of Worker Co-ops has great information about this. For most companies, the deadline to file is now March 21, 2025. We recommend learning about the requirements and consulting your lawyers for advice asap if your co-op has not already filed.
2025 is the United Nations International Year of Cooperatives, highlighting the critical role cooperatives play in sustainable development and the “unique ability of cooperatives to foster inclusive growth and strengthen community resilience”. Heck, yeah! Learn about events, tools you can use, and more here.
The Detroit People’s Food Co-op has now had the doors of its store open for nine months; so how are they doing? They were in their local news last month with an update.

Get Started with Food Co-op Initiative

Food Co-op Initiative provides exceptional resources for people in the U.S. working to start a retail food co-op that meets the needs of their community. New startups can use our materials at no charge and are able to reach out to our staff for phone consultations and additional technical help.

Popular Resources

Let’s Start a Food Co-op! What do we do first?

What can FCI Do for me?

Guide to Starting a Food Co-op

Annual Impact Reports

QuickStart from FCI Classroom

Connect with Us

Have questions, want to know where to start?
Call today: (844) 324-2667

Get the newsletter!

Food Co-op Initiative is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by the law. Food Co-op Initiative is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate with regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, national origin, or disability.