A History of the Great Bay Food Co-op

by Peter Yarensky, Great Bay Food Co-op Historian

Including an overview of the changes in GBFC since its beginnings on the UNH campus in the early 1970's, the story of the "Great Pepridge Farm Bread Controversy, and other fascinating stories of our food co-op over the past 20+ years.

Early Co-op History

The history of cooperatives began in 1844 in England, when a group of blacklisted weavers incorporated themselves as the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers. In doing so, they opened the first cooperatively run store. Initially they sold flour, butter, sugar and oatmeal. They decided to trade only for cash, and not to undersell local merchants. Each member, man or woman, had one vote at general meetings, and in elections for the board of directors -- a very progressive policy for its time in more than one way! Profits were divided proportionately to member spending on purchases. It was felt that this radical form of democratic control required an informed membership. Thus, the Society allocated 2.5% of surplus money to member education. This began a co-op tradition that lasts to this date of putting a strong emphasis on member education. Out of this organization the co-op movement was born, and although its form has changed, it has continued up to the present.

The Modern Cooperative Movement

The modern (New Wave) cooperative movement, of which we are a part, began in the 1960's. It grew out of the New Left and other social movements of the time, and had a strong emphasis on open democratic structure. The idea of direct savings became more popular than the rebates prevalent in the older co-ops (in which members paid prices comparable to those in other stores, and received rebates based on amount purchased if the co-op made a profit). Many of these co-ops were organized to offset high prices in natural food stores, or simply to provide access to that kind of food in an area without a natural food store. The new wave co-ops have tended to be smaller, and have gained buying power by organizing into federations such as Northeast Co-ops, of which we are a member.

1970 - The Beginnings of Great Bay Food Co-op

At this point, we can skip ahead to the 1970's, and focus on the town of Newmarket, New Hampshire. In 1970, believe it or not, there was a fair amount of radical political activity in the Seacoast area. This was the year of the invasion of Cambodia, Abbie Hoffman coming to UNH despite the administration prohibiting him from speaking, and student strikes. It was also the year that a group of 12 friends decided that if they worked together, they could purchase produce in quantity from the Chelsea Market in Boston, thus saving a considerable amount of money and gaining control over their purchases.

From this the Newmarket Big Food Buying Club began. In the tradition of the New Wave co-ops which were becoming popular at the time, members volunteered to work and share all the tasks of the buying club (as preorder co-ops are sometimes called).

Over the next few years the club grew to about 100 members. In addition, it worked together with (and may have organized) other smaller buying clubs in Exeter, Raymond, Dover, Durham, Somersworth and Portsmouth. This was consistent with the currently popular notion of decentralization: several smaller buying clubs working together would function better than one unwieldy large organization. The buying clubs had items available for preorder such as produce, eggs, dairy, cheese, fish, herbs and spices.

1976 - Need for Organized Structure

In 1976 the Newmarket Big Food Buying Club closed for the summer as usual. It never reopened. At this time the UNH Food Co-op in Durham was the dominant co-op in the area, and many of the Newmarket co-opers joined the Durham co-op which had remained open all summer. Around this time the UNH Food Co-op became the only co-op in the area other than a few unrelated smaller co-ops which have never been very visible or gone beyond a small core group.

When the UNH Food Co-op first started, it had virtually no formal organization. Food was brought to a distribution point, and all members would bag their own orders. However, as the co-op grew, this became impractical. The first structure of the co-op, designed by Phil and Jayne Norris (our first and second coordinators), had three committees:

• the Bagging Committee, which bagged up peoples' preorders,
• the Pick-Up Committee, which is where you went to pick up your food,
• the Education Committee, which focused on community education.

It was around this time that the co-op started putting out a newsletter. Preorders were done weekly, and a newsletter would be put in everyone's bag. In the fall of 1976 the co-op's organization was made more formal and more extensive to accommodate the rapid growth of the co-op. Also around this time the co-op was able to get an office in the MUB, after being shuffled throughout the campus. As it got bigger it started using other rooms such as the Hillsboro-Sullivan Room.

1977 - Co-op Membership Grows Like Weeds

During the year 1977, the co-op experienced rapid growth, becoming the largest student organization on campus, a status which it held for over five years. We started using the Strafford and Granite State Rooms during co-op hours most weeks, using our office in the Memorial Union Building (MUB) only as an office and as storage space. This growth also caused other crises. We had clearly outgrown our current organizational structure, and the number of committees grew rapidly to meet the needs of a larger co-op.

Another sort of crisis came about due to the lack of continuity of leadership. At that point, most coordinators served for only a semester. It was hard to work out effective procedures or to keep them going without stability. In particular, we were lacking an effective accounting procedure. This caused a crisis following a semester of careless financial practices: a number of bills came in during the summer and after paying the bills there was no money to put in a preorder for which members had already paid. Fortunately, the co-op got through this crisis with the help of a loan from a member, and learned that it was now at a point where it had to be more careful with its business practices.

Fall 1977 - Membership Soars to 200

In the fall of 1977 Jim Van Fleet coordinated the co-op. In addition to better record keeping, a better accounting system was introduced. New members were required to go through an orientation procedure to teach them how to use the co-op, and to introduce them to cooperative philosophy. There was an emphasis on learning group process and decision making skills to make the co-op run more effectively, and an emphasis on developing long-range goals for the co-op. At this time, produce, bread, dairy and other foods were ordered on a weekly basis. Cheese and grains were done preorder a couple times each semester. When a grain order came in, many co-opers helped bag it up, and it could take all day.

I joined the co-op around this time, and can remember jarring honey without a honey gate for hours. When I left I had to take a shower and wash everything I was wearing including my sneakers!

Also around this time co-op grew at an alarming rate. On Sept. 19, the newsletter proclaimed the co-op to have 120 members; two weeks later we had 200 members; and shortly thereafter membership was closed briefly for the first time to allow co-op to deal with this growth. Lines were long, people were getting frustrated and some dropped out. An effort was made to improve the co-op atmosphere.

Cheese was now precut on a weekly basis and sold retail along with extra produce by the Extras committee. At first 100 pounds of cheese was sold each week; that doubled within a couple weeks. An Entertainment Committee was formed by Phil Norris to provide music and other entertainment during co-op each week. All these changes, and the general emphasis on paying close attention to what was going on, paid off in terms of greater member involvement, and greater capacity of the co-op to deal with larger membership.

During the winter and spring Nat Shed coordinated the co-op. During this time the co-op continued to improve its organization. It also sponsored a conference of New Hampshire co-ops designed to improve communication and cooperation between area co-ops.

1978 - The First UNH Co-op Handbook

One of the results of this period of growth and adaptation was the idea that individual members should know the operation of the co-op in more detail. In early 1978 the first UNH Food Co-op Handbook was compiled by Jim and Sarah Van Fleet. All coordinators were asked to submit written explanations of how their committees worked. The 25-page handbook went into the operation of each committee in great detail. As a result it could serve as a training manual, and to increase the number of people capable of filling certain positions if the need arose.

At the end of the spring semester, Tim Garvey was appointed the summer coordinator for the co-op. He was the first coordinator to hold the position for more than one semester. For the first time the co-op was to be open during the summer, thus decreasing its adherence to the academic calendar. It was anticipated that the co-op would be smaller; and during the summer it would cost $5/hour to keep the MUB open after 4:30. Thus, summer co-op was moved to a different location. The first summer location was in the basement of a fraternity on Madbury Road, in a room opening out onto a driveway. The space was adequate, and generally the co-op was welcome; but the residents had a habit of bringing large slabs of meat through the room to the displeasure of many vegetarian co-opers.

June 1978 - Co-op Incorporated as

Great Bay Food Cooperative

As the co-op became more concerned with attracting a broader membership, it became obvious that one problem was in its name: some people simply wouldn't take the co-op seriously because it was seen as only a student co-op, and some non-students were put off by belonging to such an obviously student-based organization. This attitude was even apparent among some of the representatives to the co-op conference. A related concern was came out of the financial crisis of the previous year. It seemed desirable to make sure there wasn't a major financial risk to individuals, particularly the finance coordinator. The co-op decided to address both these issues together.

In June of 1978 the co-op was incorporated under the name Great Bay Food Co-op. Incorporation addressed the issue of financial liability, and the name reflected our desires for a broader membership.

During the first summer co-op things were generally uneventful and relaxed, as they have been most summers since. Summer has always been financially difficult for the co-op due to its small size, and it has always been difficult to deal with produce for the same reason, but the peaceful and more intimate atmosphere has generally balanced out any problems and made summer co-op an enjoyable experience.

The co-op began the fall of 1978 in financial health, quite large but not too large, with a paid general coordinator and financial coordinator, and 18 committees. The main issue at this time had to do with the lack of a clearly established policy concerning nutritional issues and the choice of foods to sell at co-op. Although the issue had been around for months it came out very clearly during the first fall meeting of 1978.

The Pepperidge Farm Bread Controversy

Up to this point the co-op had been buying bread from Pepperidge Farms. At this meeting, Lee Elder, Cheryl Mullenix and I brought up the fact that there was a bakery now operating in Dover, the Hearty Bakers, which made very good whole-grain breads with no additives or preservatives for only 4.5 cents per loaf more than Pepperidge Farms bread. Although it seemed obvious to us that we should switch, this turned out to be an issue that lasted for several months; the meeting was so emotional that a couple people had to leave the meeting for a while to calm down.

My first general meeting turned out to be the most emotionally charged meeting in the history of the co-op.

 

Another issue was whether we should have an official policy favoring the buying of locally produced foods. And a further issue was whether we should as a co-op decide what foods members should buy, or should we keep several alternatives on the order form and give individual members the choice.

For the time being it was agreed to add Hearty Bakers bread to the order form, but to retain the Pepperidge Farms bread. And perhaps more importantly it was decided to establish a nutritional and food-buying policy for the co-op so this sort of issue could be dealt with more rationally in the future.

Drafting a Co-op Food Buying Policy

In the beginning of October an all day meeting was conducted to draft a food buying policy for the co-op. The policy was presented to a general meeting and ratified; although it has been largely forgotten it is still an official policy of the co-op. The text of the food buying policy is reprinted in the Appendix.

It is indicative of the political nature of the issue that the seven-sentence long policy was prefaced by over two pages of explanation of its rationale and by a page of definitions. However, given that this was the first time that the co-op had formally addressed this sort of issue, and given the centrality of the issue to many members of co-op, this shouldn't be too surprising.

The policy states that the co-op should, when reasonably obtainable, purchase only foods of the highest nutritional quality.

• The policy favors organically grown and produced foods, and foods least processed and with a minimal of additives.
• If not available, the nearest substitute should be provided.
• The next priority was to support local sources, reflecting a concern for supporting local agriculture and businesses.
• If an item wasn't available locally, the next priority was to buy from cooperative over profit-making sources.

   

A Return to Unity with a Co-op Logo and Co-op T-shirts

After this controversy was resolved the co-op continued to run smoothly through the end of 1979. Later in 1978 the co-op adopted a logo, which became the basis for co-op tee shirts. Patty Groden became the General Coordinator in January of 1979. Co-op met every week of the year with the exception of Christmas and New Years, which both fell on Tuesdays, now the co-op's day of operation. The selling of grains was modified to meet the growing demand: instead of doing a few massive preorders, or even less massive monthly preorders, grains were now sold as extras - available on a retail basis every week.

During the summer, co-op was in Putnam Pavilion, a building more commonly used for events like livestock shows. Sanitary conditions were questionable, but co-op was relatively relaxed and uneventful. Thanks to Finance Coordinator Steve Burnside, the co-op now had an adequate set of financial records for the first time. And for the first (perhaps only) time, the co-op was ready for the fall with a full set of coordinators.

1979 - Talk of becoming a Storefront Co-op

Co-op continued to run smoothly during the Fall of 1979. The major issue was dealing with the continued, and perhaps even accelerated growth of the co-op. During the first week of September, 120 new people joined the co-op. By the end of the month there were 191 members, and several committees which had been closed were reopened to accommodate the increased membership. Co-op was regularly having over 100 orders each week. The general feeling was that we should start working seriously towards becoming a storefront co-op.

1980 - Accomodating the Growing Membership

Growth continued to be a major issue during the winter and spring of 1980. In mid-January co-op was up to 161 orders - an all-time high. This was exciting, but Patty mentioned at a meeting that we might have to consider closing membership if this trend continued. By the end of the month we were up to 188 orders (compared to 105 a year earlier, and by the beginning of April, co-op was averaging 200 orders/week. Mid-spring has generally been the annual peak season for co-op membership.

Several adaptations had to be made in operating procedures to accommodate our size. The Growth Task Force was formed to deal with co-op growth, to revise the Co-op Handbook, and to help make long-range plans. Membership policies were also changed to deal with the new situation. Previously based on individual memberships, the structure was changed to be based on the household as a unit of membership, a policy still in effect today with slight modifications.

The other major issue at the time was trucking. The volume of co-op business nearly precluded members driving their own vehicles to pick up produce. After considerable discussion, the co-op decided to buy its own truck. The purchase occurred in January, and the truck was put into use in the beginning of February. In a few weeks, the truck broke down for the first time, an annoying habit that showed up on a regular basis after that. It was this first breakdown that resulted in the emergency invention of the escort system.

The Crises of the Summer of 1980

The summer of 1980 brought with it a number of minor crises, but overall went reasonably well. Patty announced in April that she would resign July 1. As no one else volunteered for the job, I volunteered to do it for the summer only. During mid-summer, Brenda Nye announced that she would coordinate in the fall.

Co-op was held in the MUB this summer for the first time. There was an average of 80 orders/week during the summer, about twice the number from the previous summer, and not far from the average number during the school year a couple years earlier. For the first time, the list of summer committees was about the same as the usual list - there was no need to combine committees this summer. Due primarily to expenses related to truck repair, there were financial problems throughout the summer.

The other problem was that the Hearty Bakers went out of business. The co-op was probably responsible for keeping them in business for longer than they would have lasted otherwise. Fortunately, the Ceres Bakery opened this summer. Penny, the owner, was an ex-GBFC and current Kittery Co-op member, and was happy to do business with us. She supplied bread on a limited basis in the summer until the dough hook for their machine arrived. Bread from the Ceres Bakery went onto the order form for the first fall preorder.

The end of summer was spent dealing with the anticipated fall growth. Membership and work policies were finely tuned. A regular 4-week work cycle replaced the monthly work requirement. At this point signing up for co-op also involved signing up for exact work times. A Co-op Agreement was implemented, specifying members' obligations to the co-op and the co-op's services to members. Signing this agreement was now a part of joining co-op, a move designed to increase members' awareness of the importance of their work.

Fall 1980 - Co-op Freezes Membership at 200

This preparation turned out to be justified. The first week of co-op saw 151 preorders; this was up to 187 by the next week, and broke 200 shortly thereafter. By late September, membership was frozen for the second time in co-op history, and a waiting list was started. Most co-op news at this time involved our size in some way. At this point nearly all committees had co-coordinators. The Growth Task Force had an all day meeting in October to deal with the issue. At that meeting, attended by about 30 people, members discussed many of the issues concerning co-op growth and alternatives for responding to it. The co-op set independence from the University and forming a storefront as two of its major long-term goals.

Trucking continued to be a major issue. The truck proved to be much more costly and less reliable than anticipated. Fortunately, in September we learned about the formation of Moose Trucking, a collective from Maine that would be able to deliver to us on a weekly basis. We decided to go with Moose for produce, and to use the truck only for monthly cheese and grains orders.

To meet Moose's 10% markup, we raised our own markup. It had previously been 10% on all but cheese which was 15%. Now our markup was changed to 15% for most items, except those delivered without charge by local suppliers. At the same time, the order form was changed to list retail price. Previously it listed our cost, and members would add on a 10% markup at the end. During the next several months the major issues in co-op continued to be the size of co-op and the truck.

In January of 1981 a decision was made to sell the truck. This actually happened in May. Cheese and grains were now also ordered through Moose. In the winter membership was reopened. Many people had dropped out due to the craziness of co-op during the fall. Old members were allowed to renew their memberships. If orders were still under 150/week, new members would be signed up. At that time there was an average of 140 orders/week. The Education Committee was restarted, and in March began orientation sessions for new members. To reduce the problem of everyone signing up for co-op at once, membership was now made yearly from the date of signup. This policy continued until quite recently.

Creation of an 8 member Co-op "Core Committee"

During the spring and summer there was considerable discussion of the need for a more stable decision making mechanism. The co-op has always relied on general meetings for decision making. One result has been that the actual people making the decisions has depended on who showed up for a particular meeting. A seven-person Board of Directors was discussed at this time. Many people expressed concern that this would take power away from the general membership and reduce the involvement of members in co-op. After much discussion, an eight-member Core Committee was approved. This would include the general coordinator, bookkeeper, a newsletter representative and five other co-opers on a rotating two-month term. It was felt that the time was not right for a true Board of Directors, but that preparation for a storefront required a move in that direction. The Core Committee was finally fully (if loosely) implemented by October of 1981.

The remainder of the year, and the winter of 1982 were relatively uneventful. The co-op never got quite as big as it had been the previous year. Partly this was due to burnout on the part of some members during co-op's period of peak size. And partly this was due to the fact that, despite having closed membership for only a couple months, many people still thought it was closed even a year or two later. And, although it wasn't needed, we now had a theoretical ceiling of 140 orders/week. In fact, we averaged about 100 orders in the winter. Cyndi Katz became the general coordinator in the fall. The newsletter contained considerable discussion about storefront issues, and how to make it practical.

1982 - The Co-op Shrinks, and Nearly Fades Away

At the beginning of March, 1982, an announcement was made that was to have a profound effect on the co-op. A number of people, including present and former GBFC members, were going to start a storefront co-op in Newmarket. It would be called Cabbages and Kings (C&K), and it would open on May 1. Many of us realized immediately that this would completely change the nature of co-op activity in the area. A number of people figured that this was what we had been talking about all along, so perhaps there wasn't even a need for GBFC any more. Some people thought about being members of both co-ops. And some people were convinced that although it looked good, this really wasn't what we'd been talking about. From the beginning, despite the fact that most C&K organizers had been in GBFC, there was considerable tension between the two co-ops. Word reached us every now and then about the C&K people saying bad things about our co-op, and relations were somewhat strained. However, the co-op opened on schedule in Newmarket.

As the summer approached, we began to realize that, starting out somewhat smaller than we had been the last few years, and with a storefront co-op now open in Newmarket, things needed to change. For the first time in a while we started to decrease the number of committees, and reduced the coordinator discount to 5% for the summer. For the first time in a few years, an active attempt was made to get members. We started out with 36 orders at the beginning of the summer. This decreased slightly over the summer. Produce was, as usual a problem during the summer. We couldn't meet Moose's minimum order of $200, and had to get produce locally. We tried various local distributors, and even for a while combined produce orders with C&K to increase volume. There were shortages of workers and coordinators. In August, Cyndi (who was very much involved with C&K) resigned as coordinator, and was replaced by Bob Loechler. We began doing fundraisers on a regular basis to keep the co-op financially healthy.

The fall of 1982 was fairly difficult. By late September we were only up to 46 orders, and it was becoming clear that we would remain small. Our average order size for the fall was about 40 per week. We were able to get produce from Moose, but just barely, and we couldn't maintain a good variety of produce. We went to a 3-week work cycle in the fall. Salaries for the coordinator and bookkeeper were cut by $5/week, and at the end of November an emergency meeting was held during co-op hours at which coordinator discounts were ended until further notice. The one bright spot was that NEFCO would begin trucking to our area on a monthly basis. They would be considerably cheaper than Moose. Given that Moose was in bad financial shape and died shortly thereafter, this was very important - it is doubtful that the co-op could have made frequent trips to Boston at this time.

Things were looking rather grim for the co-op at this time. In December I wrote an article for the newsletter pointing out that we were still trying to function as a large co-op despite the fact of being rather small at the time. I proposed a number of changes which were implemented in time for January 1983 co-op in somewhat modified form. Over the Christmas break the co-op took its longest vacation in several years. Co-opers were able to shop at C&K at member prices at this time.

When we reopened in January, several changes were announced. All paid positions were eliminated. Counting salary and workman's compensation, this saved about $80/week. The general coordinator's position was eliminated in favor of an administrative committee and weekly coordinator's meetings during co-op. The committee structure was completely reorganized, and we went from nearly 20 committees to 7. With the reduction in expenses and in committees, the coordinator discount was reinstated. Various other procedures were streamlined as well. Cheese was now cut on demand rather than being precut; prebagging or orders other than into unit sizes was eliminated in favor of self-service; the order form was made less extensive; and a number of other changes were made. In February the co-op was proclaimed to be financially healthy for the first time in a while. Along with other reductions, the newsletter became less regular at this point. In the spring there were doubts expressed as to whether co-op would stay open in the summer, or whether it would even reopen in the fall. As the spring came to a close, the co-op sold as much of its inventory as possible to C&K. The last regular newsletter appeared on May 24 and announced preparations for one last preorder to be made for the summer, which would include grains but which would be distributed to members upon delivery rather than being sold on a retail basis. This order was never made, and co-op remained inactive for the summer.

Over the next year and a half the co-op shrank further and nearly died out altogether. No newsletters were published during this period. It was reorganized in fall of 1983 with a minimal structure and a 2 hour/month work requirement. Preorders were eliminated for the first time in co-op history. Most of the work was done by Tom LaRue, with help from Wayne Clark and Ken Oakman. By the following summer, Tom and Wayne were the only reasonably active members of co-op. There were no longer financial or membership records. At this point we lost our office in the MUB, and after some rather bad treatment by the University we were moved into Hubbard Hall.

The Revitalization of the Co-op

In the fall of 1984 I rejoined the co-op after having been away from it for a year. At this time, for reasons due primarily to internal politics, C&K was in bad shape, and within a few months it gave up its storefront. It still exists as far as I know, but as a small preorder co-op with only a few families participating. Also at this time Alison Magill moved to the area and joined GBFC. We were both interested in expanding the co-op both in terms of membership and in terms of the foods carried and services provided to members. During the fall we worked with Tom and Wayne to get the co-op a bit more organized. We made up a new leaflet to introduce new members to the co-op, and began working on a co-op handbook. This was written up but never made available to members -- partly due to disorganization, and partly because our efforts to improve the co-op resulted in the handbook going out of date rapidly.

In February of 1985 I printed the first newsletter in a year and a half. In it I expressed the idea of having specialized positions in co-op. The next newsletter came out in May, and described efforts to organize co-op for the summer. This summer we didn't intend to shut down. We were also somewhat bigger at this time, with 16 co-opers having come to the last spring meeting. We were also starting to have general meetings more regularly, now on a monthly basis, after a period in which meetings hadn't been held. Around this time a simple bookkeeping system was designed by Wayne, and it was agreed at the meeting that we should improve co-op record keeping and organization. Also at this time Tom announced that he'd be moving away. Alison volunteered to take over ordering, and Wayne became more involved, thus getting the co-op through this major change.

Over the next year or so the co-op gradually grew and became more organized. In September 1985 preorders were revived on a monthly basis. Although no longer including produce, they probably did more than anything else to provide a focus and revitalize the co-op. A simple committee structure was gradually reintroduced as well. The other major event was the revival of the newsletter. I printed a few irregular newsletters from the period February to September 1985; and in July of 1986 the newsletter was revived on a regular monthly basis by Tom Vallone.

By the summer of 1986 we were up to between 20 and 30 active members of co-op, and there was a definite feeling of energy and optimism for the first time in a while. For the first time ever, membership actually grew during the summer. The four-week work cycle was revived, and a $20 membership deposit was instituted, thus stabilizing the work and financial end of co-op. Over the next year an effort was made to increase membership and organization, and by the spring of 1987 there were about 80 reasonably active co-op households, representing perhaps as many as 125 people benefitting from the co-op.

During the summer of 1987 a much more ambitious structure was proposed, to go into effect in September. This structure will be described in the next section of the handbook. Also under consideration as this is written is the possibility of biweekly orders, with perhaps even a weekly order for bread from the Ceres Bakery and perhaps a few other items. The new structure, if implemented as planned, should distribute the work more effectively, thus allowing the co-op to accomplish a lot more than it has when only a few people have done most of the work. The greater frequency of ordering should bring members in to co-op more frequently, thus creating a greater community and strengthening the co-op further.

Postscript: Shortly after this, Alison became the General Coordinator officially, a job she had been doing nearly since joining the co-op, and that she kept doing for several years (the longest in co-op history). After several years in which Alsion, Wayne and Peter were the main organizers and workers in the co-op, we all announced simultaneously that we were quitting our current positions in co-op (although not our commitment to co-op). This was the closest we have come in a while to a crisis, and by forcing others to take on leadership positions it probably strengthened the co-op in the long run. Alison was succeeded by Beth Jacobsen and then by Wayne Clark. We did institute bi-weekly orders from Northeast and weekly orders from Ceres Bakery, both of which are still going on. The Northeast orders at first included an order form with many items listed in quantities reasonable for most households. This was later discontinued in favor of special orders only as is currently the case as our financial state allowed the co-op to front the money for ordering a greater variety of foods.

Although certainly not uneventful, there has been a relatively continuous growth of the co-op in the past several years, with no radical changes in structure or functioning other than the elimination of the bi-weekly preorder from Northeast in favor of special orders only. Produce has never regained the prominent role it played in the first dozen years of the co-op's history, but it is gradually being phased back in as we learn how to deal with it in our current structure. And although progress has been less than completely smooth, we have gotten gradually more organized over the years, refining our systems and equipment to make things easier.

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