Ten Year Letter

Ten Year Letter

Dear Member-Owners,

On December 10th, 2024, the Portland Food Co-op will celebrate our tenth birthday as a retail store!

Ten years ago, our Co-op borrowed $1.31 million from institutions and Member-Owners so we could open our retail store. Since then, we have transitioned from a small buying club into a thriving, member-owned marketplace that strengthens the local food economy while building and nourishing our community.

The Board is thrilled to announce that in November 2024, our Co-op repaid the last Member-Owner and institutional loans and we are nearly debt free! Repaying the Member-Owner loans was extremely important to us and has required careful financial stewardship and an emphasis on diligently monitoring our income and expenditures and consistently prioritizing loan repayment over the last decade. This is an important milestone for us and we are grateful for the generosity and support of all our Member-Owners. We would not be where we are today without you.

With the tremendous leadership of our General Manager John Crane, and his outstanding team, our Co-op nourishes our community by regularly donating to and sponsoring dozens of local organizations and events. Many of you will be familiar with the Register Round-Up Program, which allows our shoppers to round up their grocery bill to the next dollar and donate to local nonprofit organizations, which are chosen by our Member-Owners. Since 2019 we have raised more than $239, 000 for local organizations. In the last year, we donated $76,560 to combat food insecurity and nourish our local community. A further $10,600 was donated to support immigrants who add tremendous value to our community. Finally, we helped to build our community by donating an additional $47,482 to a variety of local organizations that support the vulnerable and marginalized. In short, our Co-op has become an essential part of the community and our Member-Owners’ investments and patronage allow us to make these substantial impacts.

We look forward to our next ten years and are eager to expand our Co-op’s role in our local communities. We are also hopeful more Member-Owners will become involved in board work.

Whatever level of engagement interests you, we believe board work promotes a sense of ownership and belonging in our co-op community. The Board appreciates the opportunity to serve and hope that many of you will consider becoming involved in the future. As always, please feel free to reach out to the Board at board@portlandfood.coop.

In cooperation.
The Portland Food Co-op Board of Directors

Recognized by The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project

The Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project (ILAP) announced the recipients of its 2023 Volunteer and Community Partner Awards at its annual appreciation event in the spring of 2024. ILAP recognized outstanding volunteers and partners and expressed gratitude for their support in advancing justice for immigrants and their families.

We are honored to have received the Grassroots Fundraiser Award, along with Dan McDonald. We are beyond thankful to everyone who supports local non-profits through our monthly Register Round-Up program. We look forward to continuing our efforts to make a positive impact in our community.

“ILAP provides vital services to people arriving from other lands. We are a stronger and more vibrant community because of the work they do and we are proud to assist in their efforts.” — John Crane, PFC's General Manager

Photo credit: Junes Thete, Why Not Productions

New Year’s Message from the General Manager

As we wrap up 2023, which is also our Co-op’s ninth year in business as a public-facing retail store, I am thrilled to report that it was another stellar year for us.

We ended the year with $7.4 million in sales, which is a 5% increase over last year. We also purchased well over $1.8 million in foods and other goods directly from Maine farmers and producers. Thanks once again, to all of you, for making our Co-op a significant economic engine in our local foods’ economy. Your purchasing decisions make a tangible difference here.

In 2023, our Co-op also grew to over seven thousand Member-Owners. Back in 2014, we were given a challenge to grow to over two thousand Member-Owners. At the time, this was considered the benchmark for sustainability and proof that Portland embraced us. Now that we have more than tripled that, I feel that Portland has embraced us and considers us a valuable part of the local economy.

Next December, our retail store turns ten years old, and you’d better believe we are going to have a party!

We are far enough removed from our early days that many of you might think that the Portland Food Co-op has always been here, or at least existed for years in some form similar to our current state. You might not know that we started as an idea by a group of friends meeting in a living room in 2006. You might not know that we then spent the next eight years evolving as a buying club, hosted by several property-owning benefactors around Portland. You might not know that it was only in 2012 that we dared to start thinking about opening a real store. You might not know that dozens of people volunteered hundreds of hours of their time and talent to do all of the work necessary to bring our retail store to fruition.

Saying we are community-owned does not do justice to our story. We are community-inspired, community-planned, and community-created. In an age where independent grocery stores are disappearing, our community-owned grocery store is bucking that trend. We are not just surviving, we are thriving.

In an age where food producers and retail food workers are some of the least valued and compensated people in our workforce, we are bucking that trend as well. We passionately believe in paying our local farmers and producers a fair price for their goods. We are also committed to providing the best wages and benefits possible for our staff. They are all local food system professionals and deserve that level of respect.

Let me close out 2023 with one of my favorite quotes. I am continually inspired by the words of anthropologist, Margaret Mead—

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”

Your participation in our Co-op is creating change. Thank you for this.

In Cooperation,

John Crane

General Manager