Frequently Asked Questions
This FAQ answers common questions about the Missoula Community Co-op. We welcome your membership and encourage you to contact us with your comments and questions.
Questions answered below are:
What is the Missoula Community Co-op?
Where is the co-op located? What are the store hours?
Why a food co-op in Missoula?
What is the vision for the Missoula Community Co-op? How did it begin?
How do I become a member?
Why does each individual (adult) need to be a member to shop?
What is the member work requirement and how do I fulfill it?
What kinds of work might fulfill my work requirement?
How does the member work-slot benefit me?
Can I check it out before I join?
How do I use the buying club?
What is the Missoula Community Co-op?
The Missoula Community Co-op is a member-based organization dedicated to providing better access to bulk, local, natural, and affordable food through cooperation and shared labor. Membership is open to all. We offer payment plans and subsidized memberships so all can join.
Where is the co-op located? What are the hours?
We are located at 1500 Burns Street on Missoula’s Westside. Our store hours are Tuesday-Friday
12-7 and Saturday 10-3.
Why a food coop in Missoula?
As a consumer co-op owned and operated by its members, the Missoula Community Co-op is accountable to its members’ wishes, and transparent in its operations. This unique model encourages participation and cooperation in important decisions like product selection, member services and community building. Member input and labor are elemental to the co-op’s role in Missoula’s food system.
What is the vision for the Missoula Community Co-op? How did it begin?
In 2001, a group of Missoulians started a food buying club, one of several in town, with the intention of gaining better access to bulk, organic and affordable food. In 2004, in close partnership with the North-Missoula Community Development Corporation, the buying club formed a charter board of directors. Click here to read more about our history.
The vision for the Missoula Community Co-op is founded in these ideals:
Fair prices for consumers and producers
Savings on bulk, natural, and local food
Sustainable products and practices
Education about healthy eating and lifestyle
Supporting the local and regional economy
Knowing where your food comes from and how it is grown
How do I become a member?
Memberships are issued to individuals on a lifelong basis. Memberships can be paid all at once or in the form of monthly payments, and once you’ve paid off your total amount, you become a permanent member. We want to make membership available to everyone and will work with you to develop payment plans as needed.
Membership Costs:
$125 Membership: A membership for each individual over 18.
$15 Income-based membership: Available to those members who qualify for any form of federal assistance like TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, SSI, Section 8, or LIEAP. Proof of assistance is required.
Free USDA Membership: For those who are unable to budget a membership fee at this time. Please contact us for a short application to assess your eligibility.
Member payment may be paid as a monthly payment or all at once. We want to make membership available to everyone and will work with payment plans as needed.
To become a member, download and print the membership form or pick up a copy at the co-op office. Mail the completed form with your payment to :
Missoula Community Co-op
PO Box 8974
Missoula, MT 59807
Members will attend an orientation and be trained to fill shifts cashiering, stocking or working on a committee. We are flexible in working with people's schedules, so please, don't be shy!
Why does each individual (adult) need to be a member to shop?
Our model is based on equal input from every person that utilizes the co-op. While we recognize that some people are their household’s primary shoppers, we do encourage partners, spouses, and roommates to become members on their own. Ultimately, anyone shopping will need to be a person who is fulfilling the obligations of the membership agreement. This ethic of egalitarianism underlies almost all of the “rules” of the co-op.
What is the member work requirement and how do I fulfill it?
All members are required to contribute three hours of labor to the co-op each month. To do so, first you will attend a member orientation and work-slot explanation. Then, depending on your time availability, you will sign up for a work slot that suits your schedule and begin learning from an experienced person who can train you. You will be asked to maintain that work slot regularly for consistency’s sake. Shift swaps are possible, and until we have a more self-serve system, we will do our best to accommodate issues that arise.
Please keep in mind though, that your shift is your responsibility, and we are all counting on all of us.
If you are doing work with a committee, you will be expected to fulfill the same amount of hours with that committee, and be in regular communications with the committee leader/s.
What kinds of work might fulfill my work requirement?
- Sorting and price checking food on buying club delivery days
- Media and public relations work
- Product research development
- Outreach by tabling, public meetings, and event planning
- Data entry
- Web site maintenance
- Site work including painting, construction, and cleaning
- Office assistance
- Finance
- Any other talents and skills that you can offer!
How does the member work-slot benefit me?
The member work-slot model benefits all of us. Your contribution of three hours a month to work with a committee or in the store is a contribution to the entire membership. From marketing and event planning, to breaking down bulk and updating our database, each person’s unique skills add diversity and perspective. Many hands make light work, and our collective member workforce is the biggest asset of our co-op. We ask for contributions from every member, but have exemptions/alternatives for people with disabilities and new parents.
Each member's contribution and commitment will help make it possible to deliver high-quality food at affordable prices. Our model is the Park Slope Food Coop, founded 1973, the largest wholly member-owned and operated food co-op in the country.
In our research, we found that the highest expense to any store is labor costs. Your membership and working hours will help keep labor costs down, which will in turn allow for a smaller markup on items the co-op sells.
We will need some members that have a steady work shift and then others will be able to "bank" their hours in order to accommodate yearly work schedules.
Members control and operate the co-op by electing our board of directors, volunteering their talents, and participating in our membership and committee meetings.
Can I check it out before I join?
Of course. We encourage anyone to come by and shop up to 3 times before they join.
How do I place bulk or special orders? Can I share orders with other members?
There are a couple of ways you can make bulk and special orders:
We work with a couple of different distributors.
- Azure Standard, a family-owned farm and food distribution business
- Frontier, a cooperative distributor of spices, teas, cooking and body products
- United Natural Foods, a national, natural food distributor.
For Azure and Frontier orders members complete an order form, a simple spreadsheet, listing what items they wish to order. They email their order sheet to coop-kitchen@montana.com by noon on the monthly order due date. Orders may also be entered on the co-op computer with advance notice.
On the monthly pick-up date, members pick up and pay for their order at the co-op office. We currently accept cash, check, and food stamps (EBT) for payment.
Updated order information and blank order form spreadsheets come in the monthly email list serv, as well as at the co-op office. To subscribe to the list serv, please email coop-kitchen-subscribe@mailman.montana.com.
Azure Standard (azurestandard.com, 541-467-2230) and Frontier (frontiercoop.com, 800-669-3275) list their inventory online as well as in free seasonal catalogs. These catalogs are available at the co-op office or via a phone call to each company. If you call, please tell them that you are with the Missoula Community Co-op and that you want the wholesale catalog. Local and regional products available for purchase are regularly available at our store. If you are interested in ordering through United, please come by the co-op to place your special order.
If you are interested in ordering something that we do not currently carry, and would like to split a case with someone, please post a request on the bulletin board to find someone to share your order with you. Such requests can also be posted on our blog on the member bulletin page.
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