New Food Co-op to Model After Park Slope’s, Coming March 2015

It’s been a work-in-progress since announced late last year, but the planning on a new food co-op in central Brooklyn is accelerating as board members decide to use the same members-only model as the successful Park Slope Food Coop. Board members of Bed Stuy’s Brooklyn Movement Center (BMC) nonprofit voted on the debated matter, ultimately passing the model— that shoppers must be members who work a minimum number of hour per month and hold ownership stake in the business— with a 10-7 vote.

The Park Slope Food Coop will assist the newcomers in finding success, sending out mailers to their many central Brooklyn members about the upcoming new option.

“What we like about Park Slope is that… it’s bursting at the seams… They’ve been anxious to find ways to incubate other food co-ops… By them helping us, we’re helping them,” said BMC Executive Director Mark Winston Griffith.

Organizer Harvir Kaur said that the ultimate goal is to provide access to affordable healthy foods in Bed Stuy and Crown Heights, and that the members-only model will create a more cooperative culture.

Now that the model has been finalized, the board members are setting to work on finding a location, and hope to decide on a name by June.

Do you think the members-only model will work? What should the central Brooklyn food co-op be named? Share your ideas in the comments section below.