Take a look and see how plans for this outer East Portland food purveyor are evolving …
Members head in to the Montavilla Brew Works for the first “live” Annual Meeting of the Montavilla Food Co-op.
Story and photos by David F. Ashton
In 2010, a small group of people proposed bringing healthy, locally-sourced food to their neighborhood, and founded the Montavilla Food Co-op. For years, the volunteers held events – most notably their annual “Pancake Brunch” fundraiser.
Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2019 was the last time members of the Montavilla Food Co-op held an Annual Meeting. CLICK HERE to read about that get-together.
After meeting online, on May 2 of this year, the Montavilla Food Co-op held a live meeting in the patio of Montavilla Brew Works.
Montavilla Food Co-op Board Member Alex Warnes shares a light moment with another member, before the meeting begins.
“That’s correct, this is our first annual meeting since the pandemic started – held in person,” Montavilla Food Co-op Board Member Alex Warnes, the host of the gathering, told East Portland News.
“This, aside from people coming by and seeing us at the Montavilla Farmers Market at our booth every week,” said Warnes.
“Filling you in on what’s happening – and it’s kind of a lot,” Warnes continued, “We gotten through the worst of the pandemic now – and, in the process, our Board and members realized we had a lot of stuff we needed to figure out, change, and come to terms with, about where this organization if going.
Members and guests help themselves to light refreshments as the meeting gets underway.
Physical location too big a ‘leap’
During their 2019 Annual Meeting, the co-op members said they were enthusiastic about a couple of locations in which to open an actual store. To that, Warnes commented, “As you know, Portland [retail real estate] is very expensive, and only getting more so.
“This is one of the things we really had to come to terms with in 2020,” Warnes admitted. “The expense of a building was high, due to the kind of location were looking for. We would also be making a jump from nothing, to a fully substantiated retail food co-op. which is definitely a ‘big leap’.
“So, we’ve been focusing on taking some ‘baby steps’ – like keeping our Board of Directors intact, and keeping the co-op going.”
Membership growth stagnates
“We had a major push to increase our membership back in 2017 and 2018, and then there was major stagnation [in membership] during the pandemic,” conceded Warnes. “We are not focusing on driving membership right now, instead we want to focus on bringing value to the members who we have already.
“We would love to have more members and more people joining – we will accept more members – but we’re not aggressively pushing for that, right now.”
The meeting gets underway.
Co-op is now selling food
For the last two years, he pointed out, the co-op was actually selling food, albeit through an online store; and not the physical location they’d hoped for. “We come almost every week to the Montavilla Farmers Market and sell our food there,” Warnes said.
“We’d love to sell milk, dairy, and such – but, for now all we’re selling is shelf-stable products sourced from our primary wholesaler, Hummingbird Wholesale out of Eugene – it’s sourced locally and is really good organic stuff!”
Members order the products online, and then come pick up what they’ve ordered on a farmers market day.
“Our bestseller right now is easily the half-gallons of our olive oil; it is an import from Tunisia and Argentina,” Warnes said. “We also have dried fruits, and nuts.”
Helping members navigate their shopping app, it’s Montavilla Food Co-op Board Member Alex Warnes.
Working toward a production kitchen
“Our next big goal is getting into a ‘production kitchen’ where we’ll be able to break down 50 pound bags of products into 1 pound and 5 pound bags,” explained Warnes. “After we find the kitchen, get the license, and create the packaging, then we will be deciding what we’ll sell.”
Some twenty people filtered into the meeting, enjoyed some chips and cheese, and sampled some of the dried fruits for sale by the co-op.
“Slow and steady is the name of the game right now,” remarked Warnes to the group.
”If we have more people who can come in and help us organize and volunteer, then we’ll really be able to grow and expand faster. Right now we’re pretty happy with where we are in our movement towards the goals we have.”
Find out more about the Montavilla Food Co-op at their official website: CLICK HERE.
© 2023 David F. Ashton ~ East Portland News™
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