LAKE COUNTY >> During a hectic time for its organizers and following the departure of its operations manager, the Lake Co-op has reluctantly decided to close while reassessing its business model in search of a more sustainable course.
Lake Co-op began in January 2008 with a volunteer buying club. At first an informal arrangement the club eventually launched an online ordering and distribution system of locally grown and produced organic products. The co-op has grown to more than 1,000 members and served a substantial number of customers that received weekly orders at their doorstep or at drop sites throughout the county, up until its closure in late August.
Since its beginnings, the co-op has sold products of about a dozen different farmers, as well as distributed products from businesses such as the Main Street Bakery in Kelseyville, according to Lake Co-op President Jim Leonardis.
Predominately, the co-op”s abrupt closure was due to its operation manager, Robyn Bera, being offered a job that required her to give short notice in her resignation. While Bera had only served as the co-op”s operations manager since December, Leonardis said the business was highly dependent on that one “very talented and passionate person.
“That type of person, with such a broad array of skills, is very tough to find and we”ve never been able to compensate her to the degree that she was worth,” Leonardis said.
Leonardis describes the business as a lean organization in terms of its operation as it attempted to keep its costs down for its members.
“We had initially hoped that we could make some minor changes to how we ran the operation, get the key people in place and reopen in a few weeks, but that proved to be too much of a challenge for many reasons,” Leonardis stated in a letter to its members as he announced its temporary closure.
At the time of Bera”s resignation, many of the Co-op”s organizers were juggling full schedules and several large expenses came due, Leonardis stated.
“We”re doing the best we can to move forward but it”s not moving as fast as we”d like,” Leonardis said. “We don”t have a date yet, but are hoping to reopen in some sort of way so we can provide Lake County with an alternative source for organic produce again.”
Leonardis said the co-op has heard from a number of its members since it closed who say they miss its services and inquire as to when it will reopen.
Currently, the co-op is reaching out to its members, producers, owner-workers and the community as a whole to gather ideas for developing a new business model that can keep cost margins as low as possible. That could mean a change in services, offering its usual services a different way or operating in cooperation with other organizations.
One option could be working in conjunction with North Coast Opportunities, which has offered its warehouse space to store produce for the last few years. However, the two organizations are still in discussion and nothing is certain at this point.
While the co-op”s membership may be missing the weekly deliveries of fresh organic produce at their doorstep, the co-op”s closure is also affecting local farmers.
“It came at a bad time when local farmers were at the peak of summer production,” Leonardis said. “They would have set aside products for the co-op.”
Even though the co-op isn”t able to make deliveries, Leonardis is still encouraging residents to support their local farmers, some of which have their contact information on Lake Co-op”s website at www.localfoodmarketplace.com/lake.coop.
Community and co-op members are encouraged to email jimleonardis@lake.coop if they are interested in supporting the co-op as it looks for the next opportunity to serve the community.
