Every year, dozens of volunteers put their time and sweat equity (we’re hoping for a more temperate day this year!) into making the South Philly Garden Tour possible. You can help us make our 5th annual Tour the most successful yet by signing up to volunteer today.

We are looking for people who can help out for a couple of hours at any point during the day, from setup at 10:30 a.m. to after-party cleanup in the evening, and everything in between. It’s a great opportunity to meet other co-op members and help out with our biggest annual fundraiser.

And there are many great duties.

There's balloon duty...

...there's snack duty...

...And there's after party host duty!

We hope you'll sign up to volunteer today, because we can’t do it without you!

And, if you help out as a site host or with check-in, you can also take the Tour for FREE before or after your shift!

You know you want to.

Any questions email, Jen at volunteer@southphillyfoodcoop.org

Dating Spaces is a series of blog posts in which we share information about our search for a location with our member-owners and supporters. In our first post, we revealed our dating profile; next, we asked our Real Estate Committee chairwoman to share her insights. In this post, Jess Calter gets into some technical detail about what size and shape we're seeking.

You might be wondering: How do we decide what makes a great space?

Aside from the financial modeling and market analysis that goes into site selection, a key part of our search is making sure that we have the space we need to do what we need to do in any given location. In other words, we're not just looking for a certain size, we're also looking for a certain shape for the South Philly Food Co-op.  

Through a grant from the Community Design Collaborative, the Co-op got hooked up with the fabulous folks from UCI Architects to provide programming and advisory services for our site feasibility. UCI helped us to turn research, case studies, interviews and our feasibility study and business plan into a roadmap for Co-op success. Three key components of this plan are the Adjacency Diagram, Program Table and Program Diagram, all three of which have helped the Co-op understand our needs throughout the search. 

First up: The Adjacency Diagram (above) is a graphic version of an outline, representing proposed building spaces and their relationship to one another. This diagram shows the hierarchy of spaces: retail space, back-of-house storage, and staff/office/amenity spaces. The size of the bubble relates to the amount of space required, and the location on the diagram shows how the spaces need to relate. 

The Programming Table is a written table of square footage requirements for the program spaces. Based on requirements from our market and feasibility studies about retail space size and ratios of retail to back-of-house, each department was evaluated on the Co-ops needs, shelving requirements and subsequent circulation requirements. You can see the results in the table above. This is really helpful when we look at a location: Just by knowing the width of a space, we can determine if there is enough room for shelving and shopper circulation.

Lastly, the Program Diagram combines the information in the Programming Table and the Adjacency Diagram, showing how our required spaces can work together as puzzle pieces. It can be scaled and resized depending on the specific location, but it serves as a starting place for our ideal situation. Think of the Program Diagram like Colorforms for creating our perfect Co-op!

Together, these tools are at our disposal as we evaluate each and every site. Not only do they help us visualize our needs, but they also help to highlight potential problems and fantastic features of a possible location.

Questions about these tools? Got a hot real estate tip? Email [email protected].  

Dating Spaces is a series of blog posts in which we share information about our search for a location with our member-owners and supporters. The following is from the Co-op's Real Estate Committee Chair Angel D'Ippolito.

"Everyone's favorite hypothetical grocery store."

I remember attending the very first meeting of the Co-op's Real Estate Committee back on July 9, 2012. There were a lot of people at that first meeting, which really showed how eager people were even back then to get the store up and running. Now, as the chair of the committee nearly three years later, no one is as eager as me to turn the hypothetical store store into a physical reality.

The Real Estate Committee is 100% committed to finding the right space for our store. We have examined the viability of over 80 properties. We have done site visits of about 20 of them. Committee members have had countless meetings with potential landlords, developers, state and city legislators and agencies, civic leaders, lenders, other co-op leaders, and realtors. We interviewed half a dozen realtors and hired one. Through a Community Design Collaborative grant, we worked with a local architecture firm to prepare an architectural program for the store. Market studies have been obtained, financial pro formas prepared, and so much more has been done in the effort to find the right location.

You might have noticed that I didn't say we are looking for the "perfect" space. The reality is that no site in South Philly can meet every single item on our dream store wishlist. However, I am convinced that we will find the space that has the necessary balance in location, shape, size, loading, accessibility, and price. We face a fair amount of challenges. The biggest challenge thus far has been in finding spaces that (i) exist and are available, (ii) fit our few must-haves, and (iii) are priced in a way that gives the Co-op a good chance at long-term success. Places that are too big are too expensive to operate. Spaces too small don't offer the ability to stock enough product to sustain necessary sales. Locations on ideal commercial corridors are often priced way too high or get scooped up quickly by other suitors. Locations hidden away in neighborhoods often don't offer high enough sales projections to justify the start-up costs.

Phew - that's a lot of generalizations, I know! Know, however, that we analyze each and every location that comes to our attention with specificity and balance. We investigate every location that is brought to our attention, while actively searching for new potential sites. Sometimes we revisit prior sites to see if anything has changed.

We really need you, fellow members, to be on the lookout for spaces that you think match our dating profile. Call 215-839-8213 or email us with any possible locations. As I said, we'll leave no stone unturned!

We promise that we are moving as quickly as reasonably possible while exploring sites with diligence. As winning basketball coach John Wooden once said, "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"

It's been awhile since we've updated our member-owners and neighbors about the search for our dream location, so we know what you must be thinking: When is the Co-op going to find a space? Why are they being so picky?

Let's work backward on those questions for just a moment. We're being picky because we want to be sure we find a space we're completely, entirely committed to. We've done market studies and developed performance indicators that give us a clear sense of what we need in a space that would serve us well, not just the other way around.

Isn't that what a healthy relationship is all about? You know, this whole process has felt a lot like dating. It's been exhilarating and frustrating and inspiring and maddening -- sometimes all in one day. On the upside, though, all the disappointing site visits (the one-night stands of real estate) and unsuccessful developer negotiations (the brief flings) that have yet to result in the real-deal relationship have made us stronger than ever.

We haven't forgotten your first question about when the Co-op will find a location. We just don't have a clear answer for you -- because, as it turns out, love is hard! Three wise ladies (well, technically, their mama) once told us "you can't hurry love," so we’re taking our time before we tie the knot.

Even though we haven't gotten hitched yet, we promise you, we're serious about looking. At the beginning of the year, we took stock of our romance landscape. At that time, we had examined over 80 properties, visiting about 20 of them in person. We met with at least 6 developers (think speed dating event managers) and 5 realtors (professional matchmakers), hiring our favorite realtor last fall. (You'll meet him soon. His name is Jake, and he helps keep us emotionally balanced.) And, of course, we got plenty of advice from a wide network of family and friends.

For a while, we felt a little shy about sharing our dating life online. But in true co-op fashion, we want to be open about our search for real commitment, and we want anyone reading this to know our wants and needs and be ready to give that approving thumbs-up when we find a space we really, really love.

So we tucked away our nostalgia for the days when dating wasn't so complicated, put on our big kid pants, and went for it... We made an online dating profile:

We're just giving you the screenshot for now, but rest assured, we'll keep you updated with plenty of juicy behind-the-scenes action from our logged-in account throughout this Dating Spaces blog series. Circle back for a first-date flop story or two, plus photos and interviews with our crew of dating advisors that is the South Philly Food Co-op Real Estate Committee.

Now that we're putting ourselves out there digitally, we hope you'll help us find the one by sharing our dating profile screenshot on Facebook and telling all your friends we’re looking for love. We invite you to email [email protected], too, if you want to get more involved with the matchmaking process.

Till next time, internet lovers.
xoxo,
South Philly Food Co-op

A friend of the Co-op tipped us off to the video below, which is from the keynote address at the Berkshire Co-Op Market annual member meeting, November 1, 2014. We just got finished watching and found it a helpful piece to remind us of several of the reasons we're involved in this effort. If you have 27 minutes or so, please give it a watch, if only for the humorously-drawn cartoons.

Speaker Janelle Orsi is a Post Carbon Institute Fellow. Several of her concepts are very helpful in keeping the benefits of a co-op in mind.

For example, watch the sequence starting at 2:17 and just imagine "South Philly Pinball" in place of "Berkshire Pinball" and that your dollar is the one bouncing around from the Co-op to various local suppliers of the Co-op's inventory.

At 10:46 of the video, Orsi boils down cooperatives--generally--into two features:

1. Board is elected on a one vote per member household basis. In other words, capital investment doesn't determine voting power. 

2. Profits are distributed on the basis of patronage (i.e. how much you spend at the Co-op). Capital investment does NOT determine profit share.

Or, as Orsi puts it: "Cooperatives are business in which money cannot buy power. And money cannot buy profits."

Here it's necessary to point out that the South Philly Food Co-op is still some ways away about making decisions about distributing profits but the sentiment generally holds true. So far it has played out in the fact that each member-owner equity share is $200 for every household. And no household can put more than $200 in and expect to have any more say in voting or distribution of profits. (Now... more than one person in a household can invest the full $200, but in that case each person is considered his or her own member-owner household. No individual person can ever have more than one vote.)

Orsi's 6 ways a food co-op can change the economy derive from six roles a food co-op can play in the community:

1. Food co-op as buyer: supporting other local businesses, like we hope to do with the #ShopSouthPhilly businesses who have supported us!

2. Food co-op as convener of purchasing and people power: Amazing how much influence a group of 600-1000 households can wield in this town!

3. Food co-op as a learning hub: The South Philly Food Co-op has done this through our various Eat and Learn events (like The Skinny on Fats) and other Speaker series events (like Chard over Cheetos!)

4. Food co-op as research hub: Hey, South Philly, what do you want to see in this neighborhood!

5. Food co-op as a physical hub of the community: fingers crossed on this one! Our Real Estate Committee is working every day to find the Co-op's home so it can be precisely this... a hub of the community.

6. Food co-op as investor: Money bounces around South Philly in that South Philly version of pinball.

If you're a member already, you can feel good that you're helping to open an enterprise that will do ALL of these things, and more, for the community you call home. If you're not a member yet... join now! Get in now and be part of the effort to help us find and finance our new home! 

You know how sometimes, at parties, it takes a little while and some critical mass until folks start to feel comfortable filling their plates and glasses? Not at Terroir of Pennsylvania: Ideas for Hosting Local this past Sunday. South Philadelphians know the goods when they see them!

Cheers (but actually) to Buckingham Valley Vineyards and Winery for offering a wide sampling of their red, white, and dessert wines. (Dessert will never be the same without their blackberry wine.) And to the Philly Muffin on which we placed our local cheeses, both hard and soft: we'll be back for you.

Many thanks to Programs and Events Committee Co-chair Sarah Radcliffe for hosting over 30 member-owners, neighbors, and friends at this sharing of sips and tips on our region's finest wines, cheeses, and breads. A schmooze-y and booze-y time was had by all!

Take a look at Sunday's impressive spread in our Flick set below:

PS Have you ever thought about putting rosemary in your homemade apple butter? Member-owner Emily Kohlhas did, and our stomachs were very grateful as a result.

This past Sunday the South Philly Food Co-op hosted its fifth (!) Soup Swap, or, as Hollywood called it - Soup Swap V: There Will Be Broth! Ten Swappers and a few really-have-a-thing-for-soup observers gathered at the home of Co-op Programs and Events Committee Co-Chair Sarah Radcliffe for a draft as intense and suspenseful as any fantasy football draft.

After an hour or so catching up with fellow Co-op members and welcoming new residents to South Philadelphia, Swappers picked their draft position from the traditional Soup Swap hat. Co-op member Molly Harrar won the honor of first pick in the draft selecting a vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free, taste-FULL sesame tomato soup.

The draft proceeded rapidly from there as each Swapper ended up with a variety of six different soups to get them through the next several over-hyped "snow-mageddons." 

A few photos of the event are available on our Flickr page:

For anyone who wasn't able to make it, despair not! Soup Swap will return soon in Soup Swap VI: The Quest for Peas!

Special thanks go to Co-op Programs and Events Committee member Martin Brown for overseeing this project on the Co-op's behalf and to Skout Media for creating a video that reflects all the fun, optimism, teamwork, diversity and community-mindedness that the South Philly Food Co-op embodies!

By the way, if you're on Facebook, please throw a "Like" and share the version of the video that we uploaded there!

The numbers have been officially crunched, and we're so pleased to report that the fourth annual South Philly Garden Tour was our most successful one yet!

Here's a recap of #GardenTour14 by the numbers:

• 23 gardens from Second to 10th streets, Fitzwater to Moore
• 200 tickets sold for a total of $4,180
• 200 swag bags distributed
• 38 wonderful sponsors rounding up $8,000 in cash and $4,425 in-kind donations
• $227 in swag sales, including mugs and limited-edition tees
• 1 new Co-op member and a bunch of new followers on Instagram and Twitter
• 0 raindrops from 1 to 4 p.m.

That all adds up to a glorious grand total of $12,180 raised for the South Philly Food Co-op!