The Lost River Community Cooperative

The Lost River Community Cooperative

In September 2005, a large group of residents from the greater Orange County region in Southern Indiana gathered to discuss plans to initiate a project to support the growers of local specialty foods and enhance their availability within the region. From that meeting, a steering committee was formed to begin development work of the Lost River Community Cooperative. Since that time, the group has been off and running!

The group, consisting of consumers as well as producers, adopted a vision and mission statement, drafted a set of bylaws, and collected information to formulate a road map to successfully conduct the development work for a new consumer owned food cooperative. The food co-op store offers a mix of conventional food items, locally grown produce, meats, and baked goods, natural food selections, bulk foods, hard-to-find items, and health and nutrition products. The goal of the retail store is to have a unique product offering, but be broad enough to act as a primary food store.

The cooperative incorporated in 2006 with the help of the Indiana Cooperative Development Center and CDS. The steering committee utilized the expertise of food co-op advisors to conduct a market analysis and feasibility study and to write a business plan. The steering committee immediately embarked on an intensive membership recruitment drive, member loan campaign, and financing of the cooperative business. The steering committee transitioned to their initial Board of Directors at their first annual meeting in April, 2007. The project has garnered much enthusiasm and support within the committee. The cooperative purchased a building in Paoli for its retail location which, as it turns out, was originally built as a locally owned grocery store. The co-op membership has been diligently working to renovate and install fixtures for the store.

The Lost River Market and Deli is designed to be a self-sustaining economic development venture which provides jobs to local community members. As such, they have created 15 new jobs upon opening and may grow to a peak of 20 new jobs. The co-op has projected over $1 million in sales the first year growing to $3 million by the fifth year. They hope to serve as a model to encourage additional locally owned and operated economic endeavors in Orange County and the region. As their success grows, they also hope to provide other services to local growers and producers, such as a micro-loan program for greenhouses to help producers lengthen their growing season and expand the selection of produce available to local consumers.

Today, the Lost River Community Co-op purchases goods and services from over 90 local businesses, including 40 local farmers, vendors, and producers. Additionally, they sponsor monthly Healthy-Living Education Workshops, which discuss topics including diabetes prevention, nutrition, heirloom seeds, and local farm tours. The co-op also works hard to protect the environment while supporting other cooperative ventures by utilizing recycling services from Orange Country Recycling Co-op, and offers recycling for customers. The cooperative also invests money back into the local community by giving sixty-seven cents of every dollar spent at the store back to local vendors, local service providers, and employees as wages.