FAQ
Here are some questions that have come up as I started my business. If you can't find an answer to a question here, please email me!
A: A food co-op is a group of people joining together to purchase foods in bulk. There are groups that purcahse dried goods, fresh fruits and veggies, and meats. We are currently purchasing only dried goods, but hope to add fruits and veggies soon!
A: I don't make any profit from the co-op orders. A 5% charge is added to each order to help cover my expense. Expenses include advertising so that we can have more families participating. The more that participate the more frequent we can place an order. Expenses also include my time and materials. It took a lot of time to formulate the catalog and create each CD-ROM catalog. I also have to take all the orders and put them together in one large order, arrange a truck drop and pick-up schedule. If this charge seems unreasonable, please email me with your concerns.
A: I do realize that sometimes we can find items cheaper at the grocery store. I buy bulk for several reasons. 1) It saves me trips to the store. Less trips to the store means less gas (or diesel) spent driving to the store and less impulse buys. 2) I like to have buckets full of grains rather than 20+ small bags filling up my pantry. 3) I have found the quality as good, if not better than what I find locally. 4) There are some things I can't buy locally, such as shortening powder. I use shortening powder to make my tortillas and like having that available. 5) And it is usally cheaper of equal price. Now sometimes I do find a bargain elsewhere and will purchase only what I find as a good deal from the co-op. For example: I can buy 25 pound bag of pintos at my local grocery store at $0.50 per pound. This is cheaper than what Walton Feed has to offer, so I don't buy beans from the co-op.
A: Diesel prices. Yes gas prices have dropped, but diesel hasn't dropped that much. Those 18 wheelers run on diesel and it cost a lot of money to move our large bulk food orders!