Berkeley Student Food Collective

Berkeley Student Food Collective

Founded	2010
Type	Cooperative grocery
Focus	Organic food, local food, fair trade, health food , sustainable food,
Location	Berkeley, California, United States
Website	www.foodcollective.org

The Berkeley Student Food Collective (BSFC) is a collectively operated non-profit grocery market founded by students of the University of California, Berkeley near the Berkeley campus. The market aims to expand student access to as many organic, locally sourced, fair trade and whole foods as possible. It also aims to educate the community about the food system and its environmental, social and political impacts.^[1] It opened its doors in 2010, after having won a $91,000 grant from UC Berkeley's (TGIF). The collective serves a selection of produce, refrigerated and packaged goods, as well as a weekly subscription-style produce box that contains local, seasonal produce. The storefront is located across the street from the university, on Bancroft Way.^[2][3]

History[]

In 2009, the national fast food chain Panda Express attempted to open a restaurant on Lower Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus, an area run by the ASUC student government. Students were angered that a business they considered to be unhealthy, unsustainable and unrepresentative of their community was coming to their space and began a campaign to prevent its opening. A petition against Panda Express gathered 1,300 signatures, and students held demonstrations at ASUC Store Operations Board planning meetings.^[4]

This movement inspired students to create their own business that represented their interests and provided better food options for the campus community. The Berkeley Student Food Collective began as a student group and worked towards opening a grocery storefront, which opened on November 15, 2010. The cooperative was the inspiration for the (CoFED), an organization helping students form sustainable food businesses on college campuses.^[5][6]

Food and products[]

The student food collective has a physical store on Bancroft Way, near the UC Berkeley campus. The store offers a variety of food and other items that are healthy and/or sustainable options. They have fresh produce every day including vegetables like chard, broccoli, kale, lettuce, carrots, and parsley and fruits like apples, oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, lemons, tangerines, and pumpkins. The student workers prepare fresh foods including smoothies, vegan sandwiches, pastas, and salads. The collective also offers prepackaged lunch items like tofu burgers, wraps, and bento boxes. There are a wide variety of snacks like granolas, nuts, dried fruits, coffee beans, chocolate covered raisins, yogurt covered pretzels, and chia chunks. They also offer drinks like coffee, kombucha, and tea as well as pastries. In addition to all the food items, the collective also sells soap, shampoo, lip balm, cleaning products, reusable bags, and water bottles. The physical store is open from Monday to Sunday, with shorter operating hours on Saturday and Sunday.^[7] The collective also offers bulk ordering of items normally offered in-store.^[8]

They have a weekly produce box simply named "The Box", which includes $15 worth of local, organic produce, and corresponding recipes. People can pick up their order on campus.^[9]

Organizational structure[]

The BSFC is run cooperatively, which means that each member has a say in the store's operations. Anyone, not just students, can become a member or shop at the store. Membership is obtained by volunteering in the store or on a committee for two hours a week. In return, members receive a 10% discount on store purchases. Members should attend membership meetings that occur once every two weeks. This is where members get to meet people outside of their committees, share their ideas, and debate and vote on issues that can't be resolved in committees because they require the input of the entire collective. They can also join a committee to meet people with a similar interests and implement BSFC related projects. There are seven BSFC committees dedicated to education, outreach, policy, food preparation, membership, fundraising, and the storefront.^[10] This gives members a chance to work on logistical side of running a cooperative educational grocery store. Being a member also means they can run and vote for board member positions.^[11] There are fifteen coordinator titles on the board of directors, consisting of publicity, education, membership, fundraising, outreach, food events, product, produce, policy, storefront, communications, information technology, food preparation, events, and finance. Elections occur every semester and the current director may opt to run again One or two people may serve under one title.^[12]

Board of directors[]

There are fifteen director positions. The Board of Directors meets weekly to make executive decisions on a consensus basis before bringing items to membership.

See also[]

• Berkeley Student Cooperative
• List of food cooperatives

References[]

External links[]

• Berkeley Student Food Collective website