Build a co-op grocery store in 10 easy steps.

Well not exactly ten, but this business plan drafted by an active community member named Heru in South Florida greatly lends to getting the project off the ground.

Institution Building, Phase 1. Hapi Valley Gocery Executive Summary (Revised from March 27, 2004): What is proposed is a much needed Pan-African community cooperative grocery store. The grocery store will carry diverse items from natural foods and juices, health and beauty items, kitchen and bathroom supplies, soaps, fruits, vegetables, breads, and more.

The following business model ensures that each shareholder will have a vested interest in engaging in the process of trade, both as consumers and suppliers.

The initial goal is to have 300 serious members of our community each commit 300 dollars. This would provide $90,000 (ninety thousand dollars) in start-up capital to make renovations, to stock and equip the store, etc. to be ready to take customers. The strength of this model provides a ready-made, built-in market of 300 regular consumers/shareholders.

This will be South Florida's first 100% Conscious African community co-operatively and collectively owned grocery store. This shall be one of many projects to come that will create community health and wealth. In fact, based on the profit numbers, this grocery store will be the economic springboard for many other viable projects.

Location And Hours
The building for Hapi Valley Grocery store should be located in an area equidistant to Miami and the Fort Lauderdale Area. The most appropriate area would be the Hollywood/Hallendale area.

Hapi Valley will be open seven days a week for 12 hours a day.

Unique Cooperative Model:
There will be a built in customer base, as 300 people would be members/shareholders/owners who will have a vested interest in shopping for their groceries at a store that they jointly own, instead of Publix, Winn-Dixie, Whole Foods, Wild Oats, etc.

The 300 members will sign commitment letters, stating that they will purchase groceries from their own store. Therefore, if alternate sources of funding are needed, a built in committed customer base shall pre-exist to provide evidence to substantiate the feasibility of this venture.

Preliminary research has shown that the average proposed member spends $400 per month on groceries. If 300 people spend an average of $400 per month at Publix or Winn-Dixie, there is an amount of $120,000 per month spent on groceries amongst the group. This means the collective shall spend $120,000(12 months) = $1.44 million dollars at the grocery in one year alone. This calculated revenue does not include the revenue generated from non-members (at-large public) who will also buy goods.

Members/Shareholders/Owners:
For the purpose of clarity, members, shareholders and owners are the same.

1. Shareholders/members will pay a fee of $300.00 per/share. Limit 10 shares per person. Each share represents one vote. The shares are privately offered and not open to the general public. Acceptance of purchased shares will be authorized by the board of directors.

2. Shareholders/members will be issued a stock ownership certificate indicating the value of the stock and the amount of votes said stock represents.

3. Owner/members will sign a letter stating that s/he will be a regular customer at a reasonable spending average reflecting the amount spent at other "mainstream" grocery stores.

Member Benefits:
1. Voting: Members have the benefit of voting for all major decisions of the direction of the store, such as salaries, suppliers, expansion, profit dividend disbursal, future projects, etc.

2. Micro-loans: Needed cash loans for members to be suppliers. Example: Hapi Valley Grocery coop is buying $1,000 worth of water wholesale per month. Member A, who owns stock, wants to start a water purification/bottling business. The cooperative will give a micro-loan to member to purchase bottling machine and purifying equipment. We will buy wholesale from the member/vendor and stop buying from the previous 'mainstream' vendor ( Zephyrhills, Poland Springs, etc). The water product will be sold directly to the other 300 or so member/owners and other public at-large. This is vertical economics. Member/vendor will be able to pay off micro-loan quickly with this form of cooperative economics.

Member/vendor can also have the background of being a supplier for Hapi Valley Grocery, which s/he co-owns for the purposes of expansion of their particular product.

If other sources of funding are needed by member/vendor, the cooperative will enter into a formal contract with member/vendor. This way, member/vendor can be aided in securing a more traditional business loan or grant by providing evidence that a pre-existing market for his/her goods in the business plan already exists.

3. Order online: We will set up a billing system, where members can order online. We will deliver groceries to weekly drop off points in West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, North Miami and South Miami. Consequently, members do not need to come to the grocery store continually. Members can have a set shopping list packed for them weekly and pick up bags at the designated drop off point or the grocery store.

Suppliers
Our purpose is to participate in the only form of true economic uplift for a people: Vertical Economics. Therefore, our goal is to have exclusively suppliers of African descent. This includes farmers, soap makers, toothpaste makers, water purifiers, etc.

Kitchen
The building for Hapi Valley Groceries should contain a kitchen. The kitchen will be called Yabba Pot. Yabba Pot Kitchen will sell prepared food from the grocery store's products on a daily basis. In addition, we will teach monthly healthy cooking classes.