FoodLobby
A food coop and buyer's club located at the Los Angeles EcoVillage (LAEV)
About Us
Food Lobby is a consumer food coop organized at the Los Angeles Ecovillage (LAEV/USTU) in Koreatown. Anyone can be a member. If you live in Koreatown, south of Silver Lake, in East Hollywood, or anywhere nearby, please consider participating.
LAEV/USTU is located in the dense urban neighborhood near 1st Street and Vermont Ave, at 117 Bimini Place. Members may order fresh produce and buy bulk-purchased grains, nuts, pasta and other organic foods. In exchange for leveraging the buying power of our coop, members work about two hours every five weeks. More Food Coop Specifics
Our products
- We buy fresh produce from local organic farms
- Much of our produce is organically raised but not certified organic.
- Food is delivered once a week, and our members sort the produce into individual boxes.
- Bulk items, like bulk grains, beans, seeds, and nuts, are carried in the Bulk Room
- You can buy any amount of bulk foods by weight.
- You can order bulk quantities for your personal or communal use.
- We use Azure Standard for our wholesale purchases.
- We often provide goods to members from other sources
- For instance, our toilet paper is bamboo-based, and ordered separately from Azure orders.
- We carry freshly-roasted coffee from a local roaster.
- We carry food-related books.
- We encourage members to source items that benefit all of us.
MEMBERSHIP - Please Join
Please fill out this form to become a member. It is a simple process, and you can begin purchasing items in the Co-op in a very short time.
Details about the availability of our products, and about workshift requirements follows.
Bulk Buy Info
We buy in bulk from Azure Standard every four weeks. If you would like to buy large quantities for your personal or communal use, information about how to sign up for the order is on the grocery bulk buy page. Your purchase of larger bags or cases of food or household items help us meet our minimum order for delivery.
If you only want smaller quantities, you can buy them by weight or unit in the Bulk Room.
Bulk Room
You can buy bulk foods such as grains, beans, nuts, and spices. Members can purchase these products every Sunday 2:30 - 4:30, or by requesting that an LAEV member volunteer to open the Bulk Room at another time.
Food Lobby members invest a sum and keep that on deposit with the Co-op. Any money that isn’t used can be refunded at any time, but most members maintain a small balance in their investment.
A list of items currently available in the Bulk Room is posted outside the bulk room and on https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Z012MPG0cN6XkhzTuQJbWxQv3M37jSwLB_KPkqzycrI/edit#gid=1699405301.
Bulk room workers may find this web page helpful when thinking about weight and volume conversions. Remember: an ounce is not always an ounce.
Work Shifts
Food Lobby is a consumer-run Cooperative where each member contributes their labor. To be a part of this co-op, and to allow us to operate with very low overhead costs, each member will volunteer their work.
To view a list of various workshifts available and add or move your name to a workshift, check out the Workshift List.
If you are coordinating a Sunday Shift, visit Food Coop Coordinator Instructions. Please also check out Additional Produce Box Workshift Instructions.
If you have a question about workshifts, please visit the Workshift List (above) to find out who to talk to. When you are a member, you may ask questions of the whole listserv (next item below).
Email List
Our primary mode of communication is digital. To complement this web site, we have a mailing list. Please subscribe by visiting Google Groups and search for LAEV Food Coop to request access to the mailing list. When you apply to become a member, you will automatically receive an invitation to join the group.
If you don’t have access to a computer, there is a public computer available at LAEV.
Meetings
Meetings of the membership are held on an occasional basis. The meetings are at the LA Eco-Village, 117 Bimini Pl, 90004. Here is the current Food Coop Meeting Agenda. Please feel free to add any agenda items, signed with your name. To find notes from previous meetings or post new notes please visit Food Coop Meeting Pages. Meetings are arranged through participation on the mailing list.
Resources
- LAEV Food Coop Recipes: Recipes that use the produce we get collectively are listed on this page. Add your suggestions for cooking things, or check out what others are doing with them
Feedback
Please leave use comments, suggestions, requests to donate time space, or money, etc on the Food Coop Comments Page, or post to the listserv.