Business & Tech

Effort to Create Community Market Moves Forward

Castro Valley activists who met at Daughtrey's Tuesday night came away encouraged and focused. Also, learn how to sell home-crafted foods.

 

(Editor's note: Michael Joseph Kusiak posted a Facebook note summarizing a meeting held Tuesday night at the Daughtrey building. To read his entire note and get involved in the Facebook discussion, join the Castro Valley Community Store Group. These are edited highlights.)

Michael Joseph Kusiak

The takeaway from our meeting with (assistant Alameda County economic development officer) Bill Lambert is that there may be some avenues to get free help to develop a business plan. And he seems to really like the Cottage Food idea.

We have work to do.

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  • Continue reaching out to the Cottage Food community. Could we use a series of "pop-up" events to generate interest in a Community Store? Can we develop these folks into possible vendors. Maybe document the permitting process?
  • Start thinking about real estate. Draw lessons from the Pop-Up History Museum? Are there other business we want to partner with?
  • Let's collect our ideas about a mission statement in a draft document . . . (and collect) ideas on developing a market analysis. What are the next steps to develop a viable business plan? How do we write a business plan? 
  • Reach out to the The Community Store in Saranac Lake (in upstate New York). How did they structure their store legally? How did they raise capital via shareholders? How do they manage this thing on a daily basis. How long did this take to develop? 

Rachel Bradley-Gomez, who is part of the community store effort, maintains a related Facebook group: The Castro Valley Food Crafter's Guild. As she writes:

This group is dedicated to education, and the collaboration of local food crafters and those interested in learning more about California's new 2013 Cottage Food Law

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So if you are wondering how to legally sell home-made foods join her group.

Any suggestions for the community market group or for home-based food sellers? Leave a comment below.


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