How to run a food co-op or bulk buying group

Chewsday Group Co-ordinators and Meetings

Co-ordinator for each Packing Group:

One co-ordinator for each packing group, will:

1. Welcome new members to your team, and meet them on pack night to show them the ropes. (Membership volunteers in the Comms team will inform you when new members join)

2. Ensure group tasks are distributed evenly and rotated occasionally

3. Before each Chewsday packing night:
  • Co-ordinate who will be there at what times, via your packing team’s google group.
  • Ensure that someone will bring a laptop with internet access, for entering the data for each order.
  • ‘Overs and Unders’ list: Stock (chews.day.stock@gmail.com) will email this list to the packing group. It is a list of what has been ordered, and whether we need to go over or under for each item and by how much (so our orders match the amounts we will receive from suppliers.) It also lists the items that were unavailable. Print this out x 3 copies (one to go next to each of the 3 sets of scales).
  • ‘Packing list’ - Download from Lettuceshare, and Print out. Go to the top right of the menu bar - select Index, and from the dropdown, select reports. At the second paragraph Download lists for order:select ‘packing list’ from the dropdown, and click ‘Download’. Print this out.
4. On each Chewsday pack night:
  • Make sure people know how to pack and enter
  • Sort out on-the-night problems in general
  • Facilitate brief meeting after pack to discuss how the group’s other tasks are going.
Deputy coordinator

Share the tasks of coordinator and step in completely if they are away.

Chews Day General meetings


Organising and facilitating general meetings:

General Meetings occur once every 6 months, usually on a Tuesday after a pack (7:00pm).
Organise the General Meeting date and time, send out email advising everyone, and send out a few reminder messages the week before.
Collate agenda items (including any suggestions from the group, prior to the meeting). Set up a Google drive doc that anyone can edit, and send out an email asking for members to suggest Agenda items by adding to it.
Select a chairperson to facilitate meeting, and someone to record minutes.
After the meeting put the minutes on G-drive and send an email to the group with a summary of the outcome.


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