Currently we order every 4 weeks from: UNFI http://www.unitedbuyingclubs.com/

Frontier Natural Products Co-op https://wholesale.frontiercoop.com/

 

Co-op membership is per household. In keeping with our mission to ensure that we share the workload & expenses equitably we ask that you do not order for people outside your immediate household. You may order 3 times before you are required to join & pay the joining fee of $25  We do not offer the UNFI 10% volume discount to non-members during their trial period nor do we rebate once they join. New folks may be required to submit payment the week before delivery for their first few orders otherwise payment is due at delivery.

 

We don't have fresh produce but have about the same grocery items as Wild Oats/Whole Foods/Whole Body. We encourage folks to support local farmers as much as possible.

 

UNFI:

Our 2009 UNFI deliveriers is 2009 (March 2 & 30, April 27,
May 25, June 22, July 20, August 17, September 14, October 12
November 9, Dec 2, 2009  -- every four weeks) at Second Presbyterian Church, 3511 Belmont Blvd. Nashville, TN 37215 (enter around back, at the corner of Richards and Graybar) our current time slot is 8:30 a.m.

 

Generally, we ask new folks to watch the process and participate (ask questions, make suggestions, etc.) on our email list for a month and that at least one adult from the household participate in at least one UNFI delivery before submitting UNFI order. This gives you a chance to see our process in action so you can decide if our co-op fits with your family's needs, lifestyle and time commitments. You must be able to be very flexible regarding the UNFI delivery time as any number of variables can impact the ETA of the truck. Delivery times & updates are announced on our email list as soon as we receive an ETA or update from the UNFI warehouse in Atlanta. The delivery & distribution process takes approximately 1.5 to 2 hours.  Each household placing an order is expected to provide at least one person to work the delivery. Delivery workers are expected to arrive 15 - 30 minutes before the truck's ETA, work unloading and distribution, pitch in where needed, verify the pick sheets of workers involved in weighing and check-out, help clean up the area. Check-out does not start until all items have been distributed.

Our core group is primarily homeschool moms  --- we understand “children in tow”.  Our old location in Franklin was in no way kid friendly so we did have to wrangle the non-working kids (no more than one would expect in a grocery store) for their and our own protection. The new location - the Fellowship Café at 2 Presb gives us more options for non-working kids while still be able to offer meaningful tasks for the kids who want to be part of the process.

We strive to be flexible and compassionate regarding this process, in particular, working the UNFI delivery. When we have enough folks ordering on a regular basis we should be able to rotate working the delivery. We really are not rigid in the areas that we have control over. We do not have control over delivery date and time nor road conditions that make impact the initial ETA of the UNFI truck. Otherwise, we are open to suggestions on how to serve as many people as possible without over-burdening the core of the group.

 

At this time you cannot discern which items are on sale on the UNFI site (this is beyond our control). You will need a current hardcopy or PDF catalog to see the sale items. You can pick up a used catalog (a month or so old) at the next UNFI delivery or download a pdf of it here

 

SPLIT means splitting an item that is sold by pounds (bulk items) or whole case. One pound items (herbs, spices, teas, etc) can not be split automatically by using .25, .5. .75 as we did in the past. If you want to split one of these you need to notify the email list.

 

MORE means how many more units of of a split case/ lbs of a bulk item you would be willing to take.

 

I’ve also uploaded a file to the file area from Warner Food Co-Op in NH http://coop.warner.nh.us/ that explains splitting cases and M3s items. File name is UNFI-Splitting Cases.pdf  

  

FRONTIER

We anticipate ordering monthly from Frontier with the delivery the week before the UNFI delivery. Orders are drop shipped to a coordinator's home & then brought to the next UNFI delivery.